Made my first trip to Eloika at the recommendation of my fishing partner, Den. He and I arrived at 10:00 AM, intent on catching a bunch of the perch that live there. Upon our departure six hours later, we'd landed in excess of 100 fish! About 75-80 of these were perch. 35 of the larger, fatter ones, 8-11", ended up on the ice. The remaining 30 or so fish were roughly split between sunfish and bass. Not a single crappie in the bunch! Swedish Pimples and other jigs, tipped with meal worms and/or maggots, accounted for all fish. A constant jigging movement was necessary, very rarely would we get strikes when our offerings were left motionless. The activity was best between 2:00 and 4:00. The highlight of the day was a fat 16" largemouth, about 2 lbs or so, that attempted to destroy my light jigging rod and reel! Upon filleting the larger perch, I found several that contained 1-3" perch and bass fry....these characters aren't hurting for food! The ice measured at about 7-8" but was covered with several inches of slush and water due to recent warm temperatures. We need another freeze to solidify this mess and keep us all safe through the remainder of January and into February. Good luck and be safe!

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