Walleye through the ice?

[ManKinD]

Anyone care to share some secrets on bringing Pickerel through the ice? I usually fish around Saskatoon and have not had any success. I usually look for some depth, often 15 - 20ft and i put a dead minnow on a jig head just off the bottom. I have also tried spoons with some light jigging action but have nerver had a hit. The odd part is that ocassionly when i can see down to the bottom i never see them go by either. I see every other species fish inlcuding minnows and perch but never Pickerel.... why?

[Fender]

Have you tried them in the shallow waters? We've had our best pike fishing under 12 ft of water.

[clint clysdale]

I use to fish blackstrap 4to 5 times a week and never found a pickeral once, It was hard cause you cant keep the perch away long enough to try and catch something else. I do alot of fishing at willows dam out of assinoboia and we fish in about 10 feet of water and can see all the fish, and we do see pickeral, the thing is that they look so much alike when looking at them from a top veiw, you can tell though because the pickeral are a bit bigger. we could sure catch there attention but could not catch them. we use little lindy jig heads and maggots and the hawger spoons,,,,,,,,,,,, these work great.

[ManKinD]

Fender:

I meant to refer to Walleye when i mentioned Pickerel, it is the slang here i guess.

Clint:

I only caught one pickerel in my life and that was at blackstrap. I was fishing for perch and was just shy of my limit. The other guys were packing up to leave and i was hunkered over the hole looking for my 10th. I caught one however it obviously was no perch as it felt very heavy and i fought it for some time just to get it up to the surface. Head came through the hole and i caught my first pickerel through the ice. It got stuck in the hole as it was very fat in the middle and i only had a 6" hole. Turned out to be an eight pounder. I was very happily surprised. However it must have been luck as it was my only one. We were in about 12 - 15ft of water and i was fishing just off the bottom with a small bumble bee hook with a piece of minnow. Always just caught perch with it just like you said. Not sure how to repeat my one success.

[clint clysdale]

of all the places ive fished which is quite a few foe only being 23 years old I found that there is no better place to fish for pearch than black strap. and its easy to find them, you just go to where the shacks are. I found it just as good in the summer, I usally go to the pump house to fish, found it to be the best producer. any other good spots you recomend at black strap, or any other good lakes you know of would be very much appreciated. thanx

[Guest]

Well i do not know what to say about Blackstrap anymore. Last spring there was a bunch of winterkill with perch washed up on the shore by the thousands i heard. I have not been there recently but i hear this winter there is a huge algae problem, very green and thick. I don't know exactly what that will do to the fish but i don't believe it is positive. May be another winterkill year. I know that there always has been a lot of fish in that lake, but i only really know how to catch perch. You don't need to go by shacks, just find some depth usually at least 12 to 15 feet or more if you like and if you are near a weed bed then all the better. Just drop down a small jig with minnow or other bait just off the bottom and wait for a tug.

Some guys i know caught jack last winter just with a still line with a smelt and a treble in shallow water, like 5 to 7 feet. Just put it down and wait the fish out. Also one guy i know puts his shack in the area of the Mountain and he saw quite a few fish inlcuding some nice Pickerel however he could not get them to bite last winter.

I am going to stay away from Blackstrap this year and go elsewhere.

[clint clysdale]

Are there any other good lakes in that area and what are they like?

[ManKinD]

I wish i knew. There are some small reservoirs if that is what you are in too like Bradwell, Zelma, Broderick to name a few. Some good jack and pickerel in some of those however i have not been there in a few years, not sure how the populations are at the moment.

[clint clysdale]

Well when ya do find out make sure we are the first to find out what the fishin is like. I found in my guid that alot of lakes now have reduced limits, do ya know why that is?

[Nanook]

I hate to be the one to break it to ya but Blackstrap has seen better days. Over fishing and overuse in general has taken its tole on that poor lake. Its not uncommon to see half of Saskatoon out ice fishing on a nice Saturday afternoon. No lake no matter how large can stand such tremendous angling pressure indefinetly. The sad part is once we have reduced a fishery to mere non existence we move on to the next and the cycle continues. Instead of taking those 4# walleye home to show your next door neighbor put them back. Its hard for us to understand but the thrill is in the catching not the eating. If we wanted to eat fish we would go to the supermarket its alot cheaper than a day out fishing.

When your sitting in your shack wondering where all the fish went, just think of those freezer burnt fillets in the bottom of your deepfreeze.

This article is not intended for anyone in particular nor meant to be offensive just some food for thought!

[ManKinD]

Nanook

Yes i understand your position however i think it is debatable. Yes Blackstrap has seen better days but is it because of overfishing? Just a few years ago the action was unbelieable there. The whole lake was filled with perch, millons of them it seemed. Then with the gill disease or whatever it was, washed up all (it seemed) the perch on shore in spring and all of a sudden you could fish all day and not see a perch. Since the other fish would (i assume) rely on these perch for food they may be in deline as well because of this.

You raise the issue that the thrill is in the catching and not the keeping and that saying has fundamental truth in it. However with all the money that people invest into fishing (rod, reel, line, tackle, gas, boat, motor, licenses etc) should that not include the privilege of sometimes catching what you keep?

I guess it comes down to what the fisheries can sustain. If we are fishing our lakes out (and we may be) then should we adjust the limits or rules (barbless hooks everywhere)?

[thatguy]

well, i haven't been ice fishing in years, but i know that this summer blackstrap was amazing for walleye. i'm almost strictly a sport fisher, and practice catch and release regularily, but i caught a number of 4lb or better walleye this year, right in the area of the second boat launch, the sunken road, and in the corner by the causeway. i also caught a couple of jack, one was even 12 lbs! and one sucker... that one kinda surprised me. i'm not sure how thick the ice is right now at blackstrap, if anyone knows, i'd love to find out and make my way out there over xmas