here's a report for those who may be heading that way to get their perch fix...
started off at virginia beach before daylight and found the ice along shore is good to go for parking on. tried a few different spots in the area with only a few jumbo's seen and maybe 5 keepers caught.
headed over to between duclos point and the island where i caught nothing in 45 minutes.
then i was off to port bolster where i found a ton of fish about 100 yards north of the crowd, but almost all of the big ones were very skittish and stayed a few feet away from my offerings. why, i do not know. managed about 10 keepers that were 10"+ with twice that many dinks in the mix.
then it was over to the brown huts towards maple beach (i think?). jackpot. another 15-20 10"+ fish in a couple hours with many dinks. fish were much more willing to bite in this area.
ended the day in no mans land somewhere between thorah and georgina islands in 30 FOW. i topped up to my limit with all of the biggest fish of the day (12-13") coming from this spot with very few dinks in the mix. i had a few good laughs thanks to the 2 characters having a good time maybe 100-150 yards away. hopefully they're reading this and will speak up. cursing, swearing, joking around, and then all the sudden in a very serious voice i hear "alpha one to alpha base, come in. alpha base, come in." i almost busted a gut laughing so hard Grin Grin Grin
by far the best lures of the day were a 2" swedish pimple and a 2" perch pattern buckshot spoon with a minnow tipped hook on a dropper chain. another unconventional method brought up a bunch of fish as well and consisted of a 1" black rubber nymph on a plain hook with a split shot 16" up the line. they really seemed to like the slow fall and erratic action...
i somehow deleted the on ice pics, but here's a couple from after i got home.
with the electric fillet knife it only takes a minute per fish to get perfect looking fillets with very little waste and about 40 seconds if i hurry. i highly recommend buying one if you're a perch hunter
started off at virginia beach before daylight and found the ice along shore is good to go for parking on. tried a few different spots in the area with only a few jumbo's seen and maybe 5 keepers caught.
headed over to between duclos point and the island where i caught nothing in 45 minutes.
then i was off to port bolster where i found a ton of fish about 100 yards north of the crowd, but almost all of the big ones were very skittish and stayed a few feet away from my offerings. why, i do not know. managed about 10 keepers that were 10"+ with twice that many dinks in the mix.
then it was over to the brown huts towards maple beach (i think?). jackpot. another 15-20 10"+ fish in a couple hours with many dinks. fish were much more willing to bite in this area.
ended the day in no mans land somewhere between thorah and georgina islands in 30 FOW. i topped up to my limit with all of the biggest fish of the day (12-13") coming from this spot with very few dinks in the mix. i had a few good laughs thanks to the 2 characters having a good time maybe 100-150 yards away. hopefully they're reading this and will speak up. cursing, swearing, joking around, and then all the sudden in a very serious voice i hear "alpha one to alpha base, come in. alpha base, come in." i almost busted a gut laughing so hard Grin Grin Grin
by far the best lures of the day were a 2" swedish pimple and a 2" perch pattern buckshot spoon with a minnow tipped hook on a dropper chain. another unconventional method brought up a bunch of fish as well and consisted of a 1" black rubber nymph on a plain hook with a split shot 16" up the line. they really seemed to like the slow fall and erratic action...
i somehow deleted the on ice pics, but here's a couple from after i got home.
with the electric fillet knife it only takes a minute per fish to get perfect looking fillets with very little waste and about 40 seconds if i hurry. i highly recommend buying one if you're a perch hunter
