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Reading Kents post on his trip someone mentioned that they froze the Perch they caught and will save it for ice fishing.
Ive ice fished a ton, mostly very successful. But I've never used perch meat. I plan on catching some this weekend and now Im wondering if I should freeze some for winter use. Not having done this before, can yall shed some light on the best way to do it?
My thought is that I'd remove the head, tail, and innards. Then cut the fish up into small cubes or peices then maybe put it in several different zip-lock bags and use them as needed. Is that what you would do? When ice fishing, does perch meat work good everywhere or just at certain locations? Is it legal to use everywhere?
Thanks for the input
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[#555555]Bait
[/#555555]R657-13-12 [ol] [li] [ol] [li]Fishing is permitted with any bait, except corn, hominy or live fish. [li]Possession or use of corn or hominy while fishing is unlawful. [/li][/ol]
[li]Use or possession of any bait while fishing on waters designated artificial fly and lure only is unlawful. [li]Game fish or their parts may not be used, except for the following: [ol] [li]Dead Bonneville cisco may be used as bait only in Bear Lake. [li]Dead yellow perch may be used as bait only in: Deer Creek, Fish Lake, Echo, Gunnison, Hyrum, Johnson, Jordanelle, Newton, Pineview, Rockport, Sevier Bridge (Yuba), Utah Lake, and Willard Bay reservoirs . [li]Dead white bass may be used as bait only in Utah Lake. [li]The eggs of any species of fish, except prohibited fish, may be used. However, eggs may not be taken or used from fish that are being released. [/li][/ol][/li][/ol]
If you are just saving perch for fishing reasons, you really dont have to do much with it. Catch them and just throw it in a bag and in the freezer. I usually fillet some just for freezer space reasons. Before they changed the bait law to 1 inch squared piece of perch meat instead of using a whole perch, a friend of mine would consistantly catch musky through the ice at pineview just using a big hook and a whole perch.
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I would not recommend saving perch from Jordanelle to use in other waters . Whirling disease is present in Jordanelle and you could spread it . I only use perch from the waters I catch them from . Most of the time when I catch one thru the ice , I use the perch eyes for more perch and generally it will stay on for most of the day .
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the best way to freeze perch for bait is to just put it in the freezer as fast as you can after catching it!! keep them on ice tell you get home..then just put them in a bag DO NOT CUT ANY THING OFF!! just put the whole fish in a bag and freeze it.. when you get fishing then you can start cutting it up..
from the fuzzyfisher-----------------------------fish on dudes
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IMHO, what is the point in keeping perch for future use? They are not the hardest fish to catch and are pretty plentiful in all the waters they reside in. Just dont understand the logic.
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well i do it so when i go to fishlake i can just head to where the splake or mack's are hanging with out haveing to make bait first..
fish on dudes [sly]
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