In the early 2010's Yellow Perch were first detected in Curlew Lake. Since then their population has exploded. Unlike a number of our other perch fisheries these fish maintain a large average size and fish above 10" are more the norm with the occasional 12-13" perch mixed in. The lake is regarded by many as the state's best Yellow Perch ice fishery. With that in mind my wife and I headed up to ring in the New Year with a little perch-icefest.

We found the ice anywhere from 5-8". I drilled a couple test holes and in the first hole I marked a large school of perch below. It didn't take long to confirm they were indeed perch. I never left that hole all morning and pulled well over 30+ perch ranging from 9-11" from that one spot alone. My wife bounced around a little bit finding fish in holes adjacent to me or deeper. Within 3 hours we had nearly 50 perch chilling on ice and had released many more. It was a perch bite unlike any other I've experienced.

We caught fish on a variety of lures but smaller tungsten jigs were responsible for most. I've posted a video of a new Washington Ice Fishing video series I am kicking off below. Enjoy!