With most community holes being pounded by people chasing Crappies the plan was to target perch in an area that hasn’t seen a lot of traffic. Mike C, Blue Fleck and myself set up near a sand shelf that drops into 18fow first thing in the morning with high hopes of finding perch. It wasn’t long and we knew it wasn’t the right move 
With Blue and Mike having enough of nothing and a short window to fish in, they packed up and head home. Me….I packed up the truck again and headed to a mud flat 
Shallower water and a mucky bottom was a good call. After drilling a dozen holes with the Lazer Mag and things slushed out it was time to start dropping bait. First jig of choice was an Orange Moxy tipped with a waxie, only because it was the only thing that pulled me a mark fishing the first spot. Dropping the jig into the 3rd hole had marks coming off the bottom in 8fow and taking the bait at a depth of 6 feet. Bingo….we have lift off
There would be 2 – 3 fish caught from each hole then it was time to jump onto the next. The bite became tougher towards noon but with the right set up you could convince some of the orange fins to bite, a sure sign of the tail end to the bite 
It was also necessary to change things up after hitting a series of holes. I would make my rounds then change things up and start again.
The jigs that open up lips today were – Burnt Orange Tiger Mini Mert tipped with a minnow head and a Orange Chartreuse Lil’ Cecil tipped with waxies, both from B Fish N Tackle – http://bfishntackle.com/cart.php
And, the Silver/Orange Slender Spoon tipped with a minnow head from CJ&S – http://www.customjigs.com/index.html
Do you see a pattern here…..Orange was the color the perch in this area wanted. No finesse was needed to entice the bite. If a fish would follow 2 foot off bottom he was going to commit himself to the offering. Being willing to pick up a try plan B was the day saver and provided the Clark’s with a perch fry 
The fish were running from 10 – 12 inches. There were at least another 12 at that size and some 8’s released to go play in the mud again.
I know where I’m starting tomorrow 
As far as the ice, I was on 7 inches today and the top is getting slushy. Hope we don’t see to much rain because the first 3 inches will go in a hurry
Good luck fishing people 
Bret
nice fish and report Bret. Have gotten out one time so far. Hope to start changing that. again nice fish–John
Very Nice fish Bret
. I should have left my “TO DO” items for later 
Keep up the reports, and when I get my stuff done, you can show me some place new.
JP
The most impressive thing is that he’s lipping those perch like a BASS FISHERMAN!!!
See you tomorrow Bret!!
Nice lookin perch Bret
Seems that plan B saved the day for more than one person today 
Nice Perch
Yeah, real nice
Got to love those perch. Nice fish guys
John
I love perch!! Great fish!
Nice fish Bret! Do I know that spot?
Great Report Brett
Those are some beautiful Jumbos 
Nice perch
She’s a beaut, Clark! Great looking perch
Dangit,
that’s the last time I leave early to make the FW happy. 
Way to go buddy Bret 
Great looking perch Bret!
Wow! I guess that’s when you know you’ve got a BIG perch!
Great job Bret! 
VERY nice perch Bret. Way to go.
Thanks for the report and pics. Great reading about perch under the ice as you don’t see very reports on catching them yet they are fun to catch. Especially big ones like that. 
Thanks, Bill
great job bret. Way to stay at ’em’
Nice report Bret!
Great to see some pictures of nice size perch on the ice.
Boog
Great pics, I love the colors of those fish!!
Great perch… those colors are really cool.
Layne Monroe
Thank you guys
The perch were in great shape. It felt good to slip some of the big girls back through the hole
Welcome to the site princeopike