7 expert tactics for catching more—and bigger—perch and crappies through the ice

#1  TARGET TRANSITIONS

Perch and crappies seek out changes in bottom structure, so start your search near main-lake structures such as long, sloping underwater points, humps, rock piles, reefs, ledges and saddles. The highest-percentage spot, though, is typically where the structure flattens out and blends in with the soft bottom of the main-lake basin, especially in 18 to 30 feet of water.

To visualize where to look, imagine you’re holding a hockey stick with the blade resting on the ice. The shaft represents the sloping side of the structure, while the blade is the lake bottom. The spot you’re looking for is the curve where the shaft meets the blade.

Panfish are attracted to such areas because they offer two phenomenal feeding options—a hard buffet table featuring crayfish and minnows along the structural slope, and a soft sushi bar serving up chironomid larvae (bloodworms), freshwater shrimp, mayfly nymphs and other delectables on the muddy basin bottom.

When I’m searching along the harder structural slant, I’ve found that gentle to moderate inclines are far more fish-friendly than steeper downhill slopes. Fish will still be attracted to steeper slopes, but they tend to focus on the lip, where the top of the hump, reef or saddle breaks and starts sliding down toward the basin. Crappies, in particular, love to relate to the rim, suspending a few feet away from it. If you scope the area with your sonar unit, they’ll stick out like sore thumbs.

I’ve found that perch, on the other hand, associate more with the flat tops of structures, as well any pieces of cover—isolated boulders, sunken logs or weed clumps—that lie on the gentle to moderate slopes. They remind me of cows on a hot sunny day, crowded around the few shady oak trees on a modestly sloping farm field.