fishing4u2
Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 252
|
|
|
Reply with quote | #1 |
Got another invite to spend the afternoon with my boating pals, and to once again ply DCL under fair weather for perch, and we simply slammed 'em silly. Right from the very start our lines were tight and by dusk we had triple limits anchored by several legitimate 15"ers. I'll try to post a pic later... too tired & hungry after all that wind by day, and a big solo filleting job just now finally completed.
Btw, I had never fished for DCL perch in open water before, and so I was very pleasantly surprised to find them tastier than later on from under hard water, particularly during mid- to late-ice when I find them foraging mostly on fingernail clams. Anybody else feel there is a seasonal difference in quality? I was also surprised by how frisky the better perch did their pulling as compared to during ice-time. A few of them really had us fooled, right up towards the end when we could finally get a visual.
After the last couple of sub-freezing nights the fish (and most of the bait) were no longer visible in the shallower water as on Monday, but appeared to have backed off towards either the cove centers or adjoining secondary points, especially where we could still find reasonably healthy standing vegetation. Six to nine feet of water seemed to be the best depths for active perch. The very backs of the shallower coves only turned up pickerel for us.
Scaling down our lures resulted in a more balanced catch by the crew, although I was somehow still wearing the hot hands. The same Roadrunner jig continued to score well, but for the sake of comparison so did my custom/homemade 1/10th oz single spin(nerbait) which accounted for more of the largest perch. Likewise, replacing the crinkle-tailed tube body with a larger and darker plastic curly-tailed minnow imitation seemed to turn them on. I gave a midget sinking Rattle-Trap a good soaking in an area known to hold chasing perch, but it barely induced even follows much less a single take. I was surprised by how deeply many of the perch took the jigs... it seemed like most struck imperceptably softly and on the fall, and were 'just there' when you went to next work the bait.
For incidental catches (besides the ever-aggressive pickerel) I landed a pair of all-but-legal northern pike (released of course), and each of my partners took at least one fair smallmouth (also released). No largemouth or bluegill were either seen or taken, and despite fishing a well-known hotspot for an hour or so after dark, there were no 'eyes in the mix. Upon cleaning the catch I found virtually ALL of the perch contained multiple young-of-year bluegill sunfish, which averaged 1.5" in length. If there were a better way to match this 'hatch' for size, color, and action I believe a person could have him- or herself a genuine field day. Perhaps we owe the high quality bluegill population in the lake to the combination of abundant Daphnia for their forage and a thorough thinning of their y-o-y by the perch?
Truly this lake's perch fishery must be one in a hundred, perhaps one in even more?
Feeling fortunate to get to experience it firsthand,
'4u2
__________________
If its got fins, count me in |
| |
fishing4u2
Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 252
|
|
|
Reply with quote | #2 |
p.s.
it just came to me that those y-o-y 'gills the perch were chomping on could probably be imitated reasonably well with some of those micro blade-baits, particularly those styled like a 'Cicada' that have a body more like the deeper, laterally-compressed bluegill profile and less like an elongated minnow/shiner chassis. Didn't have any of those with me today, as they were buried in my shelter amidst and under all the other ice-fishing gear. Hmmmm... may want to get them out of storage early; something to definitely try out if you are going to chase DCL perch in the near future. Blades do fish a little fast in shallower depths, but could be presented under an extra large slip-float so as to have more of a vertical lift/fall, then a complete rest phase in which I believe they'd get whacked even under the prevailing low water temps. I successfully tried this rigging with a jig today, but did not have a large enough (or a true) slip float in my usual travel tackle. Fishing blades straight up and down under the boat works well when the fish are deeper of course, but I think that at their current depths the fish would still be way too boat-shy.
Good 'luck'
'4u2
__________________
If its got fins, count me in |
| |
Nick
Registered: 10/22/09
Posts: 23
|
|
|
Reply with quote | #3 |
I've done very well with blade baits for perch & walleyes the last few years.I did catch some nice crappies & perch on the small spinnerbaits recently(gold willow leaf).I finally caught my first eye last night 17in.I've found the jumbo yelow perch in lochraven full of tiny clams like you did also.I use small sunnys as live bait under a float when I catch them in my minnow trap.They work good for yellow perch here too.the ellow perch usually start to school up in December here.15in. is a real nice one.I'm happy with 10-12in.do you thnk they taste like walleyes?
__________________
Fishing can be anything you want it to be |
| |
fishing4u2
Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 252
| |
StrikeLead
Registered: 09/05/06
Posts: 427
|
|
|
Reply with quote | #5 |
I, too, went out this week and was catching lots of big perch. Definitely some perch action right now.
__________________
My biggest worry is that my wife (when I'm dead) will sell my fishing gear for what I told her I paid for it. ~Koos Brandt |
| |
chesapeakecarper
Registered: 09/06/07
Posts: 38
|
|
|
Reply with quote | #6 |
You couldn't ask for better weather than this weekend to be on the lake...we were in shorts and t's
__________________
aka Pat Kelly @ Centreville, Maryland and Morgantown, West Virginia
|
| |
YPFINATIC
Registered: 01/19/08
Posts: 68
|
|
|
Reply with quote | #7 |
Great report 4u2, thanks.
Dang, some real beauties there.
Nick,
I'm waiting for them to arrive your way. I'm launching at Dundee tomorrow might come by and poke around.
|
| |
fishing4u2
Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 252
|
|
|
Reply with quote | #8 |
Sure thing, YPFan. Do you, or anyone else reading this have a favorite recipe for perch fillets (maybe something a little out of the ordinary 'salt/pepper/egg dip/flour/saute' box) I could try?
Planning to get out there one more time if the weather will hold. And if I can locate it (this stuff hasn't gotten wet in fifteen years) I plan to break out some dusty muskie tackle and toss some truly big hooks around just to satisfy/disprove a hunch that with the perch schooled up and active, there might not just be a large northern pike shadowing them. Hmmm... I guess 'ya can't prove a negative, especially with fishing tackle. But at least I can test the waters.
Seeing as it'll be a little difficult pyschologically to sling nothing but large lures with strict discipline all day while my pals (hopefully) keep the hot perch thing going, one friend has agreed to try and 'tag team' the pike potential with me (we'll alternate the heavy rod every twenty minutes or so, keeping a big offering out there continually but splitting the duty, in other words).
Should be an interesting way to close the open water season. Will keep you posted however it goes.
'4u2
__________________
If its got fins, count me in |
| |
Perchnut
Registered: 02/22/06
Posts: 147
|
|
|
Reply with quote | #9 |
Hey 4U, those fish in the last picture are a little small to keep, no?  Looks like a nice day on the water.....sooo many ways to catch perch, in sooo many different types of water, deep, brackish, fresh, lakes, rivers....with such a variety of lures and methods, it never ceases to amaze me. And the result is always a tasty fish fry!! Cant wait for some ice ice baby! |
| |
fishing4u2
Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 252
|
|
|
Reply with quote | #10 |
Good one, Perchnut. Zow-wee! Yes sir, perching... when its good it is very good indeed. And then there's like well, today (see the late post). All but one apparently got the memo and had their revenge on me. Showing utter comtempt for my very best efforts. It was still fun. Somehow I came home with four in the bucket to clean (still another benefit of perching with others, eh)?
Better get to it...
'4u2
__________________
If its got fins, count me in |
| |
