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Muskokas Fishing

Tips to Ice More Perch: Part Two
By Tim Allard

If you're looking to improve your ice game when it comes to winter perch there are plenty of ways to do it. Below are five areas every anglers should strive to refine to be a better jumbo hunter. Work on these this winter and you'll put more perch on the ice - guaranteed.

Embrace Electronics
Electronics catch me more fish. A quality sonar provides valuable data on water depth, fish in the area and a bait's location in the water column. Sonar delivers instant feedback on jigging moves so you can try different tactics to trigger bites. Yet owning a sonar isn't enough. Challenge yourself to become an expert at it. Read the manual each season and visit the company's website for tips and tutorials. As examples, it's best to use functions like a low-power setting in shallow, weedy conditions, while the split-screen, bottom zoom setting excels for bottom-hugging perch.

Underwater cameras are handy to gather data on whether the fish you're marking on your sonar are indeed perch and if they're jumbos. You also learn a lot. Being able to see the action of lures, combined with a fish's reaction, encourages improvement of your craft, the mastering of new tactics, and increase catch rates. They also help you see the habitat you're fishing. If fish are relating to weed clumps or rock-sand transition areas, cameras can help you quickly eliminate water and get over the prime zones.

Editors' note:  Cross Lake Sales has some great deals on Aqua View underwater camera's

Learn Triggering Moves
Sometimes perch are fussy and triggering moves are critical. Some of my favourites are as follows: slowly raising a lure up the water column, mixed with pauses and minor drops; stationary quivering and jigging of baits; banging lures into bottom to kick up a silt cloud, mimicking feeding perch or a scurrying meal. Use electronics to monitor a fish's reaction and to experiment with moves until one works. Also rebait often to boost the lure's scent trail. Small minnow heads are excellent, but don't discount maggots either. The latter are deadly when perch are feeding on pint-sized prey like freshwater shrimp, which leads to the next tip.

Become a Perch Dietician
Perch can be selective feeders. Sometimes a hooked fish will spit out its stomach contents, divulging its food source. Matching its size and colour often means more action. Small shrimp-like bait, called scuds, are popular perch table fare on many lakes I fish. Off-white one- to two-inch tubes or ice jigs tipped with maggots are proven imitators. Bloodworms, chironomid larvae, are a bottom-dwelling perch delicacy. Tiny ice jigs tipped with plastic red or orange teaser tails or pieces of Berkley's Gulp! Mini Earthworm. Fish are also often on a perch's menu, match the colour and size with spoons and swimbaits.

Be a Drop Out
Dropper rigs offer the best of both worlds. One dropper option is removing the hook from a straight-spoon, like an ACME Kastmaster or Northland Forage Minnow. Next tie on a four to six inch section of monofilament or fluorocarbon line to the spoon. The other end should have either a bare hook or a small ice jig, like Northland's Bro Bug, Lindy's Fat Boy or JB Lure's Glitter Glows.

When jigged, neutral fish are attracted to a spoon's flash. Although they may be uninterested in biting because of its size, they'll seldom pass up the tiny, dropper dangling beneath it. Use a traditional lift-fall-hold sequence to jig these lures, incorporating hops and shakes for a seductive dropper dance. Another benefit to droppers is they sink quickly, making them perfect to tempt finicky perch holding in deep water.

Smoke 'Em with Spring Bobbers
Spring bobbers are deadly when finessing perch as they signal the faintest hits. When I'm fishing tight to bottom for bloodworm-feasting perch, a straightening spring bobber means a take. These bobbers also add a new dimension to jigging. Rocking your rod so the spring bobber bounces slightly imparts a natural, swimming motion to baits. Add a pause and watch for the strike.

Keep the above tips in mind this winter when taking to the ice. These small refinements to your perch-fishing game will make you a better angler.