lake mallalieu 12/26-27

one word can describe the last two days- phenomenal. After my initial outing of catching about 20 or so perch with one 12″er, i figured id test the ice again after the snowstorm. when i got to the boat landing i was relieved to see two guys out in the middle of the lake already meaning the ice wasnt affected by the sleet, it just left a slushy layer above 8″ of ice. i walked back within the same general area that i first tried but about 15 feet further into the channel. i decided to try out a gold diamond jig tipped with spikes again since it was effective the previous trip. having no flasher, my way of finding fish is simple. drop the jig down, jig it back up until i get a bite and retrieve and jig to that area each time after that. after 10 minutes the bite got red hot. the second my jig hit the zone i had a perch. on 12/26 not a single perch went under 8″, with most in the 9-10″ range. i was throwing most of them back until i got two 10″s in a row, and ended up leaving with 6 nice perch at sun down when the bite slowed. i went right back out again on the 27th to the same hole and was surprised to find the bite hadnt slowed a bit! this time a few rinky dinks were coming up every now and then until i switched from the gold diamond jig to a florescent orange flat jig tipped with three spikes. every perch after the switch went bigger than 8″, with three more 10″s hitting the ice. I left today again at sundown with 6 more keepers, all in all about 80 perch caught over the last two days. the weird thing though is i havent seen a single sunfish yet, even though there is abundant crappies and bluegills in the lake. also based on the perch numbers im seeing there has to be some big northerns or walleye in mallalieu to keep the perch numbers in the consistent 6-10″ range with minimal juveniles. ive used walleye suckers to no avail, so shiners are next on the list since mallalieu has both suckers and shiners in the lake. the perch bite though stays hot all day until dark, then it just tapers off. overall id say its not to bad of a spot to try, just need to hunt to find the other species it seems. pics to come.

Thanks for the report!

Which way are you heading from the ramp? I’ve tried fishing the ice there several times with out much luck. Nothing specfic (unless you want to) but a little help would be great.

Thanks

Sweet

Glad to hear your getting into a mess-o-fish

no problem jetdriver. most ive seen out there have gone right to the middle of the channel, where its about 9-10′ deep. i was in about 5-6′ feet, id say in the area of the dropoff into deep water. ive also tried 4′ but then the size can range from 4-12″ depending. im always up for a joint adventure too, theres some areas i want to try still, like walking back to the weedbeds in the far back bay. i saw someone had drilled a few holes around the train bridge too but theres open water 20-25′ away so i dunno if im willing to test my luck there or not.

I’ve got to work the next couple of days, but might be interested in getting together out there this coming weekend. Maybe I can get my sled running and use it to get back to those weedbeds. I spent quite a bit of time back in the swamp this fall duck hunting.
Send me a PM if you want to try to get together!!

I personally wouldn’t eat anything out of that lake since the houses around that lake used to have there waste dump right into that lake.That’s a little inside info from a guy I know that lives right by there.Just a little F.Y.I.

yeah, and the town of River Falls used to dump all of the waste from the sewage plant straight into the Kinnickinnic River, yet its a tier 1 trout stream and one of the best around. i guess its a risk some take, just like there’s methylmercury in every type of fish.