Well, its been a LONG time since I’ve done a report. It was not a good year in 2010 for me for time on the water, but hopefully 2011 will be a better year and I can contribute a few more reports this year.
Today’s trip was after perch on Lake Monona, part of the Madison Chain of lakes, for those that are not familiar with the lake. It has a max depth of about 72 feet. Over the last few years, the size of the perch in Monona has continued to be on the upswing. Most people that want to fish perch around Madison tend to hit Mendota, and Monona gets ignored for the most part. There were two shacks within sight of me today, and they were my friends Kevin (whiskerkev) and Tom. As you can see in the picture, it was pretty lonely out there.
We set up on one of our favorite spots, on a ridge between two deep areas the comes up out of about 70 feet to 55. We typically find the active fish up on top looking for food. It took a bit to dial in the fish due to an over abundance of the clowns in this next picture. If you look at the locator, you can see it is completely lit up with a huge school of small white bass.
I decided to go bigger on my presentation to try and keep the whities off my line and I hit on a bait the perch were interested in on my first try. I know they tend to feed on blood worms, so I threaded a skinny red Custom Jigs & Spins plastic on a glow head from a ratso and the perch were receptive. They weren’t jumping through the holes by any means, but some quality 11 and 12 inch fatties where happy to come home for supper.
I ended up keeping about a dozen fish, only 5 of which crested 10″. Had a few little guys that didn’t survive trip up, but they will taste just fine so it was no big deal. The last picture is my most productive bait of the day.
I believe I probably caught at least 40 little white bass, and and a couple dozen perch. I did have a 40+” musky pay me a visit at one point, swimming by my holes close enough to the ice to smack my ducer. I could see his head in one hole and his tail in the other hole so he was close to the width of my two man clam shack. I’ve never seen a musky under the ice in 55 feet of water before.
All in all, it was a good morning to be on the ice. The perch bite on Monona should only continue to improve as the winter wears on. I measured 12″ of ice in the main basin.
A few more pictures.
1. A nice view of the capital and downtown Madison
2. The first jumbo to hit the ice for 2011
3. Another of the jumbos
Also, I set up my perch sweetheart with the Suffix Ice Magic orange line, and I must say, I really like that line. Had not used it before but it really seems to work well on the ice. Low memory and a really good feel.
Awesome report, and nice fish!
Awesome report, and nice fish!
Nice perch
Nice report John Those are some good looking perch
Nice report John and fish. Nice to see you been out and happy new years to you!
From Jeff
Nice fish & pics
Nice fish & report John.
Great report John, lots of good info right there!
55fow is crazy. I noticed a spoon dropper on one of your set ups, any other tricks to get that bait down quickly?
Lots of guys like to use the old coat hanger sinkers. Not sure if that is their true name, but that’s what I’ve always known them as. They are basically a piece of wire or lead with swivels on each end. You can make your own out of a piece of wire from a coat hanger. They serve the same purpose as the spoon I use. I like to use a spoon because its more compact and the added flash and flutter helps pull fish in lots of times. It works good for pounding the bottom and stirring up the little puff of silt that brings fish in as well. I like to use sweedish pimples for my spoons as they are nice and heavy for their size.
One thing you need to keep in mind on the spoon setup is to make sure you don’t make your dropper too long. The spoon sinks fast and if your dropper is too long your jig can get hooked on the line above your spoon on the way down and you spend your time jigging for fish that you can’t catch because your jig is all messed up.
Great Report John!
Those whities are sure fun for catching also. Especially if anyone is looking to get kids in on some great jigging action! 
Good report John. I ended up with 16. Only 3 I’m proud of out of those 16. the others will make a fine fish stick. My best color was a translucent purple with one spike. They seemd to like a different color every 15 or so. Right after you left, I had a gigantic musky buzz my hole too. It’s eyes were as wide as my hand from thumb to little pinky tip. I am bringing a tipup next time. There has to be some big pike and walleyes after those easy meals too.
I will also add it pays big dividends to have 3 guys who know how to dial in a bite and happen to have cell phones. It was also brutally cold and the bite almost never is on when it is that cold.
Nice stuff John, interesting bite! I love hearing more about how people approach different bodies of water than what I’m familiar with. Keep up the good work, jumbo perch are a treat!
Joel
Nice article, great information about perch…Thanks for the post