# What's a keeper when ice fishing ?



## 357Maximum (Nov 1, 2015)

jr28schalm said:


> i always keep all the females and throw the males back to grow



That sounds perfectly logical. :lol: I have tried doing that, but my magnifying glass always steamed up in the shanty. You got mad skills bro.


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## Thirty pointer (Jan 1, 2015)

If i plan on eating fresh fish the day i catch them they tend to be smaller .I do not like to throw some of the smaller ones back at first in case the bite cools off .


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## jr28schalm (Mar 16, 2006)

357Maximum said:


> That sounds perfectly logical. :lol: I have tried doing that, but my magnifying glass always steamed up in the shanty. You got mad skills bro.


well i learned on scoping plants, lmfao


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## 357Maximum (Nov 1, 2015)

Thirty pointer said:


> If i plan on eating fresh fish the day i catch them they tend to be smaller .I do not like to throw some of the smaller ones back at first in case the bite cools off .



I either carry a bucket to fill with water or if the ice is thick enough, I make an ice "livewell" by boring several holes together and just poking a fill hole in the bottom of said temporary livewell. Quite often the first few fish I catch go back, but not always. Sometimes it takes awhile for my eyes to adjust to my belly conditions. :lol: I have to try that "BIG BREAKFAST" thing I guess.


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## Anita Dwink (Apr 14, 2004)

What's bad is when the guy next to you has a half dozen nice perch you'd keep and he's saving them for tip up bait.


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## TK81 (Mar 28, 2009)

7' for gills, 8' for perch and specks. Bass...depends if season is open and / or if the body of water is private or public.


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## jr28schalm (Mar 16, 2006)

357Maximum said:


> I either carry a bucket to fill with water or if the ice is thick enough, I make an ice "livewell" by boring several holes together and just poking a fill hole in the bottom of said temporary livewell. Quite often the first few fish I catch go back, but not always. Sometimes it takes awhile for my eyes to adjust to my belly conditions. :lol: I have to try that "BIG BREAKFAST" thing I guess.


Yup, better off going full with no munchies


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## Anita Dwink (Apr 14, 2004)

I fish with people known to slide in a dink or 2 into your bucket when not looking. Best to count when you are getting close and re-gift the dinks if possible.


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## bobberbill (Apr 5, 2011)

I have cleaned 1 fish.. more than once.. 20 times makes a meal..


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## EMU_Flyer (Aug 23, 2010)

sfw1960 said:


> Ever notice how much bigger they look on the ice & you're hungry??
> :lol: :evilsmile


I always love the guys walking off the ice saying they caught all 8 inchers and above, but when I ask to see that great haul, I cannot see anything above 6"....


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## perchyanker (Jan 26, 2011)

Gillgitter said:


> I must admit. I have gotten home, looked in the bucket and thought "what the hell was I thinking" more than once. :lol:


guilty


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## junkman (Jan 14, 2010)

The really small perch clean and cook them like smelt.:lol:


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

If I won't keep it while fishing soft water, I won't keep it when on ice.


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## billfer (Dec 26, 2017)

Ice or regular, 8in for perch. Hasn't always been that way but had too many of those moments when filleting and feeling regret about some that looked bigger at the moment.


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

As I have always been told it depends how fish hungary you are. One guy I fish with a lot on HL keeps everything he catches. You know how small the perch can be he keeps them and cleans them. I have never saw a guy get as excited as he does when you catch a bigger fish.


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