Archive for year 2008

Todd and I hit Navy Pier this morning for some of Lake Michigan gold.  We’ve had some success with the perch so far this year, and were anticipating that it would only get better.  The fathead minnow was our choice of bait with 1/2 ounce bell sinkers on crappie rigs. We arrived at Navy Pier around 7:00 am.  We assumed we would be fighting the crowds arriving so late.   It was a pleasant surprise to only see about 8-10 other guys fishing.  I assume most guys avoided the Navy Pier area because they are ice fishing or because of this:

Todd and I, like the other guys present, came equipped with a simple rig to break through the ice.

After about 15 to 20 tosses of the weight, we only had a small hole each to show for our work.

The perch action was fast.  They immediately hit our minnows as soon as the rig hit the bottom.  There was a little sorting out to do, but we were able to get two 15 perch limits between us out of an estimated 50-60 perch caught.   Other guys also did very well, as some guys mentioned they also obtained their limit.  Nobody mentioned perch of great size, but no one was complaining either.   The best part was only using about 2 dozen minnows.  The hits were light, but the action was constant. At about 9:45, I pulled out my 15th perch of the day, and we called it.  The fish were not large (average was about 8 or so inches), but I was stoked as it was my first time getting a winter limit of perch on Lake Michigan.