Hidden Gems

With the temps rising, my buddy Matt and I wanted to try someplace different before the ice melted away and I'd seen some pictures of some big perch being caught on a prairie pond a way away from Rapid.

Having the location through a friend, we decided to give it a try. We found the pond and found that despite the warming weather and wind, the pond still had two feet of ice on it and it was in good shape. It wasn't hard to see where others had been, so we used our K-drill to simply open the old holes and we set out to find some gold.

Turns out it was a very tough bite day. Our first location had one perch come out, but we recorded no other marks. A local farmer, who owned the land around the pond, visited with us on the ice and told us of a couple of spots where he'd caught bass and perch in the summer time.

We thanked him and headed that direction. In a featureless stock pond like this, any small hump or dip in the bottom has a good possibility of holding fish. The hard part is finding any feature when there is obviously no lake map. Marking fish was still hard to come by despite our repeated tries and lure changes.

I tried different spoons to call fish in, but when we did at last find a spot where fish were holding, they only responded to red Clam Drop Kick jigs paired with red Maki Jamei plastics for me.

We did succeed in catching a few decent perch, though nothing over 12" like we'd hoped, but they were sure fat and healthy. We chalked the trip to a learning experience, but figured it was the only time we'd be on it since the weather was heading north of sixty degrees for a bit and the pond would open fast once the sun and wind started beating the ice. We'll be back next winter for sure to try again.

Sometimes it can be hard to venture off the beaten path a little and try some place new and there may not be any lake map to help you out. But with some trial and error, a lot of holes drilled, and maybe some luck, you might just find a new hidden gem that can offer you some future success down the road.

The hardest part is taking that first step to go there. While we didn't have the best luck, we had enough to want to come back sometime since we know there's big perch there. So, until next time, keep looking on those maps for some place new to try and enjoy the late ice season while you can. The end is coming soon!