Still OK at RP..Tues, Feb 7

[TubeDude]

Another factor that contributes to fish moving shallower later in the ice season is water quality.  As oxygen levels drop and pH factors change during long spells of ice coverage the fish will move to find better living conditions.  Often this means gravitating to shallower water closer to a stream inflow.

So do you have any other theory as to why the ratio of 'bigguns' to 'littleuns' decreases so dramatically as the perch season progresses? For me/us, it seemed like about 3 to 10 just before and just after Christmas, then soon 2 to 10, then later Jan. maybe 1 to 10, and lately more like 1 to 20...Any other 'piscophilic proximations' - other than my previous thoughts of heavy harvest and them skipping school and just spreading out later??

Strictly speculation, but I suspect that the situation is a common one...90% of the fish are in only 10% of the water.  And unless you are good enough...or lucky enough...to find the spots they are currently hanging out you will be doomed to catching little or nothing. 

Sometimes the bigguns and littleuns are caught in the same general spots.  But as the spawn draws closer the bigger spawning females tend to move into staging areas...usually away from schools of smaller fish.  From input I have received from DWR studies...on Rockport...and from input and observations on seasoned perchaholics that do well on that lake...I believe there is a lot larger population of perch over 10 inches than current angler harvest might indicate.  I know I have seen some huge schools of bigger perch on sonar in the late fall...and I know they haven't all been caught out.  It is almost impossible for angler pressure alone to decimate a perch population.

As I have fished in different areas around the country I never sneeze to be damazed at the number of anglers who fish the same spots...the same way...12 months of the year.  And they catch fish a couple of times a year when fish are in the area and feeding actively.  When the fish move out or change feeding habits they blame the moon, the stars, the fisheries managers or whatever.  They never admit that if they would spend more time searching out the fish and/or changing up their presentations that they could do better year round. 

Not making any personal accusations.  I have been just as guilty of terminal inertia as anyone else.  But at least when I fish the ice I do not set up camp until I have found fish...and I move when the fish move.  I chortle and guffaw when I read reports of anglers going to the "spot where they caught fish last year", putting up their tent, drilling holes and then not moving all day.  I have seen times when fish were active in one area or one depth early in the day and then their preferred depth or bottom conditions changed multiple times in the same day.  Anytime you find fish early and they stay with you all day is an anomaly...not the norm. 

In short, there are still a ton of perch in Rockport...far more than many of us might believe.  But even though it is not a super big lake it is plenty big enough to hide a lot of fish when anglers are fishing only a relatively few spots.  And it is also likely that heavy pressure in any given area is enough to cause the schools to relocate.  And even a 10 yard move in any direction might as well put the fish on another planet for anglers who can't or won't move to find them. 

Wish I had all the answers.  But the truth is I barely know the questions.