I fished RP last Sat afternoon roughly out from the 2nd bathroom on the west side as you head towards Oakley. I was in 37 FOW. Started fishing about 3pm (wanted lines in the water at 2:30, but...) and there was a group of 3 guys fishing within 30 yards of "the spot" I wanted to try. They had been fishing since 11 and probably had 25 keepers and some REALLY nice jumbos on the ice. I asked if they minded me with 25 yards or so, and they said no as they were leaving soon. One of the guys was still pulling perch out right up to their leaving about 3:45 or so while his two buddies and myself were not getting much action at all. When they left, I went over and tried the gentleman's hole that was still catching fish, caught a couple dinks and one nice 10"+ female, then it went cold. I started drilling holes to the south of me. and probably ended up 70 yards or so south of where I started. I'd catch a few perch in each hole then it would shut down. The fish completely turned off at 5:15. Perch eyeball on a white teardrop jig with an orange and black eye worked best. I caught 7 keepers between 3 and 5:15. A couple were pushing 11". The others were between 9-10". Probably caught another 20 or so that were dinks, so my ratio was 3-1 dinks to keepers.
The shallow water theory later in the season would seem to jive with what I've seen before. 2 years back, we were catching perch in the Pineview Narrows in early March in 13 FOW. Sadly, I haven't laid eyes on a perch in there since. It's like they just vanished.
The shallow water theory later in the season would seem to jive with what I've seen before. 2 years back, we were catching perch in the Pineview Narrows in early March in 13 FOW. Sadly, I haven't laid eyes on a perch in there since. It's like they just vanished.