Perch Recommendations?

[Aim Low]

Hey folks,

I've been doing a lot of reading up on the various pothole lakes that have been illegally stocked with perch around the Edmonton area. I was wondering (personal recommendations) which lake would be my best bet to bring home some decent sized perch...I know that's a bit of contradiction when it comes to these lakes, but alas...

I just grabbed an auger at the Fishing Hole (with power drill adapter) and I want to give it a try. Plus I want to introduce my wife to ice fishing. She also needs some fish handling practice, so hundreds of small perch would be good practice, lol.

Any help would be appreciated!

P.S.: I’ll let you guys know how the adapter that came with the auger worked, seeing there has been some questions floating around the board lately about these things.

[Sundancefisher]

Hey folks,

I've been doing a lot of reading up on the various pothole lakes that have been illegally stocked with perch around the Edmonton area. I was wondering (personal recommendations) which lake would be my best bet to bring home some decent sized perch...I know that's a bit of contradiction when it comes to these lakes, but alas...

I just grabbed an auger at the Fishing Hole (with power drill adapter) and I want to give it a try. Plus I want to introduce my wife to ice fishing. She also needs some fish handling practice, so hundreds of small perch would be good practice, lol.

Any help would be appreciated!

P.S.: I’ll let you guys know how the adapter that came with the auger worked, seeing there has been some questions floating around the board lately about these things.

You won't catch a mess of 12 inchers in any pot hole. Just hoping for a mess of 6 inchers. Make sure you take your daily limit. Hasse, Morinville, Cardiff to name a few...

Use very small hooks with a mealworm or maggot on 4 lb test and a rod with a spring tip of some form or fashion. Very important to not just use a straight rod of any kind. Not enough action to see the bites.

Cheers

Sun

[Geezle]

Hey folks,

I've been doing a lot of reading up on the various pothole lakes that have been illegally stocked with perch around the Edmonton area. I was wondering (personal recommendations) which lake would be my best bet to bring home some decent sized perch...I know that's a bit of contradiction when it comes to these lakes, but alas...

I just grabbed an auger at the Fishing Hole (with power drill adapter) and I want to give it a try. Plus I want to introduce my wife to ice fishing. She also needs some fish handling practice, so hundreds of small perch would be good practice, lol.

Any help would be appreciated!

P.S.: I’ll let you guys know how the adapter that came with the auger worked, seeing there has been some questions floating around the board lately about these things.
Well, I can only speak for Hasse, but there are tons of little guys there. Only a handful worth keeping (if that) but lots of action :)

[Wulfespirit]

If you're going to have the benefit of a tent or warm weather, you can also simply fish without a rod. Just hold your line over your pointer finger .. you'll be able to detect very light bites as well.

Unfortunately, you're not going to tag many big perch in the Edmonton area but Hasse, Cardiff, Mink, Jackfish, and Mornville will all keep you busy with little guys.

[Aim Low]

Thanks for all of the responses folks!

As it seems, all of the lakes have stunted real bad then, lol. I was just wonder which one was the best one to hit. I guess there is no real answer.:)

Just hold your line over your pointer finger .. you'll be able to detect very light bites as well.

Yeah I've had the stocked perch lake experience before, lol. There is a lake outside of Fairview that was illegally stocked with Perch. My friends and I used to have contests to see how many perch we could catch...we usually got bored after 50 then started screwing around. Figured it would be a good intro for my wife.

Likely won't be going out today, windchill is like -32.

Thanks again!

[BH1]

Hey thanks for the info, I to have also been wondering about good places for a lot of fish. I was wondering if anyone knows of an online map marking the Hasse, Morinville, Cardiff perch ponds. Also are the waters clear enough to see the fish or can you only feel the bites with your finger. Thx

[Dylan]

I was out at Hasse Lake today, on the ice for about 4 hrs. Between the wife and I, landed 26 perch but not one over 6". Fishing about 150 M straight out from the dock, you could watch them take the maggot about 6' below the ice. Not much for "real fish" but would be a great place to take the kids or grandkids for decent action.

The only thing that worked for us out there today was maggots. Every one of these fish we landed we watched take the hook. Even though the depth was about 12' to the bottom, we were fishing about 4-6' below the ice because that's where they were schooling. The bites were so light that we wouldn't have felt them on the rod and barely noticed them on the finger, you pretty well had to fish by site in this situation. Mind you, we were really only catching "minnows" at that size. Saw a couple perch in the 9-11" range, but no hogs and didn't see any 'bows either.

Here's a great link that has driving directions and basic info about many of the pothole lakes around Edmonton. Alot of the data is outdated but it will help you get there anyways. http://flyfish-edmonton.webs.com/edmontonlakes.htm (http://flyfish-edmonton.webs.com/edmontonlakes.htm)

[WayneChristie]

I fished perch again today, and tried a little deeper than usual, so I could barely see the maggot, but I am using a Marmish rod and you could see every bite, if they lifted the bait you could see that too with the indicator. cant beat it for sensitivity

[BH1]

Great link for ponds. Do you know if all those ponds/lakes are fishable during winter or worth fishing, or should I just stick to the ones previously listed. As well I noticed that it said said some are in a provincial park or you can only use electric motors during the summer... does this mean that you cant use gas augers during winters?? As well where did you buy the marmish rod/indicator from. thx

[oagie]

I few years back a friend who works at one of the local fishing stores and I got into a conversation like this.

As with any trophy size fish you need to go bigger. If you fish with little jigs and maggots expect the 6 inch fish.

He would fish the deep water in Travers reservoir using 3 inch minnows. He would take his auger and his rod and drill a hole ever 30 yards. Moving every 10 minutes until he found fish. Sometimes he would be over 100' of water and would need a 1oz weight to take it to the bottom. But the guy could catch a 10" perch or two a day.

Personally, im not that hardcore.

[WayneChristie]

got the Marmish at WSS and glad I did :)

[linger]

try spring lake some not bad perch there:wave:

[jacob1202]

do me a favour.... when u catch 26 perch out of that lake that are the size of ur thumb... take ur thumb and forefinger and squish their little brains out and then put them back... no im just kidding... but they are such a nuisance... used to be able to catch some decent rainbows out of there... now its just a perch cespool... its bad

[linger]

mornville and cartiff are pretty clear not to sure about hassie hope this helps:wave:

[Kim473]

I will put a little kink in my line with my fingers, the wieght of the hook will str8 en the kink out and when a perch picks the hook up u see the kink and set the hook. If you are willing to travel a little long lake not bad with perch and pike also. About 1.5 hours north east towards boyle. You can see them in 10 fow. Hook about 2" off the bottom.

[AK47]

As with any trophy size fish you need to go bigger. If you fish with little jigs and maggots expect the 6 inch fish.

.

Not really true when it comes to big perch. Try convincing them to take big bait on the last ice in March when big females a packed with eggs. They feed a lot on small shrimp and other small water bugs and thats why little marmish jigs regularly catching big perch. Last few 11 inchers I got where packed with small shrimp and none had any minnows in them. Thats why they took tiny jig.

[Mr.goldeye]

I totally agree with AK bigger bait does not always mean more big perch. My biggest perch to date was a 14incher he was caught on one of thoughs tiny jims jigs tipped with a maggot. My new favorite perch bait is shrimp. I find that if the perch stop biting all you have to do is change the bait you are useing. I usally have a cycle like this; Start with shrimp, then cheese,then ham, then maggots, then a piece of minnow. If I'm still not getting into fish I move unless I see the fish.

[Kim473]

Sounds like ur making a sandwich mmmmmmmm