ice perch

[Nichunter]

I'm in Manitoba and want to catch perch on ice what bait should I use??[&:]

[buckhunter14]

We usually use 1-2" minnows. Don't know what your laws permit or how the fishing is there though.

[Champlain Islander]

I commercially fish with an ice rod and reel all winter. They allow us to sell whole fish here and there is quite a market. Large perch love minnows but I mostly use small but heavy bibbets with no barb. Drop the lure down jig it and when the fish bites reel it up, dunk it on to the ice or in your bucket and it comes right off. If anyone needs a picture of what a bibbet looks like I can post. The lures don't need to be tipped with anything and color matters. Orange and white, chartreuse and white, blue and white are my favorites. Drop it to the bottom, reel up about 3"� and then jig it up and down the water column to about 3"™ off the bottom. Some times they like it falling on a slow drop and other times they will chase it on a slow jig up. We just lost our ice due to warm weather but it will be back. On good days I can catch 150 pounds or more.

[Nichunter]

ORIGINAL: Champlain Islander
If anyone needs a picture of what a bibbet looks like I can post.

I have never heard about those and what size jigs would you use?

[Champlain Islander]

They are probably on a size 2 or 4 hook, are mostly barbless, are made of lead and painted. I fish for perch with 6 pound test and a very light rod when in water less than 25'. In the deeper water I use a stiffer rod andfire line to eliminate missed bites due to line stretch.These lures drop like a rock and when you are on the perch they usually bite as soon as it gets down. The nice part about fishing with them is when it is real cold you can fish with gloves on since you don't have to touch the fish to get them off the hook. Just dunk them on the ice or in a bucket and drop the line right back to the school. Without a barb they come right off.
These things really work, and don't need to be tipped with any bait. When I fish next to someone who is using minnows I out fish them about 5 to one since my cycle time is so much faster.

[Phil from Maine]

CI, have you ever tried any of that stuff on white perch? As a rule I do not fish for bluegills or yellow perch so I have to ask the question regarding white perch...

[Champlain Islander]

Yup they work on the white perch too. When you get a 2-3 pound white perch you think you have a bass on the line. The white perch seem to bite better on minnows though and are usually in deeper water than the yellow perch. When I find a school of big yellows and they are puking up bait when I get them on the ice we often get quite a few white perch too. The yellow perch last year were puking up baby white perch after catching themin deeper water at about 50'. I hope to get back out in a day or two. I'll have to stick to the bluegill grounds since it is in such shallow water. Most of those bays kept the ice and the last few days of colder weather firmed it up enough to walk on. Got to get out the planks though to get past the open water near shore.

[sandilands]

where ya fishin nichunter? I'm in MB too, I've had luck with small 1/8oz jigs....... just make sure the hooks are small. Some 1/8oz jigs have walleye sized hooks. Take a variety of colours..... I like char/green, char/orange, pink, white, green, orange and yellow. I use salties..... U know the stuff. buy a cpl of tubs and split them up in sizes, use the small ones for perch or just break them in half. Stay away from pickeral rigs! unless the bite is super hot. I was up at Nassau docks and was hammering perch a few yrs back...... the family next to us was using pick rigs and wasn't catching. I gave them a bunch of small jigs and they started catching. Their 8yr old daughter caught her first eye too.
If ya have to limit the selection of colours then go with chat/green and chart/orange. My biggest hit 14". Lake WPG has some big ones enjoy. Oh and we were fishin b/w nets from commercial fisherman and had no troubles catching