Do you love big bluegill?

Deep Creek Lake Jumbos

Well, I finally got to do a little ice fishing for some big yellow perch out in western Maryland at Deep Creek Lake. I stayed with my friend Ron and we fished 2 1/2 days on the lake and were joined the last half-day with our buddy Dan. I wish I could tell you that we murdered them, but the truth is that we worked very hard for a total of 58 yellow perch and one walleye during that time frame.

As of Jan 1, 2010, the Maryland DNR has imposed a 10 perch daily limit per angler at Deep Creek and this may very likely maintain the trophy perch fishery at this mountain top powerhouse for a long time. Although not heavily ice fished, the lake does offer consistant opts for quality ice fishing in the mild Mid-Atlantic region.

We jigged up the majority of our fish from 18 to 22 feet of water with Rapala Ice Jigging Raps in W3 and W5 in gold or silver tipped with maggots. Most fish were 6 to 18 inches off the bottom and some were 'pushed' into striking. We kept a sharp eye on our wire strike indicators as total concentration was in order for seeing the sometimes slightest movement of a strike.

Some of our fish were big, or at least what I would call big...of the 58 we had 40 jumbos that went 12 inches or better and a pair of 'trophy' perch that were 14 1/2 inches and approached 2 pounds. About half of our fish were 13 inches or better. Just a great size for these great tasting panfish!

Hope to get back up there again and maybe catch some more takers later on in the ice season. The ice was 10 in and the weather was mild with 40 F temps and little wind. All in all....a great trip!

Comment

You need to be a member of Bluegill - Big Bluegill to add comments!

Join Bluegill - Big Bluegill

Comment by Howard Webster on March 16, 2010 at 1:03pm: Jim do they allow any tipup fishing there just curious. I end up catching most of the bigger perch on a tipup with minnows

Comment by James Feasel on February 21, 2010 at 11:48am: Congrats on a fine couple of days on the ice. Those are jumbos for sure.
I caught my 1rst yellow perch thru the ice last weekend during a tourney in north IN and won $75 for big bluegill (9.5").

Comment by Bruce Condello on February 20, 2010 at 7:37am: Jumbos make me hungry!!!

Comment by John Cachel on January 21, 2010 at 7:16pm: THATS BIG PERCH! You are lucky to fish Deep Creek Lake ..... Jumbo Perch and BIG bluegills! Did you catch big bluegills there thur the ice?

Comment by John Sheehan on January 18, 2010 at 7:53am: Excellent report on great Perch Jim! Like your wire Bobber. Would like a full explanation on how you made it!If you feel like explaining that is.
What do you think of the South Bend wire bobbers? Hope I got it attached correctly!Gonna use one for the first time next outing. I am getting tired of getting my line caught up in the coiled spring ones.I've destroyed two of those in the past two years.