The ice fishing action on Leech Lake's Sucker Bay was 'hot' during the final 10 days of February. My son Joe and I spent President's Day week ice angling for jumbo perch and we were not disappointed.
As usual, I was fortunate enough to be in the company of my neighbors and good friends Tom Malay and John Newman. We fished primarily two spots: in front of Newman's house and at "The Birches." See my July 13, 2006 entry for more on "The Birches."
The fishing in front of the Newman's was slow and produced relatively small perch; hardly a keeper among the fish caught. But when we moved John's fish house (see picture below) to "The Birches," the entire situation changed dramatically for the better.
On Wednesday, February 21, Joe and I fished from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. CT and caught in excess of 200 jumbo perch!! As fast as we could put our fathead minnows on our lures and drop them into the holes in the ice, we were hooking fish. The action was so fast and furious that at one point Joe quipped, "I wish they'd stop biting for just a minute so I could get something to drink."
We were using fairly standard ice fishing lures. Joe was using a Lindy 1/16 oz. Techni-Glo Frostee Jigging Spoon in glow red, while I was using a Northland Eye-Dropper jig in a golden perch color. Both lures were baited with the common fathead minnow, which we purchased at Froggy's Sports in Cass Lake, MN. We bought four scoops of minnows (and for those you familiar with the area, the scoops at Froggy's are twice the size you used to get at Leroy's Minnows) and we still nearly ran out of bait during the week.
Despite the enormous amount of perch we caught, Joe and I kept only 8 fish (see picture above), just enough for a hearty meal. As I've written here before, there is nothing better than a meal of fish caught, cleaned and cooked within a matter of hours. And when those fish come through the ice, they somehow taste even better.
In addition to the perch, we also hooked our fair share of northerns and one 5-6 lb. eel pout.
All in all, another fantastic ice-angling adventure on Leech Lake.
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