I Bay Perch???

[BP Swing]

Has anyone been out in the open water for I bay perch lately? I see no ice anywhere not even the edges.

[rolmops]

I drove by the outlet parking lot last Friday afternoon and there was an empty trailer, so yes people are fishing. The launch docks are completely out of the water ,but the water is fairly high and Mayers on the other side has his launch open.

Did anybody try to go out into the lake from here? On my last trip in December, the east side of the channel was completely filled with sand and the west side was filling up as well.

[Mortigan]

Saw three boats perch fishing I-bay 9 days ago. Haven't seen any boats in the lake yet.

[dgio67]

i was out yesterday in the lake. keep on the west side of the channel.

[strizzy]

Well this past Sunday a buddy and I made the trip. I have never fished I Bay before, but tried quite a few areas.

We headed south of the bridge first and tried the east side from 60-25 fow and no fish. Then tried the west side from 50-30 with no luck. Then headed just south of the last markers in 60-70 and found some fish. Tried all depths here and that was the depth we found the perch. Caught atleast a couple dozen, kept only 10 in the 8-10" range. Managed to catch 4 white perch, was interesting to see them.

Caught fish both on perch rigs and jigs, my Hali's (blue colors) caught the most fish tipped with fatheads or rosies.

Pretty sure we were out there the longest of the 5 other boats we saw. Most everyone moved around, or didnt stick around that long with the exception of 2 boats that fished different parts of the west side north of the bridge. Was good just to get out with this crazy winter this year.

Can also see why people have electric anchors, line gets cold!

[jimski2]

The warmest water at this time of year is on the bottom, 39+ degrees, but as daylight increases the perch will migrate closer to shore to ready for spawning on hard bottom areas. We have caught early perch among the floating ice stuff over rocky shorelines. Warm sunny days will warm the streams up and draw the fish in close.