Enough Perch for a Nice Meal

It took awhile, but on March 22 and 23 my son Joe and I finally found some perch through the Leech Lake ice on Sucker Bay. We set up shop in about 12-18 feet of water about 50 yards off-shore from the resorts at the north end of the bay. Using lively fathead minnows on small Northland Fireball jigs and Northland Forage Minnow jigs we caught about a half dozen keeper perch, and one stray northern pike.

Action elsewhere on Sucker Bay was virtually nonexistent. So on Friday, March 23 and Saturday, March 24 my neighbors the Newmans and I loaded up the truck and made our way to Cass Lake, where we heard the perch bite was better. We ventured out on Pike Bay and established camp in about 8-10 feet of water. Within minutes of drilling our first holes we were catching fish. On Friday, all of the Newmans -- John, Johnny and Greg -- all caught keepers, and I added a couple myself. On Saturday, my son Joe joined us and we again tried "our spot" on Pike Bay. Using a combination of minnows, minnow heads, Gulp! maggots and waxies we had another good outing. Between us, we kept a total of about 16 perch from our two days on Cass Lake, and released many more.

Saturday night was the last night Joe and I were both going to be at the lake together; he was flying back to California on Sunday, and I was joining him on Wednesday. So on Saturday night, I cleaned and filleted the perch, and using the standard Shore Lunch process, we enjoyed tasty fish fry. There's nothing like the taste of fresh perch, especially when they've been caught that very day through the ice. For some reason, I think fish caught through the ice taste better than fish caught in open water. Maybe it's because I so enjoy the entire hard-water angling experience.

I haven't been to the lake since late March, so I'll have to rely on others -- the Newmans, Bro, and Al Maas -- to keep the reports coming in.

See you on the water.