Catching Perch with the right gear can be a pleasure. Nothing like a days ice fishing when everything comes easy and the fish almost hook themselves. But alas not all days are like this and when times become more difficult here are a few tips to catch this exciting fish.
Make the fish take an impulsive snap at your bait.
So you know where the Perch are, you have a hole in the ice and now you have to attract and hook them but they are being stubborn. When the perch are in this mood you have to think “Mr perch if you don’t want to feed then I want to piss you off”.
What does this mean, well basically you have to use your lure as an agitant. Perch really like things that move so you really have to work those lures in many different ways to make the fish want to sink their teeth into it. A lure needs to be erratic in its movement so a Perch takes that impulsive snap. Worry less about making you lure look like a small fish but instead do really moves to really get a fishes attention and even annoy them.
Don’t stay stactic
Sometimes Ice fishing for perch comes in runs where you take a few fish for a while then things go quite. What do you do? Do you stay in your current position hoping for things to pick up or do you move. If you decide to move well how far or where to.
Well this technique works for me when fishing becomes slow. I either move to a completely new area or I just leave the fishing for an hour and go and have a coffee in my tent tehn come back later. I think drilling more holes in the same area again and again is often a waste of time and effort so I go for the easy route. Keep it simple!!!!
It all about vision
Kamikaze perch will sometimes rise 15 feet to hit a descending lure. Perch can see a long way, especially in the clear water of winter. Use this to your advantage the next time they get stubborn. Reel your lure up to the hole, and on a slack line, drop it back down again. Let it fall all the way to the bottom. This will usually get their attention – causing them to swim from great distances to see what’s up. Take the lure away from them again, back to the surface, and repeat the process.
Pay close attention to your flasher or underwater camera. If you notice a fish that is rising to meet the lure, hit the brakes about a foot above it, and start slowly pumping and swimming the lure upward. The aggressor will usually follow and strike. If you see the reverse happening — a fish following the lure down after the lure passes it on the drop, let it sit on the bottom until the fish gets there. You’ll be amazed how many will slurp it off the bottom. Now look who the sucker is!
Stimulating the instinct
Regardless of which tactics you choose, most perch fishing situations require one additional motion mixed in. Actually, it’s no motion! From aggressively jigging a spoon to the subtle strokes you use to swim an ice fly, an opportunity for consumption must be offered. “Napping” (pausing) the lure provides that opportunity by stimulating the predator instincts of perch, and it will usually entice them to gobble up the offering. The key is to vary the length of the pause until you determine the most effective time frame. Usually, this will correlate with the aggressiveness of the perch. Pause lengths may vary from 2 or 3 seconds to a minute depending on the mood of the fish. The more sluggish they are, the longer the pause. When it comes to perch, sometimes the right move for success is no move at all.
Not only are these effective techniques that will put more perch on the ice, they also have a tendency to put a smile on the face of both the youth and the adults in your angling party. Kids can simply be themselves and be successful perch anglers. For the adults it’s an easy rule of thumb to remember: Stop acting your age and start kidding around