Hilda lake, Tucker Lake and Minnie Lake

[McShaft]

Has anyone been on Hilda, Minnie or Tucker Lake recently? Just wondering about the ice and whether there is perch in there or not. Please help

[Levy]

Hilda is a bit of a perch desert the past few years. 15 years ago Hilda and Tucker were amazing perch fisheries. A group of about thirty of us fished Hilda for perch and pike on boxing day. We were some of the first tracks on the lake (other than a few right by the launch), and there was a few inches of flood water. Out of the entire group we caught about 15 fish total and zero keepers. My gf and I caught 11 of the fish, flashers give you a huge advantage. No legal pike and most of the fish were walleye, which you can't keep there. I managed one around the five pound mark. We saw a lot of small pike swim by on the camera and there were several walleye down the hole that would follow our hooks for hours and not bite. Groups of two or three walleye would swim by in feeding mode and thats how we caught most of our walleye.

Tucker has been hammered pretty hard the past couple of years, and its getting harder and harder to get a keep pike in there. Five years ago I would catch one undersize for every five keepers. I wouldn't hesitate to say the perch population is dismal. If you have good equipment and aren't afraid to dril twenty holes you may find some nice ones. I highly doubt you will catch many but in that lake you have the best odds of catching a something worth mounting.

I don't fish minnie but i have heard lately its been producing some nice perch but its close to St.Paul so if they got wind of it there likely isn't a keeper perch left in there.

Ethel is also worth a try. There are jumbos in there but out of the last two times we went we only managed to catch one 13 inch perch. No one likes to eat those the perch from ethel the meat is full of parasites. The ones that crunch like sand when you bite them.

Manatokan is IMO the most consistent perch fishing in the Bonnyville area. You can catch perch three to six inches until you get sick of it. If you got there early and fish most the day there is no reasons why you couldn't come close to catching a nice feed of 9 to 11 inch perch. This year i have seen a few 11 inchers come out and they are healthy so if its guaranteed perch action you want manatokan. If its size you want Ethel, or Tucker.

If you don't know where to fish on the lakes send me a PM.

[McShaft]

Awsome reply Levy, thanks you so much for the info. I really do apreciate it. I have been to manatoken twice this year. Caught all small ones and about 4 or 5 big enough to clean. I'm either going to try Tucker or Minnie this coming weekend. Anyone else been to one of these lakes recently? Just wondering about the ice. I know Manatoken had plenty of ice (18" +) and I never saw any flood water. This was about 2 weeks ago before the 6" OF snow we got. PM me if you know of a good perch place within an hour or two of Cold Lake. Maybe I'll share some of my Cold Lake knowledge.

[McShaft]

I can't do Ethel...I know it won't hurt you but I just can't get my mind past those crunchy bugs in the meat. Just like Lac Des Isles.