Ice Fishing For Perch
Perch are loved by most ice fishermen. They will feed throughout the entire ice fishing season and they taste great. Because perch hang out in schools, you can catch your limit in a couple of hours if you can find them. Use your electronics to find schools of fish on the bottom. Perch will usually be found close to the bottom throughout the winter. Small jigging spoons tipped with minnow heads and maggots are some of the best baits for winter-time perch. If you see fish on your fish finder, but you can’t get any bites, try keeping your jig a couple of feet above the fish and change up your jigging methods.
Resources:
Crankbaits for Walleye
Crankbaits are right up there with jigs and live bait when it comes to walleye fishing. Walleye are known for feeding heavily on different types of bait fish and when they turn on, there is no other bait or lure that can put fish in the boat like a crankbait. When walleye aren’t feeding, it may take lots of casts just to catch a couple of fish. Most walleye anglers know that walleye can turn on and off in a heart beat, so you just keep casting and casting and you will reap the awards eventually.
While all types of crankbaits will work for walleye, your longer, slender types of crankbaits will outproduce other types of crankbaits on most days. Try to pick crankbaits that resemble perch or shad.
Some great spots to fish on lakes are rocky points, flats near deep water, weed lines, rocky shorelines and even docks and other types of wood cover located near deeper shorelines. Remember, walleye do like to move in shallow to feed, but they will spend most of their time in deeper water.
On rivers, any current breaks, bridges, dams and bends are good spots to start. Wood, docks and other types of shoreline cover that provides a current break will usually hold walleye at some point during the day.
Resources:
Door County Perch Fishing
There are many perch fishing opportunities in Door County. The nice thing about fishing for perch is that there are many areas where you can fish with a drop-shop and a half nightcrawler and you can catch smallmouth bass and perch in the same areas.
Perch fishing is simple once you find them. Half nightcrawlers and small minnows rigged with drop-shots and jigs are very effective.
Sturgeon Bay probably holds the most quality fishing spots for perch, but they can be caught in many of the bays throughout Door County.
Some of the popular areas to fish in Door County are:
Sturgeon Bay, Little Sturgeon Bay, Riley’s Bay, Sand Bay, Sawyer Harbor, Pottowatomie State Park, Egg Harbor, Peninsula State Park, Ephraim, Sister Bay, Baileys Harbor, Rowley’s Bay, Washington Island, Ellison Bay.
For more information, please visit Door County.
Jig Fishing Boat Docks
Boat docks are great cover for a variety of species such as bluegill, perch, rock bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and walleye. Most fishermen that target docks are bass fishermen though. That’s because docks almost always hold bass from spring through fall, especially if there is access to deep water nearby.
To catch bass on the docks consistently, there are a few things you need to know. During low-light conditions, bass may not be holding as tight to the docks. Bass like to use the docks because they shade certain areas from the sun. During low-light conditions, there is nothing to drive them way underneath the dock. You may still catch plenty of bass under the docks, but there will be bass spread out around the docks and within a 50 to 100 foot cast from the docks.
During sunny days, the docks will provide shade for bass and they will take advantage of the shade almost every time. When the sun is straight up during the middle of the day, expect to have to make casts way underneath the dock. This is where they will be. When the sun is not straight overhead, the shade will actually be under the dock and out to one of the sides of the dock. Most of your bass will come from the shady areas. If your lake has a lot of docks to fish, just concentrate on the shady areas and keep moving. You’ll catch more bass by the end of the day this way.
To make the most out of each dock, try to fish the edges of the docks first, then move farther and farther underneath the docks. This way, you up your odds of catching multiple fish off of each dock. If you cast way underneath with your first cast, you may spook some of the other fish if you get a bite and pull a bass from way underneath. Work the edges first then go underneath. You’ll catch more bass using this technique as well.
Fishing Resources:
- Shop Bass Jigs
- Largemouth Bass Fishing Library
- Smallmouth Bass Fishing Library
- Top Bass Fishing Trips
Fishing With Slip Bobbers
Slip bobbers will help you catch more and sometimes even bigger fish. Slip bobbers help anglers to suspend a bait directly over some type of cover or bottom structure in deeper water. This allows anglers to present their bait more naturally to deep water fish, which is a huge advantage.
The biggest key to fishing with slip bobbers is making sure you’re on a good spot. Slip bobbers were meant to be fished still, so you must find some productive spots to fish if you are going to do any good with the slip bobber.
Another important thing to remember is how deep to set your slip bobber rig. Using your depth finder, find the depth of the cover or structure that you’re going to fish and set your slip bobber knot accordingly. If you are fishing for suspended fish, make sure to set your slip bobber rig deep enough to get down there, but try to keep your bait just above the fish. This tends to work better.
Slip bobbers work for all types of species in fresh and saltwater, but they are most commonly used for walleye, smallmouth bass, crappie, bluegill, perch and other types of panfish.
More Live Bait Fishing Information
Bass Fishing With In-Line Spinners
In-line spinners work well for largemouth and smallmouth bass. Spring seems to be one of the best times to throw these lures because bass are feeding on smaller minnows at this time of year. Spinners will catch fish into summer and through fall, but spring is the time to fish them hard. A slow, steady retrieve usually does the trick.
Some of the better colors to use are all white or a green and orange mixture. Bass love these colored spinners in the spring time. You may also run into an occasional northern pike, walleye, perch or crappie.
Bass Fishing Resources:
- Shop In-Line Spinners
- Largemouth Bass Fishing Library
- Smallmouth Bass Fishing Library
- Top Bass Fishing Trips
Bass Fishing With Minnow Baits
Minnow baits are similar to crankbaits, but they are much longer and skinnier, hence the name minnow baits. These lures resemble all types of minnows and other bait fish that bass love to eat. These longer lures tend to work better in waters that bass are feeding on longer, more slender bait fish. One example would be perch. In a lake that has lots of walleye, smallmouth bass and perch, a minnow style bait may outproduce better than a regular crankbait because the smallmouth bass are consistently feeding on perch - which are longer and slender than a bluegill.
Minnow baits are also great baits for walleye and northern pike, but they will also work well for catching big largemouth and smallmouth bass.
Bass Fishing Resources:
- Shop Minnow Baits
- Crankbait Fishing Tips
- Largemouth Bass Fishing Library
- Smallmouth Bass Fishing Library
- Top Bass Fishing Trips
Bass Fishing With Jigging Spoons
Jigging spoons aren’t used by most bass fishermen, but these baits can really do a number on deep water bass. Jigging spoons will imitate a wounded bait fish and they can get down to the deep water extremely fast. When using jigging spoons, you never know what you’re going to catch either. You may catch largemouth and smallmouth bass, but also run into a big crappie, perch or rock bass as well and don’t be surprised if you bump into a walleye or northern pike either.
Let your jigging spoon drop to the bottom and jig it off the bottom with an erratic twitch and let it fall back down. Make sure to pay attention when the bait is falling back down because that’s when most of your strikes will occur.
Bass Fishing Resources:
- Shop Jigging Spoons
- Largemouth Bass Fishing Library
- Smallmouth Bass Fishing Library
- Top Bass Fishing Trips
Jig and Nightcrawler - Smallmouth Bass on Lake Geneva
I use a jig and a nightcrawler and I fish shallower than most anglers for smallmouth bass on Lake Geneva. I fish in Williams Bay and I fish just off the docks in 10 t0 15 feet of water.
I keep it basic. Lots of rock bass, small perch, bluegill and smallmouth bass. 12 to 16 inch smallmouth bass are common with some in the 3 pound range. Bigger fish are deeper, but I like action.
Just a tip…If you fish this way and you stay shallower, you may need 100 plus nightcrawlers for the day. Lots of rock bass, perch and bluegill. Oh…I almost forgot. Go light with the tackle. 6# flourocarbon line with ultra light rod and reel.
Lake Geneva Resources:
- Lake Geneva Bait Shops
- Lake Geneva Beaches
- Lake Geneva Boat Launches
- Lake Geneva Boat Rentals
- Lake Geneva Fishing Guides
- Lake Geneva Lodging
- Lake Geneva Lake Maps
Lake Geneva Dock Fishing for Largemouth Bass
I have a lot of success fishing the docks from spring through fall. The deeper docks produce best during the summer through fall, but bass can be found around the shallow and deep docks in the spring.
It takes time to learn which docks have the deeper water. Find deeper water with weeds near the docks and you’ll always have a place to catch largemouth bass. Try to find 20 to 30 docks like this and you’ll be able to catch fish consistently here.
Good baits during the day time hours: jigs, plastic worms, senkos, chatterbaits. Can’t go wrong with live bait either…nightcrawlers, minnows, suckers and small perch will work.
Good baits at night: topwater lures, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jigs, chatterbaits, in-line spinners.
Lake Geneva Resources:
