Fishing Update: Lake Cascade
Lake Cascade has been fishing fantastic this spring. As expected, the large perch have been schooling up after the spawn. The ice came off late this year, May 4th , which caused a lot of anticipation for
open water. Most of the fish took advantage of the late ice, and spawned under the ice. The
various hot springs around the lake in the shallow bays warmed up the water just enough for
many of the perch to spawn. The day after the ice came off, I checked out some of those bays
and found water temps at 46 degrees.
For the last two weeks, Lake Cascade has had an unbelievable blade bait bite. My preferred bait
has been a ¼ oz Deadly Tackle Company blade bait sold locally at Tackle Toms. Color hasn’t
seemed to matter, but pink and silver are my favorite. The fishing has been as good as it will be
all year. What has been most surprising is the size of the fish. The average size perch has been
12-15 inches. It’s been difficult to find smaller fish in the 10-11 in range, which I prefer for the
table.
The perch have all spawned out and the water temps now are rising in the mid 50’s. The perch
are in schools, which makes it very fun when you find them. When you catch one, cast to the
same spot until you don’t have a bite. Then move your cast a little to the left or right, and the
school will not be far away. The main forage for perch and bass has been young of the year
perch. Along with blade baits, we’ve caught perch on jerk baits, small paddle tail jigs, and worm
rigs. If you don’t know where to start, trolling small crank baits like flicker shads or jointed shad
raps can find the perch. Stay in 5-20 ft.
Another pleasant surprise from the last two weeks of fishing has been the size and quantity of
the smallmouth bass. This week our biggest bass was 20.5 inches, with many bass over 19
inches. We have been catching the bass on the same presentations.
There’s no better time to fish Lake Cascade than right now. The weather is nice, the mountains
are gorgeous, and the perch fishing is fantastic.
Until next time, I’ll see you on the water.
Chris Weber
920.728.2818
@lake_cascade_guidedfishing
cweb823@gmail.com
Guide for Tamarack Resort
Guide for Tackle Toms