It has been just about 30 years since I last fished Deer Creek through the ice. My last time was during the first season that the lake was opened to ice fishing. Keep the perch but throw back all the trout. Got lots of perch and grundles of BIG bows and browns. Moved to Arizona shortly afterward and since I returned the perch population has not been very good…and the regulations were…?
Met up at a top secret location today. The only other BFTers who knew about it were Pikeman, Perchinski, Richy from Layton and his buddy. Of course there were about 20 other anglers who also knew about this top secret spot. We were not alone. But, we caught more than our share of the fish.
I saw more perch come out of Deer Creek today than I have in a long time. Unfortunately, most of them looked more like Fish Lake perch, but at least they were not Pineview perchettes. Pikeman dinged a few over 10 inches and Perchinski iced a few decent sized ones in among the plentiful adolescents. I got 12 to 15 perch but none big enough to brag about. Kept a half dozen for the bait board.
There were a few slimers that showed up today to bend sticks and stretch strings too. The Richy duo scored three or so. Pikeman got one nice one and I dragged in 3 colorful bows my own self. More fun than the dinkster perch.
The perch seemed to be swimming around a fairly large area that was between 45 and 55 feet deep. There were a lot more on sonar than ever hit the ice. As usual lately, the bite was light and you had to be quick. Deadstick rods got bit but the fish were usually gone before you whiffed them.
Good meeting you guys out on the hard deck. Better than sitting at home…or almost anything else except fishing.
I know I will catch a lot of flack from those who do not want fragile spots highlighted to closely. But, I think that BFT members have the right to know where we were fishing. So, on some of the pictures I have included the exact locations.
**Sorry, man. Once I got started I couldn’t stop myself. Heck, I even “G - Pee - Sed” a couple of spots out there. But then again, so did just about everybody else. **
I guess that spot is gonna be dead from now on with all of the lurkers hittin’ it.
Hey tubedude thanks again for those nice jigs you are a good buddy. You crack me up I can’t wait to read what you right after every time I fish with you. Richie nice meeting you and your friend. It was good to meet you Mike. Did one of you guys leave your broken chair for me. If you want it its going to the land fill. LOL PS TD lets go again before you retire I will keep my eye out for another cold hole [;)]
Glad you like the new “PP” jigs. Hope they help in the tournament tomorrow. Also glad the “holy jigs” helped put some more perch on the deck for ya. When you got through raiding my stash there wasn’t much left. But, I know the guy who makes them.
I am already retired…but not from ice fishing. Just tired. We shall do it again some more. Gonna try to get TubeBabe down the hill next week if the weather plays nice for at least one day.
Always enjoyable fishing with ya…just so I can have something to write for you to laugh at. We usually have something laughworthy going on. That’s one of the great things about fishing. Somehow you just can’t be grouchy and fish at the same time.
Well damn td I wish I knew you was headed there I would have have stoped by and hi to buddy. We hit OUR super secret spot today, with about 50 of my new closest friends, and did not do nearley as well as you guys. buddy landed 4 lost 2 and I just lost 2 and londed none. He got one pearch that was a fatty though about 11 in. We need to get together and hit the ol hard deck my friend.
Glad to hear you guys had lady luck on your side though.
I had a great time seeing you again tubedude and also meeting you pikeman. I just wanted to add a few photos of the same trip that I took. The largest perch was caught by Pikeman.
Just wanted to let you know that I ate the trout and the perch we caught this weekend and the trout was the best I’d had in awhile, and the perch I used your recipe with the panko and it was spectacular. Thanks
Hey, I fished it in the “olden days” too. Happy days. One rod, a bucket, a hand auger. No ice sled, sonar, ice shack or any of that other silly stuff. Walk out on the ice, drill a hole almost anywhere and fill a bucket with nice perch in an hour or so.
Here’s a picture of a batch caught within a short time off the Island in the early 80’s.
By the swarms of people there Saturday you would think it was hot! Fished off the point of the island and Rainbow Bay area caught a few from each. It was slow!
**It really wasn’t what I would call HOT when we fished it Friday. But, at least a couple of our group went back over the weekend and found it had dropped off even more. **
That’s the way it is with fishing in general and with Deer Creek especially. Enjoy it when you get into them and keep moving and looking for active fish if you ain’t gettin’ much action.
One of my favorite expressions is “You can’t catch them where they ain’t.” But it is also true that just finding fish is no guarantee you will catch them. That is the worst thing about having a good sonar. Sometimes you see lots of fish but can’t buy a bite. I think that is worse than fishing without sonar and letting yourself believe that there are no fish in the vacinity. Easier on the ego.
It has been just about 30 years since I last fished Deer Creek through the ice. My last time was during the first season that the lake was opened to ice fishing. Keep the perch but throw back all the trout. Got lots of perch and grundles of BIG bows and browns. Moved to Arizona shortly afterward and since I returned the perch population has not been very good…and the regulations were…?![http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/happy.gif[/img]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/happy.gif%5B/img%5D){kind=link}