Separate Pods o’ Perch
OutdoorHub 02.23.12
There is endless debate about what fish do, where they go, what type of habitat they choose, how much their food sources impact their location. Bass do this, bluegills do that, crappies do something else… as if every individual of a given species ‘does’ the same thing.
Professional ice fisherman Dave Genz was talking about this subject the other day, because a group of anglers asked him “what perch do” on their lakes. They wanted neatly wrapped answers, “but that’s not how fishing is,” Genz told them.
Yellow perch are one of the most universally sought fish through the ice, and interest in them grows every winter. To consistently track down and catch nice ones, begin by thinking of separate masses that don’t often mingle.
In many lakes holding good perch populations, Genz points out, it’s common to find groups of perch making a living in distinctly different circumstances.
Structure-Related Perch
Some perch relate to structure, and feed on prey items that also relate to structure.
“I think of perch that hang at the base of the break,” says Dave, a concept that he has been articulating for many years. Where shoreline breaks (and other dropoffs) level off and lead to a relatively flat area, sediment “slides down the break and accumulates, like topsoil.” In that deposit of softer and harder sediments, burrowing insects gather, along with other members of the web of life. The ingredients call to certain members of the perch population.
These ‘base of the break’ fish tend to remain at the base of the break, as light levels change, as weather conditions change. “Do they move up the break on cloudy days, or come shallower at prime time?” Genz asks rhetorically. “Not really. They hang at the base of the break all the time.”
Just guessing now, but chances are these ‘base of the break’ perch have identical genetics to other perch in the same lake – yet many of those other perch do not hang at the base of the break. Many other perch, it appears, choose to roam basin areas, rarely or never relating to the structural elements and the bounty they offer.
The most likely explanation for this natural separation: the search image different perch develop – some focusing on food coming from the sediments at the base of the break, some focusing on flowing food over basin areas. In the case of the ‘structure’ perch, as long as the food holds out (and in a healthy system, it would be nearly endless), the perch remain.
Basin-Related Perch
Same species, same genetics, but Genz contends that an essentially different tribe takes up residence on mid-depth to deeper flats, roaming with moving food supplies through the winter.
“Most of the time,” says Dave, “my perch fishing on bigger lakes is on the flats.”
Flats perch are commonly thought of as deep-water fish, but deep is a relative term, he reminds us, depending on the makeup of a given lake.
“These fish can be in 8-12 feet on some flats,” says Genz, “because that’s all the deeper the flats are. Or they might be in 30 feet on Mille Lacs (Minnesota) or 50 feet on Devils Lake (North Dakota). No matter how deep they are, these are roaming schools of fish that you have to work to stay on.
“You might get on a big school and be catching nice fish, but they can be gone in 10 minutes, or gone when you go back there the next day.”
As modern ice anglers have learned, when any fish are roaming flats, it’s the food source (and perhaps light levels) that motivates where those fish are at the moment.
Getting on these fish, then staying with them as they move, is one of ice fishing’s big challenges, and it’s what motivated Genz to come up with what is now called Ice Trolling. It was he who came up with the concept of football fields and tennis courts, rules of thumb that have helped us all be successful on flats.
“You start by taking on this big flat,” says Dave, “running in a line, drilling a group of holes, checking them. If you don’t catch fish, you move about the distance of a football field and drill another group of holes. You keep doing this (running parallel lines, so you can cover the whole thing if time allows and you need to) until you start catching fish.
“Then, you start drilling holes in every area the size of a tennis court. That lets you refine your location until you’re over nice fish.”
When actively trolling flats, Genz and his fishing partners divide duties. One person fires up the Strikemaster and drills holes, while one or more anglers come behind the driller to check holes. Dave leaves enough transducer cord hanging below his Vexilar to let him stand up and set the ‘ducer in each hole, swishing it back and forth to increase horizontal coverage. In some (but not all) holes, he drops a lure to see if he can call in fish from a distance. Because he’s wearing an Ice Armor suit with padded knees, he can kneel down comfortably and fish quickly from hole to hole. Once perch are located and the catching begins, out come the Fish Traps.
Flats fish being what they are (mobile), good action can last for just a few minutes to maybe an hour, and then the fish are not there anymore. Especially if you’re fishing with a group of people, you can work together to determine direction of travel and try to stay ahead of the perch. The challenge is endless, but the rewards are big when you connect.
On some lakes, virtually all the biggest perch appear to choose one or the other.
“Devils Lake is like that,” says Genz. “The big perch are all on the flats. The (structural) features, when you find them, seem to hold walleyes.”
Size Segregation
What’s interesting, too, is that on larger bodies of water, groups of perch seem to set up according to size. “If you’re catching 9-inchers,” says Dave, “they might all be 9-inchers.”
But on smaller lakes, “the perch run together more,” he notes. “The 9-inchers and 11-inchers can be in the same school. So you can’t give up on a spot just because you start by catching a few small ones. You just have to figure out how to catch the 11-inchers.”
They Don’t Much Meet
The big takeaway is that these groups of perch seem to remain segregated. “I think of them as two separate masses,” says Genz. “There’s a population of perch that that hangs on the base of the break all the time, and there’s a population of perch that roams the basin all the time.”
As odd as it might sound, Genz does not believe that basin perch occasionally swim into the base of the break and take up temporary residence. He thinks they are driven by their search image, learned predatory skills that make them good at eating in that basin environment.
And ditto for the structure-related perch hanging at the base of breaks.
Once you have this notion of separate perch masses, it becomes easier to develop a fishing strategy. You might start out the day drilling holes along the base of shoreline breaks, and breaks leading off offshore humps, to see how you do.
If you are not successful doing that, it can be time to take off trolling along basin flats.
“Having a plan,” says Dave, “is what keeps you warm and keeps you in the game, until you start catching fish.”
Knowing about the separate masses of perch is a launching pad for plan making.
Note: Dave Genz, known as Mr. Ice Fishing, was the primary driver of the modern ice fishing revolution. He has been enshrined in the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame and Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame for his contributions to the sport. For more fishing tips, go to www.davegenz.com.
