Summertime Swedish Pimples???

It's hot out! I recently went up to Lake Erie for a few days and tried jigging for perch using an emerald shiner. The perch weren't nailing the shiners as they are suppose to, so I came to the conclusion that the water temp is WAY too high, especially for this time of the year. Out of the several perch that I caught, they were very skinny, and weren't gorged with shiners/zebra lice, which is commonly sought this time of the year in the perch packs. If it makes a difference, the perch are suspended about 1-3 feet off the bottom at about 50-53 FOW.

With that being said, I was looking into buying some Swedish Pimples, but before I went and spent my moldy money on some, I would ask advice on how to use them, and if you can use them in the summer for perch, bluegill, crappie, or even walleye.

If the Pimples are a bad idea, I am open to other lures that may work. I'm hurting to catch some JUMBOS!!!

People really need to stop and think about their reluctance to using a bait deemed an "ice fishing lure" in warmer weather and warmer water. These fish live in a liquid environment and the only real thing they notice is water temperature. I carry a box of winter baits in the open water buckets I use for carrying my tackle in the boat. I have a bucket for crappie and panfish and another for walleye-sauger. Those Swedish Pimples are right up high on the list of productive lures when crappies go deep in warmer water or the walleyes are hanging just off bottom on humps or rock piles at mid-lake.

For the crappies I fish them with a small plastic as a tail to give the lure some minute action. I do a simple lift drop on a tight line while holding right over a crappies or perch. The lift can be fairly abrupt but the drop you will want on a tight line to feel the tick as they hit. I prefer a soft braid like Nanofil and tie directly to the lure. You can add a waxie or a minnow head or a small minnow in lieu of the plastic or leave the minnow head on one hook and put a short plastic tail on another.

Fish the larger Pimples for walleye just like the crappies, but add a whole minnow to one of the hooks. Same jigging method and again I prefer braid but use 832 in lieu of the Nanofil for larger fish, especially with teeth.

Larger CJS Jigging Demons or Lindy Frosty Spoons will get the same job done for you fishing in the same manner. Don't scratch a Jigging Rapala off as a non contender either, again using a quick lift but a tight line drop. The center treble hook cn get some tasty something hung on it to help things along.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CTom

People really need to stop and think about their reluctance to using a bait deemed an "ice fishing lure" in warmer weather and warmer water. These fish live in a liquid environment and the only real thing they notice is water temperature. I carry a box of winter baits in the open water buckets I use for carrying my tackle in the boat. I have a bucket for crappie and panfish and another for walleye-sauger. Those Swedish Pimples are right up high on the list of productive lures when crappies go deep in warmer water or the walleyes are hanging just off bottom on humps or rock piles at mid-lake.

For the crappies I fish them with a small plastic as a tail to give the lure some minute action. I do a simple lift drop on a tight line while holding right over a crappies or perch. The lift can be fairly abrupt but the drop you will want on a tight line to feel the tick as they hit. I prefer a soft braid like Nanofil and tie directly to the lure. You can add a waxie or a minnow head or a small minnow in lieu of the plastic or leave the minnow head on one hook and put a short plastic tail on another.

Fish the larger Pimples for walleye just like the crappies, but add a whole minnow to one of the hooks. Same jigging method and again I prefer braid but use 832 in lieu of the Nanofil for larger fish, especially with teeth.

Larger CJS Jigging Demons or Lindy Frosty Spoons will get the same job done for you fishing in the same manner. Don't scratch a Jigging Rapala off as a non contender either, again using a quick lift but a tight line drop. The center treble hook cn get some tasty something hung on it to help things along.

---

Thank you CTom for the insight! Now as far as size and colors, what should I get? One guy I talked to said silver with ruby is a good color as well as "Pink Lady". I was thinking of getting 1/4-1/2 oz for the big lake an maybe 1/8 oz for the smaller lakes when I'm in my kayak.

1/8 to 1/2 and adjust the size to your needs. Silver will be your best lure body finish for perch. If you can find a couple with glow tape on them this would be a great perching color. Red or orange added will enhance the silver for perch as well. I buy plain silver lures and add my own tape to them on the widest side. The pink you speak of should be good too. Personally I'd get 1/8 and 1/4 and leave the larger ones at the bait shop and when I got them home I'd add the next size larger treble hook to each using the short shanked Gammi trebles. Your Erie perch will be larger than most of your everyday generic perch and the extra hook size will help in holding onto the fish.

Again, thank you for the advice CTom! I'll be ordering some here in a few days to have (hopefully) for my next perch outing!