Hit Strawberry this morning on the toon from 6 to 11am. Water was glass till right about 10:30 when the wind went from zero to 15 out of the south in about 5 minutes! Funny thing was although I did well during the calm conditions, the cutts were on the bite non-stop while I was fighting my way back against the wind.
Fish were stacked pretty much in all levels of the water column, surface water temps were 55 - 56 degrees. Most cutts caught were in the slot, and I never hooked a bow.
Thanks to Joe Dizzy who gave me some tips which really helped. I had the most success on Denny’s Stillwater bug - at least my version of it. Interestingly the bite slowed before the wind came up and I moved from an intermediate sink to full sink line. I probably caught more on the full sink than the floating and intermediates. Go figure.
Welcome to the site, don’t know if you’ve been watching posts long enough to have seen that Pikeman is putting a perch fest together in January at Rockport… Sorry I’m fuzzy on the details of when but should be a fun get together to catch some fish and eat some treats and meet a few BFT’ers and other fish hounds… Where are you from? Just curious so our recommendations will be more applicable to your home turf… Later J
Welcome to the site. Still trying to figure out perch cycles and patterns myself. You should sign up for the Ice Challenge (see Utah Contests page). I do it as a motivator to keep fishing and to get some variety in species and locations.
Sounds like you’re on my end of the state, and I’m hoping for better perch out of Hyrum myself this year… I didn’t do very well last winter, the year before was good for big fish, but it’s seemed to really crash… Hopefully this year will be a little better… You might also try Newton, it’s not big fish, but there are some perch there to keep you entertained… Since the water was so low for a couple years the numbers at Newton are a lot less this year than last, but the size is a little better… Instead of 7", I’m seeing some 9" this year… Anyway good to have you on line with us, and looking forward to your trip reports… Later Jeff
Hyrum is still open water. Mantua is at the high risk level, it was ok then it melted to danger level and it’s just starting to refreeze but I haven’t checked it yet. So if you try make sure you check as you go it’s never very consistent in thickness so good to use a spud to try and stay safe.
Thought I would get on the site before ice fishing starts. I like to fish for anything that is biting. Want to find some perch through the ice this year.
