Swiss Cheese Perch Fishing

Swiss Cheese Perch Fishing

Young kids and ice fishing can be a challenging combination.  How do you make them sit still long enough to get the fish to bite?  How do you keep their interest long enough to justify all the effort just to bring the family out on to the ice?  How best do you amuse and entertain your kids in between finicky fish bites?  I answer all of these questions with a simple introduction to Swiss Cheese Perch Fishing.
For many hard water anglers, perch fishing is a matter of punching a couple of holes next to each other, lowering a minnow down one hole and a wiggler or mousie down the other and then hope to heck the fish like one of the two menu options being served that day.  Hours later, our ice angler either has a few fish in the bucket or is out of hope and full of frustration.
Kids, like the perch they seek, have been in school all week.  The last thing they want to do is sit still on a crisp weekend morning when class is not in session. 
Consistently successful perch anglers hunt for their fish.  Schools of perch are constantly on the move and so must the ice angler be if they wish to consistently put fish in their buckets.  Apply this highly successful, nomadic version of ice fishing to kids and they will be learning how to be great perch anglers, while having a blast on the ice.
So, when our family gets to the ice (naturally having made sure it is totally safe for kids of all ages) punch holes all over the place.  Not just one or two holes, but lots of holes covering a wide swath of water.  If you have some idea of the depth of the water you are fishing, try to place your holes over varying depths.  Ice augers come in a variety of sizes, but keep in mind, the bigger the hole, the more brute physical effort required to drill that hole.  Multiply that times multiple holes and thicker ice as the season progresses and you will want to stick to a smaller auger.  Also, the smaller the hole, the less likely a small child will put their foot and much of their leg into the hole, putting a sudden end to our Swiss Cheese Ice Outing.
Now then, instead of using wet baits like minnows or wigglers, place a beaded jig on your child’s line, tipped with a spike, mousie or waxworm.  Teach them how to find bottom with their ice baits and to fish within a few feet of water’s floor.  Once they have the concept down, send them on their way with a container of bait to see which hole is holding the fish.  If your kids are very young, DO NOT send them out on their own.  Instead, make a game out of it by naming each hole and maybe even pulling them in a sled from hole to hole.  ‘Next stop, is home to the Perchasaurus Rex’ yells a happy parent to their budding ice angler.
Some holes will have fish, others may not produce a bite.  Your child will quickly develop  a hankering for any hole out of which they pulled a few fish.  Their personal success alone, will help them to develop patience to sit still in that spot.  Eventually, they will find a few holes that produce fish and wear a traffic pattern in the snow, hustling from one hot hole to the next.  While they think they’re just out having family fun on the ice, they are actually learning a deadly technique to stay on top of wandering schools of winter perch.
Another side effect of Swiss Cheese fishing, is that children will learn to bounce that little beaded jig to entice perch into hitting.  When they hit a hot little school of anxious perch, they will too soon realize that fish will eagerly hit a beaded jig even after the bait has long since been devoured by a prior perch.
Now this is really where independence comes into play.  Make sure the ice surface immediately next to the hole is void of any snow and reveals only a hard ice surface.  Since the beads on a jig eliminate, or at least minimize, the hooking efficiency of the barb, most landed perch will pop off of the jig by simply crash landing them onto the hard surface next to their ice hole.  This will allow your child to be completely independent as they cover the Swiss Cheese ice pattern and soon learn to fill their ice buckets all by themselves.  This is how we turn learning into fun and little kids out on a weekend family frolic into highly-efficient seekers of the perch!!!
My name is Jonny and this is my Swiss Cheese Perch Fishing Adventure!!!