Shallow And Intermediate Perch = Biting Perch
One of the reasons we love this earlier period of the ice fishing season is that we can find concentrations of Perch a lot shallower than we find them later in the winter. And when you find Perch shallow, you can usually get them to bite. A lot fewer yo-yo’s and a lot more aggressive fish. That is exactly what we are seeing with Perch in 17-25 feet of water and marks that are flying up to meet our Buck Shots.
Mainly finding our fish in the trees in this shallower water and we are finding a lot of them and this points to a pretty productive ice fishing season.
Find shallower trees adjacent to deep water and you will find fish. You might have to drill a few holes to find the ‘honey spot’ but once you do it will be very rewarding. One of the issues we run into when fishing the trees is finding clean hole. We have found that finding that clearing has been very important. When out on Stump Lake you can literally pull the Perch right out of the tree tops and tree branches, in contrast, it seems on DL you have to find that clear spot adjacent to but not right in the trees.
Our Early Season Set-Up
I like to utilize numerous techniques when fishing at this time cause at different times of the day the fish react a little differently and while an active jig might have gotten fish in the early hours of the morning, the dead sticks and bobbers become more effective afternoon.
Lures Of Choice
Shallow and Intermediate depth fish are aggressive and an aggressive fish requires an aggressive lure. We use a lot of 1/8 ounce Buck Shots at this time and almost always tipped with a minnow head.
Ice Depth!
December 15th
December 17th
December 19th
A 3-inch increase over a 4-day period is a positive sign. These cold temperatures are buiiding our ice sheet and we are driving ATV’s at this time.
Good Luck out there!
Glad to get any report. I am 10 hrs away so if I make that drive I need updated reports.
Never been there, but on my “bucket list ”
Probably be 1st.or 2nd week in January