trip to a perch lake

[loosegoose]

I'm trying to decide on what lake to plan a trip to for some good perch action? Can anyone provide any insight? I have been to Winnie for some fair perch action but it has been years, Thanks.

[PerchJerker]

I've been going to Winnie for years and I would classify our recent trips as okay for action (not great) and okay for eaters (but not much for true jumbos). It's a great lake to fish with tons of spots and really fun. I'll be up there twice this year.

I've never fished Leech but have heard that the perch are rebounding there. Don't know much about Cass. But I would think that between Winnie, Leech and Cass you could have a great trip.

Mille Lacs has got some true, true jumbos in it, but you typically sort through a lot of smaller fish to get them.

Another option you might want to consider is Red. We don't get that many perch there, but we always seem to get some that could be eaters while we're going after crappies or walleyes.

Hope that helps a little. When are you going?

[Team Otter]

There are several options. Are you limiting yourself to MN?

[Kyle Sandberg]

If you aren't limiting yourself Devils Lake can be really good along with the lakes in NE SD.

If you want to go on a multi species trip, go to LOW. You can get into some nice schools of perch as well as the walleyes.

[maros91]

Well, I live close to Mille Lacs so I will say there. I don't target them until after walleye closes. Middle of March seem to be the best last year. One day 3 of us went and got about 15 a piece. Most were 10-12.5" with a couple a little over 13". That was my funnest day catching perch, you would drop your line down the hole and your lure would get half way down and the bottom would rise up at meet your jig half way and bam, fish on. Best times seem to be about 8:30am to about 11am. Good luck where ever you go!

[perchking]

Hands down no questions asked, Lake Gogebic in the UP of Mich in Mid March. You Minnesota guys have some great walleye lakes but I have yet to see a Lake that can even come close to Gogebic for jumbos...

[Kyle Sandberg]

Perchking, you just have to post the pic of the mount. I think he'll go over...

[perchking]

I cant wait until the beginning of Feb, that is when the hunt starts. I am hoping with my new H2Oc, I can find some spots that I have missed in the past.

[hugonian1]

Perchking,

Nice fish. Tell me a little about this lake. I would love to make the trip over to try to catch some U.P jumbos but have no idea where to start. Are the perch difficult to find? Is there a resort/ guide you would recommend? It sounds like March is the best time. typicaly how is lake travel then? I appreciate the info.

[perchking]

hugonian1,

Right NOW is the best time, I havent seen this much action this early in 5+ years... There are pretty much at every one of my honey holes right now... Drop me an email and I can get you set up pretty nice. There are alot of cheap places to stay around here. Who knows the bite might end tomorrow or might last all winter, last year the bite was difficult to say the least, but just like any other lake it can end as fast as it starts...

[loosegoose]

Devils lake is looking it may be the lake of choice. I haven't been there so any suggestions or tips on where to stay, where to fish, etc would be greatly appreciated.

[hugonian1]

Thanks Perchking. I will send you an email.

[Team Otter]

Perch King,

Please send me an e-mail when you have a chance. Thanks.

[email protected]

[A-body]

Perchking

Is there any truck traffic on that lake? Does anyone plow roads? The tourist site says 300 inches of snow. How tough is it to get around?

Gary

[EyesonCassToo]

Perch King,I see you fish Lake Gogebic in the winter and I am wondering if you fish it in the spring and summer? I am planning to be there in June and would appreciate any info on this lake. We will be staying at Nine Pines Resort.I have fished Cass Lake for the last 6 years in June. We pulled cranks on breaks mainly at night for walleyes and was wondering if Gogebic is a night bite lake. Also would like to know of a good guide at that lake. Bear, the owner of Nine Pines is a guide and I might go with him but if someone knows of other guides I would appreciate any info.

[perchking]

I will try to answer a couple of questions in this post. I wish we had Ice Roads, it just isn't possible with all the snow or I don't think it is. We usually get about 2-6" of ice early then the snow comes so the ice is never great. I have never seen "CLEAN and CLEAR" ice on any lake in Gogebic County. We end up with about 20" during the mid winter with about 3 feet of snow on top of that. So the main form of transportation is snowmobile or a wheeler with tracks, you will never get out there with a wheeler without tracks unless you stay on the main snowmobile trail. I have seen a few trucks out there but they usually don't get to far before they get stuck. Right now is about the only time you can drive out and the only reason you can is because of the warm weather we had last week. But I heard we are getting dumped on again with 8-12 inches tonight and tomorrow so that will be the end of driving out there. Also I would LOVE to own a wheele house, but it would never get used up here, plus mostly fish for perch so I am moving ALOT until I find them.

Bears Nine Pines is a nice place to stay, and Bear is a good guide also. I am just going to warn you about open water fishing, don't expect anything like Minn, you might catch more walleyes at LG but the average length will be about 10 inches, yes you heard me right. Until Mich DNR puts a slot which I dont think they will ever it will NEVER be a good walleye lake. Number's are great quality is HORRIBLE... It is a shame also that is a great lake with a TON of structure that is way under utilized.

I know the fishing is still hot up there, my buddy went out today for a few hours and caught 3 nice one's that he told me about. 1.12oz to 1.15oz. I took a guy out last weekend from Wisconsin and when he caught his first perch it tipped the scale at 2.1 and he said "Holy dump it looks like it swallowed a squirrel" which made me laugh to see somebody so excited and to describe it like that was pretty funny...

Here I sit typing this from a Hotel in Texas, just wishing I was chargin the LX-5 for the Am.... Oh well I guess I guy has to work ever now and then...

Good Luck, I will post more when I know more. But watch out Lake Gogebic I will be back to see you on the 26th...

[EyesonCassToo]

Thanks for the info on Lake Gogebic. We will try it this year and see how we like it.

[Team Otter]

Hawkeye43 and I are headed to Lake Gogebic for 4 days mid-March to fish with perchking.

So STOKED!

[perchking]

Cant wait Otter,

I just hope I can find you some fish, just kidding we will do just fine. This way my wife cant yell at me all the time for spending so much time on the ice, I just need to to say "OTTER'S" in town.

[Team Otter]

Or "Otta is in da house".

Is it March yet?

[hawkeye43]

TO You keep this up you will never make it to march, your heart will give out.

[Team Otter]

My heart rate has increased ~5% in the last week.

[perchking]

I went out on Sunday to find ALOT of fair weather fisherman. 2 of my normal spots were pretty crowded, so I decided to go out searching. There were 4 in my group and we ended up with 17 perch 8 crappies and numerous eyes in the 10-13" range. My buddy also caught a 10lb sucker, so that was fun to watch him reel it up with 2lb test. The biggest perch was 1.8 lbs and most of the others were in the 1.2 lbs range. I am hoping to get out again this weekend but I have a lot of items on the honey-do-list.

[MinnesotaMongo]

That would be 1.8 lbs, correct?

1.8 oz is small, even for Duck Lake...

[Team Otter]

Thanks for the report.