Little behind on my video editing... been working and fishing too much so can't complain. Just got back from a two week trip to Alberta and had some amazing fishing! Got my new personal best Pike and caught a nice fat walleye along with many other fish.
This year the ice froze up relatively early so a lot of lakes were available to walking on in November. I was fortunate enough to be in the Province for a week and took my dad out for a few treks across the lake in search of Jumbo Yellow Perch. When it is early ice and you're on foot mobility is a little bit limited. The Good thing is the perch are often where you caught them in late summer and fall. Sometimes in weedy areas where the weeds have not yet died or where they have easy access to hoards of fresh water shrimp and blood worms. So don't skip by the shallow and deep mud flats where these critters like to live waiting to be gulped up by jumbo perch. When searching for perch punch grids of holes to cover the area and find the depths where they are holding. Once you find a depth you can drill more holes in that depth range and often open yourself up to a larger perch filled area. In order to bring those fish in I usually start with something flashy like a spoon or cicada. Once you're marking fish and if they don't hit the spoon you can downsize to a more subtle presentation like a small jig and plastic or a tungsten jig. Enjoy the perch fishing video from a beautiful warm day in November catching some great perch for dinner. Got to love stepping on the ice early in the year and knowing nobody else has drilled a hole in the area yet.
Guys always ask me what size slender spoon I like best for perch and I'm usually using the 1/8th oz and sometimes down to the 1/16th oz.
As you see that red box on the ice is my flasher sonar made by Marcum and it really is a game changer on the ice for locating fish, seeing their behavior and enticing bites. If you love ice fishing get yourself one of these and the only thing you'll regret is not getting it sooner. Humminbird, Vexilar and Marcum are probably your best bets.
Good luck out there, stay warm my fishing friends!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK2GanyRfzI
Early Ice Perch Searching Video
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