Hit Newman lake friday and saturday. There's 12 inches of ice on the lake so I took my 4-wheeler out there so I could try some place other than out front of the launch. Pretty much we caught fish everywhere we tried except by the submerged island. There were fish there but few and far between. All perch were between 4 and 10 inches long, mostly small. Caught one very nice slab of a crappie.

We were using Swedish pimples of every color with out a problem as long as there were maggots on the hooks. Which tells me the maggots are more important than the lure choice.

Thinking of making a real large hole and using some of those perch as live bait for tigers. I'm kinda clueless on how to catch them in the ice though. Clearly they are not hurtin for food by the number of perch we pulled out of the water. I guess the key would be to finding where they are, deep or structure or weeds. Any tips would be cool.

G'luck!

muskie guy

1/28/2008 3:34:00 PM

Hello Ty, just though I would let you know it is illegal to use live bait for tiger's in our state. Check the deepest holes in the lake and then move in shore to find the first major depth change. Place your baits on the deep side of that depth change on cloudy days Sunny days I put them at the top of the depth change. Dead smelt and sucker are my favorites. As is a bulldawg modified to jig horizontaly with a small piece of sucker. Good luck, stay warm

Anglinarcher

1/28/2008 3:50:00 PM

Ty, I know your joking, but just so others don't get the wrong idea, you cannot use live perch, or any live minnow, for bait in Washington.

Having said that, you will find that a dead perch/fish will work better anyway (check the rules first). I have found that, at least for Pike, that you want to be about 10' to 20' deep, over some cover but not thick weeds(rock pile is excellent), and let the bait sit.

In Colorado, we were allowed 5 lines on the ice, so we would use a tip-up (or two) baited for pike in 10 to 20 feet of water, than we would fish for trout nearby. Usually we would not get but one good pike every second or third trip, and I find that Pike are much easier to catch than Tigers.

Ty

1/28/2008 6:49:00 PM

Thanks for the info guys. I know you can't use live bait and Im not even positive I can use fresh dead bait without it sparking some suspicion if I was to be checked, which happens to me a lot. We were checked by WDFW officer Tomlinson(sp?) Saturday as a matter of fact.

My buddy and I were talking about taking a gps out in the boat this year after ice off and mark down some shelfs and depth changes and other structure using the locator and gps on a map of the lake for use as referance for the following ice fishing season. I think it would be cool as hell to pull a tiger through the ice.

G'Luck all!

muskie guy

1/28/2008 9:26:00 PM

Yeah, I'm sorry I should have been more specific too. I was told by a WDFW officer that we can't use GAME fish as live bait. I still use suckers as dead bait because they use 'em for sturgeon too. Out in front of the long rock point on the North side of the lake has been good for me in the past. That is where I've found the deepest water and best rock piles. Good idea with the gps, it works.

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