In Search of Perch

[johnnyb]

Last year, on the second Friday of January, I was walking out on 4 inches of fresh ice at Big Bay Point. This year, on the second Friday of January, I had to force myself to leave the trout/whitefish tackle at home, so that I wouldn’t be tempted to go do something regrettable.

Dropped my son off at school for 8:30 in Brampton, stopped at Innisfil Bait & Tackle to check in with Keith and get my scoop of pinheads (he’s been running the store for the last 4 years and it’s a great little shop…on my “A list”), and was parked in front of Simcoe by 10:00am.

Headed out to 26 FOW and dropped a small jig with a pinhead down one hole, and my x67c transducer along with a Lindy Darter down the other.

Didn’t take long before I had some lookers, and one decent perch flopping around my fish trap.

 

Thinking I had found “the spot” I got comfortable and waited for the action to begin. But not much else happened for a while. I moved to 16FOW…shallow enough to clearly see bottom in the gin that is Cook’s Bay. Happened to be right on the edge of a clump of weeds….but had absolutely ZERO takers. But it was an allright day to be out.

 

It was getting brighter out….so I figured the fish might be a bit deeper…moved out a little past my original holes, and found myself in 29FOW. By now it’s 1:30 and I have a whopping total of 3 perch on the day. One on the minnow…one on the darter, and one on a small jigging rap.

 

Start up with a buckshot and minnow….and a fresh pinhead on the deadstick beside me. Half an hour later….my floor started to look cluttered

 

This is more like it! By now I had to put down one rod just to keep up!! I kept dropping the small jig and minnow, as it was hooking the fish easier. With the Lowrance, I could watch my bait fall, and see the fish rise up to meet it…then just watch the tip of the rod and wait for an ever so subtle tap. Set hook, reel, repeat!

 

By 3:00 I lost count somewhere in the 20’s, and had enough decent sized fish for a fry-up.

 

Time to pack up…

 

…hit the road….

 

…and go home for dinner!

 

All in all, a successful day. Well, as successful as can be, without trout or whitefish. I would say it was presentation over location….aggressive jigging with a darter type lure really seemed to draw them in…and I’m not discounting the effectiveness of a rattling lure. Once they started mowing down on the jig and minnow though, it was a super easy combination.

As for depth…I hit a pile of them in 29 FOW…but another fellow out there was in 16 and he limited out….also jigging to draw them in then switching to micro jigs once they arrived.

 

That’s all for now….see you out there next time!

Edited January 10, 2010 by johnnyb

[irishfield]

Jesus John.. is that your best side??

 

Good to see Lady luck let you out of the nest. Gonna take a lot of trips without her to catch up though....

[Syn]

That sounds like the perfect winter fishing day (must have been -25 cel?). Much better than spending it indoors staring at a computer screen. Fried perch looks delicious, wish I could reach through the screen and grab one off the plate.

[Terry]

sounds like you did good

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

looks like a mighty tasty end to a day.

[Gerritt]

Nice! three different batters?

[Leecher]

Great report and pics johnny

Got to love being able to put down one rod so that you can keep up

What was the size of the ones you kept for a fry??

Leechman

[jaydub]

Looks like a great little meal to end the day! Me and a couple of buddies headed out on Cooks Bay yesterday as well and fished from about 7:30 to 12:30. We landed 12 fish total between the three of us (6 or 7 small keepers) which sure didn't feel like much but sounds like maybe the afternoon bite was a bit better!

[johnnyb]

LOL -- two different batters...just left one batch in there a bit long One batch of shake'n'bake, one of instant pancake batter mix...both dry dipped...very very nice.

I kept 14...and I'll be darned if they didn't look bigger in the hut! Got home and realized I really need to pay attention and stick to 10 inchers and up....a few too many 8's snuck in there, which made cleaning them a pain. Ah well...eating them made up for it :D

 

And Wayne...are you up for babysitting so Jessy can get out there and show us all some real fish? She's great with letting me get out...but I really miss watching her reel in the big ones

[irishfield]

I thought you would baby sit .. and Jessy and I would get out !!

[castgame]

great report! innisfil bait and tackle--where is that exactly? i'll hit it up and grab some bait before i head out on thursday. always nice to support a local tackle shop

[bubbles]

well done, a decent day for sure.

[johnnyb]

I thought you would baby sit .. and Jessy and I would get out !!

 

 

 

great report! innisfil bait and tackle--where is that exactly? i'll hit it up and grab some bait before i head out on thursday. always nice to support a local tackle shop

 

Right at the corner of Hwy. 89 and Yonge Street...great little shop.

[castgame]

thanks johnnyb, i'll be stopping in there for sure. but, i need to renew my license, and their website says this is something they don't do. any suggestions as to where i can do this in the area? or should i stop into bps on the way up... i'm hesitant to do that because a 10min stop might turn into well over an hour

Edited January 12, 2010 by castgame

[johnnyb]

HMMMmmm....you could always call the nearest Canadian Tire and ask them if they do licenses? Not sure which way you're travelling...although if BPS is on the way, then the 400 bait shop should be as well. First Petro-Can/Timmies/info center north of Major Mac...behind the Petro Can is the bait shop. I usually try to avoid buying my bait there, simply because the scoops are too small for the $

[limeyangler]

LOLOLOL...@ is that your best side.

 

Great stuff JB.

 

thats a strange blue glow effect you got in your shack!

[johnnyb]

All the water glows like that down here in the south...

[Headhunter]

Thanks for the report!

I was out on Sunday, walked out from Gilford. Now I refuse to use minnows for Perch! My buddy I was with, used them and I won't deny that they will work, they just aren't required for perch.

Simply put, if the perch are under your hole, they will bite. I only used two baits on Sunday, blue and sliver jiggin Rap and a small spoon with a rattle on the back... perch coloured. Both baits had Power Maggots (a pair) on the treble hook and without a doubt, they are the ticket.

Buddy watched me and well, I thought he was gonna hit me after a while, as he was using minnows and I, using the rap/maggot combo... when a wave of perch came through, I would catch and release 4 -5 fish, before he landed, un-hooked, re-baited and dropped it down...

Numbers at the end of the day... HH 66 perch (honestly, a slow day), buddy using minnows, 14 perch.

Now his wife was with us on her first ever ice fishing trip. Buddy set here up with minnows, but after I had reached about 30 perch, she insited that she use what I was using LOL! She had not caught a fish until she changed up to a rap/maggot combo... her total at the end of the day... 22 perch!

The ice in the Gilford area is sure smashed up! I looks like a good wind piled up existing ice and it refroze. Hard to wlak on and even harder to cut holes with a hand auger.

Probably my last Cook's bay adventure until end of season... Sunday was a dink fest, way too many 6 inch perch.

Give the rap/maggot combo a try, just be sure to really pay attention to your rod, as the little buggers usually bite the bait from below, which makes your rod lift slightly. You will miss them if you are not paying attention.

HH

[I'mHooked]

BOTH great reports!! I've never been specifically Perchin' before, but definitely have the bug to get out and give it a go.

 

My only challenge has been the few Perch I've caught incidentally, which were good keepers, I seemed to just MANGLE the meat trying to get the bones out!

[johnnyb]

Yup...I was tempted to experiment more with the jiggin rap/darter...but I was able to get on them pretty quick with the minnow, so I didn't sweat it...many times the minnow was still on the jig, dead, but a littl jiggle and they didn't know any better

 

As for the light hits...yes! I was amazed at how subtle the tap was, but upon pulling the rod up, it was clear that they were all over it. Strike indicator came in handy

[castgame]

thanks again johnnyb. i'll give that bait shop a go.

 

anybody have any thoughts on using a 1/16th little cleo? i usually cast them for specks, never jigged them for perch...

[Headhunter]

IMHO.... you have to understand why and what the perch are doing when you are fishing through the ice for them. I beleive that they are not there intentionally to feed on minnows. They are there to eat the grass shrimp that are literally everywhere. Ever notice whenyou catch a perch, it typically coughs up some brown substance? That semi-digested grass shrimp!

So, from my perspective, I want to match what they are feeding on and that's why I always use the power maggots. They look very much like grass shrimp.

The jiggin Rap that I use serves a number of purposes:

1. a delivery device for the power maggots

2. it sinks like a stone, so it gets my bait in front of the perch really quickly. This is of utmost importance, as the school travelling past the hole is only there for a short time... wasting time re-bating minnows slows you down.

3. it's flash will draw in perch, just out of range of the maggots

4. you can bounce it off the bottom and it will stir up mud, which attracts these curious little fish

5. it will swim when lightly jigged, which also draws in the curious perch.

 

Thinking back to Sunday, out of the 60 odd perch I caught, only one actually ate the rap! All the rest were caught on the treble hook, loaded with two power maggots.

 

As for the question above re: the Cleo, it would probably work, but I would be concerned at line twist, should I be using that lure for an extended period of time.

Also, it has been my experience that using the blue and sliver combo rap is best when there is some sun on the ice. On cloudy days, Fire Tiger is very effective.

I would also suggest having a number of rods pre-tied with other presentations. They will stop biting a bait after they have seen a few of their buddys being ripped up to the surface. Here's a few suggestions:

-Swedish Pimple with a 2 inch dropper /jig and power maggot

-small spoon with a rattle to call them in... power maggot on treble

-1/16th oz jig with a single power maggot.

You NEED a very light rod for these fish, or you can get a strike indicator that attaches to the end of your rod. As I mentioned in an earlier post, 9/10 times, they will hit the bait from below. Unless you are paying attention to your rod tip, you will miss the bite. Watch for a slight upward movement of your rod tip and hit 'em hard!

Perchin is a blast and one of my favorite types of fishin... but like any other species, there are things to learn.

HH

[irishfield]

Why not use shrimp then Joe.. instead of power magots?

[Headhunter]

Well Wayne, for one reason is that a pair of power maggots will last me the whole day! The only way I have had them come off the hook, is when I was removing the hook and my pliers grabbed the power maggot.

Also, I'm really not into real maggots and have no intention of keeping a few in my mouth, to stop them from freezing! I know for a fact that many pan fish guys do that!

And shrimp are far too tasty to waste on a perch!

HH

[irishfield]

Just wondered... I have a bag of tiny little shrimp that I got in with Rob's ice gear. Thought they'd be worth a try.. if I get in a perchy mood...