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We fish perch on Mendota here in 70 to 80 feet of water. I keep everything that I pull up but the camera once showed me that others do not when I dropped the camera down in a few community spots the small perch that had been released were all dead just below the ice. I put tip ups there with dead bait and caught my best pike ever.
It stinks that all those perch died after being released but that is one cool adjustment resulting in a BIG catch. 
The perch here on Mendota go through big swings from great to decent to poor and I think this mortality is a large factor. Big fish know where an easy meal can be had and even though many are killed, the channel cats you asked me what they eat last summer, winter killed perch are one thing that I know is on the menu.
Makes sense that a large predator would be unlikely to turn down a consistently available food source like the one you’re describing.
Slender spoon can be found at Sportsmans warehouse in woodbury!
Scott makes a good point if your struggling to get a fish to go back down the hole, drill another hole next to it and let the fish relax a bit and get its bearings straight again, after time these fish do swim away, and generally remain health due to the colder water temps. Otherwise its fish fry time…
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