Multitasking Walleyes & Perch
Calvin
Christopher
It’s politically correct and
nearly clichéd, the term “multitasking”. In the hustle and bustle
work-world it means engaging two jobs at once, say tooling widgets
and managing idiots in chorus – or at home, changing a diaper
while disciplining other offspring. On the ice, multitasking
suggests catching one species while, well, catching another. And
the best example involves walleyes and perch.
Genetically
linked, the two species favor similar environments. Seldom are
these mutual habitations small either. It’s rare to find a
pintsized lake that supports jumbo perch, let alone colonies of
respectable perch and walleyes. So I fish big lakes, like
Minnesota’s Lake Mille Lacs where walleyes grow thick and long and
perch have foreheads. And this dual presence certainly transpires
on other large waters too; Devils Lake, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie,
and Lake Champlain, to name a few.
An ice fishing friend and mentor
of mine, Milt Hegland, used to say, “To catch walleyes, you have
to catch some perch, sometimes eelpout too.”
I’ve adopted this notion and
developed it into my own philosophy: “Fish for perch, big perch,
and you’ll catch some walleyes.”
Kick it around. It makes sense.
So let’s look at some high
percentage spots for multitasking, assuming, of course, you’ve
already secured a body of water. My best spots involve
transitions, both deep and shallow, but always a changeover from
one bottom-type to another.
Gravel bars provide an outstanding
example. The bar – elevated and hardened gravel – typically dips
and merges with a softer basin. The amalgamation of features
invites both walleyes and perch. Walleyes, the dominant predators,
hit the food shelf – gravel bar – and breakline while jumbos
relate more to the seam and basin, grubbing for larval insects and
bloodworms. At times, the actual point of transition – our seam –
puts you in contact with both species. Truthfully, this
oversimplifies the situation, because perch can certainly range
across the crown and walleyes often hang off the bar, but at least
you’re getting a feel for “shared structures”.
The juncture where a midlake rock
reef greets a deep flat or basin also creates a favorable setting,
so too does the base of large shoreline bar as it meanders away
from a point. In essence, you have a merging of environments,
which affords multiple species opportunity to coexist, sometimes
harmoniously, like in the case of big perch and walleyes, or
rancorously, as with perch and pike.
Questing for such prized locations
requires some labor. Mapping, drilling, graphing, and GPS
configuring are all part of the game. You’ll need a portable
flasher to see the changes in depth, and equally as important,
bottom content transitions. Bright, wide return signals signifying
hardness while a thin and dim mark tells me that I’ve reached a
softer bottom. On that occasion I’ll lay down a GPS waypoint, even
before marking or catching a single fish.
Drill a lot and jig a lot.
Invariably, my searches begin with a jigging spoon, typically a
1/8th ounce Shearwater Thumper tipped with a minnow
head. When it’s bright, I rely on plated gold and silver models,
and turn to glow green or blue under cloudy skies and at dawn and
dusk.
Oftentimes, that’s all the
lure-tinkering needed, but not always. When the flasher reveals
fish but nobody’s on the take, downsizing is in order. I’ll drop
to a smaller 1/16th ounce Thumper and cover it with
maggots or waxies instead of a minnow. Trust me, walleyes eat
grubs.
Still nothing? Time to fiddle with
colors and get a second line down, a supplementary setline. The
backup package consists of a float, matched amount of shot, single
hook, and a small minnow, usually a small shiner. Jigging calls in
the active fish and the lone minnow caters to fish in whatever
mood they are in. And quite often, my biggest perch of the day
fall victim to a plain hook and minnow. They seem to prefer the
natural presentation.
But I’m not always willing to
hunker over two lines and sit idle. It gets quite monotonous at
times. Gotta keep moving, searching for active fish. So I need a
presentation that’s mobile and appeals to both lethargic and
energetic fish. Solution: A dropline. Rigged manually, a dropline
consists of a de-clawed jigging spoon, one that’s had its treble
hook removed, but not the split-ring. To the ring, a short segment
of monofilament or fluorocarbon line – 2 to 6 inch – is tied in.
And lastly, a simple hook or small lure is attached to the open,
loose end, to which a whole minnow, minnow head, or waxies are
added. The spoon provides attraction while the petite offering
caters to walleyes and perch of all hunger levels. Trouble is that
droplines are buggers to compose on the ice, especially with
numbed hands. Good luck.
A solution is at hand, though: The
Shearwater Double Trouble. Prepackaged, this dropline system
brings it all together. The spoon part is “line through”; meaning
the main spool is fed through a hallowed chamber in the hook-less
spoon. From there, continue threading the line through the beads
and then tie directly to a color-matched treble, all of which are
included. Add more beads; swap the treble for jig or single hook;
dress it with live bait or dead bait. You decide.
Droplines account for more and
more of my catches each year. And it goes beyond walleyes and
perch. Outfitted properly – downsizing – droplines perform
wonderfully on crappies. A friend of mine, outdoor writer Noel
Vick fishes them regularly for hardwater panfish.
“Droplines allow me to present
baits, even tiny ones, to fish at any depth,” says Vick. “For
instance, I can jig for bluegills in 20 or 30 feet with a plain
hook and maggots when I have the weight of a 1/8th or ¼
ounce spoon to deliver the goods.”
“I also prefer the heavier load or
feel of a spoon versus operating with just the weight of a small
lure, regardless of species.”
So now you know the ultimate
tandem – walleyes and perch – and the ultimate ice fishing weapon
– the dropline. This winter, don’t confine yourself to single
species angling, and most definitely, make plans to experiment
with dropline techniques.
Editor’s note:
To learn more about Shearwater Tackle’s lineup of winter and
summer products, go to
www.shearwaterfishing.com , or call (763) 754-2139 for a
catalog and or dealer locations.
