[J.C.C.]

A few friends and I fished Anchor Bay off of the DNR ramp in Fair Haven on Monday. Luckily we had shanties to fish in or the wind chill would have taken its toll on us in no time. Many people were driving their cars and trucks on the ice and were doing so, surprisingly, quite a way out on the lake. The ice was approximatly ten inches thick.

The water was gin clear in the lake. After we determined which way the perch were moving we set up an Aqua Vue camera to watch for incoming fish. We had school after school of perch of all sizes cruise through our holes. We were using everything from "Ken's Spoons" to tiny teardrops tipped with wigglers, mousies or minnows in various combinations and we could not convince them to bite on a consistant basis. They would cruise right up to the baits and some would check them out and turn right away and others would ignore them all together. We ended up with about 15 good size perch. When cleaned it was found that they had nothing in their stomachs. This could mean that they will be turning on the bite very soon.

I think part of the problem may have been the gin clear water. Those that did bite did so on a rush from a distance. Few took the bait after looking it over close up possibly being spooked by the hardware holding the bait. I don't still understand what was going on but offer my cents for your ideas.

Jim

ps, with any luck Pauli will grace this post with a one of her artfull reminders of the upcoming delights of the summer on LSC like she has othe ice fishing reports....maybe.

 

[No More Mini]

Thanx for the report Jim....sounds like the perch will be getting hungry soon.

What pound test are you using?

Mini

 

[carpfisher]

I was out there with Jim. 4 lb "Ice Line" It was Jim's gear so I don't know the specifics of the manufacture but the weight is correct. I couldn't believe the numbers of jumbos we saw swimming around the hole.
The Aqua-Vue is really cool. The perch looked like Jaws coming in from the deep dark ocean as they come in to view. You do get fooled on the size though. A 4" minnow that is 5" from the camera looks like a 10 Lb walleye!
At one point late in the day, a herd of jumbo persh surrounded the baits, stared at them for about a minute, then on some magic signal from the leader, they all just swam away.
All the fish we got were singles.
Some of them back pedaled if we would move the bait towards them. We decided there must be some pretty mean minnows in LKSC if these big perch are scared and backing away for a minnow!
But bottom line, A cold day i the shanty is better then a warm day in GM Truck!
Greg

 

[Party Guy]

Thanks for the update!!!
If I can get out of work at a reasonable time, I'm going tonight.
I'll give a report inthe morning!
Taxman

 

[No More Mini]

I remember those days when I used to ice fish...lol

Seems as if the perch would charcge the bait and then stop on a dime just before hitting it and sit there.....then for some reason they leave.

A jiggin Rapala can and will bring fish in from a long way too.

Did you guys try SLOWLY lifting or dropping the bait? Sometimes that will get them to bite.....

Mini

 

[Crestliner18]

Jim,

I was out on one of the canals out there, just past the colony tower. The ice was 11-12 inches thick, felt like 20 with my hand auger! I saw fish consistantly all day from 10am to 5 pm or so. Caught a mess of small ones with two or three nice sized, 8 or 9 inches, I even got my first tip-up pike, a hammer-handle 20 or 22in!

 

[No More Mini]

Congrats Crestliner.....

Thanks for the report.

Mini

 

[J.C.C.]

Thanks for the report back Crestliner. Can you tell us what your terminal tackle/bait was that you were using and how you were using it. I think we tried everything possible to intice them to hit Mini. I did put a jigging rapala down which was work to keep it from tangling the other lines the way it shoots forward when it is jigged. It may have brought some in but the problem was getting them to hit the bait. We had plenty of fish most of the day.

Another thing happened Monday that non of us have ever experienced. I think it was right around 1:00 when a significant shutter was felt from the ice. Both shanties felt it and we had no idea what is was. Coincidently, about five minutes late a helicopter flew over. We kept watching the bottom to see if the ice we were on was moving but it wasn't.

Also, a mud puppy moved into our hole and just layed on the bottom. The perch just shut down coming into our area. Greg finally got it to bite his bait and he transfered it to another hole in the ice about 50 yards away and released it alive. Once it was gone the fish returned but not any hungrier. We were wondering if it is true that if a mud puppy is close the fish stay away. Does anyone know if this is just an old wives tale or if there is something to it?

Jim

 

[bcoon]

I have been fishing out of Mitchell's Bay and also have an Aqua Vu - I had a similar experience of seeing many perch but few biting - I was in 4 foot or less of water. I did get bit a lot more in deeper water, 11 ft. and it seems like there were the same number of fish at both locations. I have also heard that the fish are easily spooked in the shallow water.

 

[No More Mini]

PLEASE do not disturb the "Mudpuppies".......

These creatures are there for a specific reason in the eco-system. When a person kills one on the ice, it ruins better fisheries for all....

I know I have been guilty of it in the past.....But I dont do it anymore.

Mini

 

[Crestliner18]

Jim,

After I cleaned out the whole, I dropped a jigging rapala down just to see what if anything was around. I had got a few jigging rapalas for Christmas last year but never tried them. Almost immediately a couple of perch came swimming in, stopped just short, looked for a second, moved off to one side and tried to suck it in side ways, of course they couldn't get it. I then dropped a minnow on a tear drop down, the bigger ones just looked while the smaller fish (perch) were mouthing the minnow. Like some one said earlier I think, the bigger fish would come rushing in but just stop and look, and if you moved the bait at all the fish would spook. I also seemed that when I was messing with my other fishing pole or when I sat back and wasn't looking down the hole I would get bit. I was using one rod with 4lb. test on a spaghetti pole, that the minnow swimming could bend, my other pole was one my grandpa made, 8lb line and the jigging rapala. Hope this helps!

 

[J.C.C.]

Yes we realize that the mud puppies are good for fishing and the environment Mini. We did see one on the ice that day that someone did leave to die. We realeased the one we caught live but away from us. Any idea if they do keep other fish away?

Jim