TOPIC:

Happy 2023 to everyone.  Read the article about the guy catching those 2 record burbot a couple weeks ago, would love to see how one of those taste, the article mentioned he had limited out on perch out of portage?  I enjoy perch fishing but its had sometimes to get over to cal river, anybody want to give up some info on winter perch out of portage?  Out in the big lake? Up the ditch?   Thanks  
 

Burbot taste really good. My grandfather called them, "poor man's lobster" and got really excited when we'd catch one through the ice. Firm, white, buttery flesh.

Can't help on the perch, tho...

There’s plenty of info on the board if you go through old reports. All the fish in the southern basin don’t pile into the river at 95th or stack up at Navy pier. Fishing open water from Inland to Portage and beyond can and will put you onto schooled up prespawn fish from Thanksgiving through Easter. Best fishing is usually over relatively deeper water on clay. You can use the coast guard charts to identify areas to start looking. The windows of opportunity are usually pretty short, you need a few days of favorable winds for the water to calm down and set up. Gary Light is a good place to start searching, but the shoals off inland over all the way to the Port have produced in the past for me and lots of others.

Thanks for the info, gives me an idea of where to start.