Winni Perch

Although walleye and pike season is closed, there is still plenty of fun left on the ice. As the season progresses, the crappie, bluegill, and perch bite more consistently. Instead of having to find them, and then having to find the presentation that they will take, it’s usually just a matter of finding them. This was the case on my outing this weekend on Winnie.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve had a real good bite going on the top edge of a flat in about 18-20’. I would go back to my spot, re-open the holes, and proceed to catch fish. My last outing wasn’t so easy. We caught a bunch of small fish right away, but not the jumbos I have been getting. I figured they might have slipped down deeper, or moved further along the flat. I tried both with only a few jumbos to show for it so I decided to pack up and hit some new water.

On Winnie, the ability to move quickly and cover water will help your fishing success greatly. If you are not getting big perch move until you do. I usually only give a new hole a few minutes before I move on to the next one. This usually means drilling a lot of holes. I always keep my blades sharp on my Strikemaster Lazer. Having a fast cutting, light-weight power auger pays off when your are searching for fish under 40” of ice.

My third spot was the winner. We found a school of jumbos on the bottom edge of a mud hump in 28’. We were using glow devil jigging spoons tipped with both whole minnows and just minnow heads. The big perch were aggressive, so we mainly used minnow heads. I like to use just the minnow head if I can. With less bait between the fish and the hook, hooking percentage will be better. The pictures are of me with some nice perch and the limit of perch the guys took home. We caught and released plenty of other nice fish throughout the day. Enjoy the warm days on the ice while you can!!!