The Muddy Midwinter Perch Pattern Most Ice Anglers Miss and Other Top Stories from Fishing on SI

These 3 stories captured our Sports Illustrated fishing reader’s attention on Fishing on SI this past week.

The Muddy Midwinter Perch Pattern Most Ice Anglers Miss; How Much of the Bottom Does My Fish Finder See While Ice Fishing?; Ice Fishing River Backwaters for Slab Crappies. | Joe Shead | Kaleb Brown

In case they slipped by you, following are the most read fishing stories of the week. The Muddy Midwinter Perch Pattern Most Ice Anglers Miss; How Much of the Bottom Does My Fish Finder See While Ice Fishing?; Ice Fishing River Backwaters for Slab Crappies.

1.) The Muddy Midwinter Perch Pattern Most Ice Anglers Miss

Midwinter perch can often be found on deep mud flats. Use large spoons to get down quickly and attract fish from a distance. | Joe Shead

I was seemingly in the middle of nowhere, over a deep basin of a large lake in northern Wisconsin. The walleye guys were sitting on humps a few hundred yards away. But I wasn't alone.

I was surrounded by perch. Well, I was within 25 feet of them anyway. They were stacked up underneath me, no doubt rooting around in the mud for their next meal. My flashy spoon tipped with a minnow head proved irresistible to some of them and they clobbered it greedily. The walleye guys could have their humps. I like being out in the middle where it's just me and the perch…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

2.) How Much of the Bottom Does My Fish Finder See While Ice Fishing?

Ice anglers would be lost without electronics. The transducer's cone angle is important: the wider the cone angle, the more of the bottom you can see. | Joe Shead

Ice anglers would be lost without electronics, but many misunderstand exactly how much of the water their particular transducer can show them. Different transducers have different cone angles, which affects how much of the bottom your fish finder actually sees. The difference can be dramatic.

Modern boat transducers now sometimes send out multiple cones, so for this discussion, we'll keep it simple and talk about traditional single cones used by ice fishing electronics.

Transducers typically come in wide-angle (19 or 20 degree), medium-angle (12 degree) and narrow-angle (9 degree) models. A wide-angle transducer gives you the widest-possible view of the bottom. It's best when fishing in shallow water to maximize the area the fish finder "sees."…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.

3.) Ice Fishing River Backwaters for Slab Crappies

This is the day a small New England river finally revealed a reliable winter crappie pattern. | Kaleb Brown

I’d ice fished rivers for crappie before, but never did very well. Then, during an impromptu trip with lifelong fishing buddies to a small river system in southern New England, we hit a crappie bite that changed everything. It all made sense. These frozen backwater slabs are predictable and pattern-able once you understand what to look for.

River crappies, and many other species, move into slack, backwater areas, preserving their energy during the winter months while their metabolism is slow. These backwater spots often hold quite a bit of life. All levels of the food chain tend to congregate in these areas—everything from zooplankton to numerous species of aquatic invertebrates and small bait fish…GET THE REST OF THE STORY HERE.