Went to Eloika Lake to try and target yellow perch. Got to the lake late on 1-March, talk to somebody who said he'd caught something like 70 perch in four hours, half of which were keepers. I went out for 1.5 hours before dark, and only caught one nice crappie (13") and a small perch.

Went out the next day, and fished from 7:00 am until about 1:00 pm. Fishing was quite slow. Caught another nice crappie (12"), four or five small (but barely keeper) perch, and one very nice (18"+) largemouth. Caught another 14" bass that I released. Quite disappointing. Tried various tackle, but the main thing that worked was a Swedish pimple tipped with maggots.

None of the other ice fishermen I talked to were doing much better.

Ice was strong (10-12"). Weather warmed up into the 55-60°F range by the time I left, and there was 1" of slush and water on top of the ice.

Anglinarcher

3/16/2012 12:28:00 PM

Years ago I use to fish for perch through the ice like an addict addicted to drugs.

I found that the perch start to spawn about now, so one day you had a school of thousands under your hole and the next they were gone.

Our key was to locate the spawning area and fish for them there. Unfortunately, that is often in very shallow water and it is tough to fish that water without spooking the perch through the ice.

PS, I don't have a clue where they spawn in Elokia.

fullybuilt2.0

3/17/2012 12:33:00 AM

Just a fyi: they don't let you keep crappie over 9" @ eloika. I not saying that you did keep them but just giving you a heads up! And I don't know if posting a report that is 15 days old help either:P LoL GL fishing and be safe;)

hewesfisher

3/17/2012 6:02:00 AM

fullybuilt2.0 - I think you got the crappie size limit wrong, regs state 9" minimum length, not the other way around. Per the 2011/2012 regs:

ELOIKA LAKE (Spokane Co.) CRAPPIE Year-round Min. size 9". Daily limit 10.
Other Game Fish Year-round Statewide min. size/daily limit.

tluedeke

3/18/2012 7:01:00 AM

Hewesfisher is correct on the crappie regulation at Eloika.

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