November 9 2009

When the heat comes to New England especially when we are into November, with the air temps at 70 degrees, how can you not want to hit the water and search for a few fish? Got the kayak ready and loaded a couple of things into the truck and headed for a close pond for a couple of hours of fishing.

This time of year it is time to start getting into the mode for ice fishing and breaking out the ice fishing rod/reel combo and the Vexilar flasher to do some vertical jigging. The air temps were around 70, with this comes a fairly stiff breeze to deal with and the waters vacated of any sign of human life and this gives me the solitude of having the lake to myself.

With a couple of hours, panfish were the targets for this outing and searching for sunfish and crappies is always exciting at this lake. These fish are not the biggest compared to other waters, but being close to home, the numbers are definitely there. There is one deep hole in this lake that I fish mainly when fishing here and usually never fails in catching some fish.

Luckily the area that I wanted to fish was protected to a point from the shoreline trees and the wind wasn’t too tough to fish today. Once getting to the area I turn on the flasher and start paddling around and looking for fish on the screen. Doesn’t take long before they are located and lowering the anchor so that I can work this area without getting blown away.

Today’s bait choice was to be a pink/purple colored T.H.E. Jig with a couple of small split shot above it to get down deeper a little more quickly. Water depths were in the 18 foot range and the most active fish were suspended at around 15 feet. The suspending fish were much more active then the lookers that would come off of the bottom.

Didn’t take long and the first crappie came to the surface and so did many more after that. A few sunfish were caught as well but they were on the small side. The last couple of seasons have noticed that the crappies on this lake have been a small side with average sizes of 9 inches are the most common.

By watching the flasher this allows me to see how the fish are relating to my bait presentation and also lets me know when the fish were ready to bite. By fishing vertically just like we do in the winter months, this practice gets us ready for the ice season ahead. This was the first trip in the kayak this fall with many more to come and today there was 17 crappies, 2 sunfish and a perch caught.

This abnormal warm weather makes it very hard not to take advantage of wetting a line and hopefully there will be many more days like this as well. I am very ready for the ice season ahead and can’t wait to walk and fish on hard water once again.
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October 27 2009

 

This week weather wise here in New England is going to be a roller coaster ride to say the least. Monday was beautiful day with near 60 for air temps, Tuesday and Wednesday a storm system moving through and cooler and windy temps. Thursday and Friday back to beautiful fall weather to finish the week off.

 

I had one day to fish this week and Tuesday was the day with cool temps, lurking storm center hovering overhead and light winds to start and picked up in the late morning. Air temps to start were 36 degrees and steam rising off of the water is always something that I enjoy seeing while out fishing.

 

The big boat had been put away for the winter and this trip marks the excursions out in the kayak to some of the smaller lakes and ponds. This time of year I generally start switching over to panfish and fishing with my ice gear in the kayak, but wanted to give a smallmouth lake a try today as well as some of the big crappies that swim in the lake.

 

This lake has been drawn down 6-8 feet already and kind of makes the lake quite a bit smaller when they do that. My objective today was to fish deep water and look for suspending fish there. Concentrated in water depths from 25 to 30 feet of water and as long as the wind holds off should be able to hover in these depths.

 

I usually fish with my Vexilar and hang the transducer over the side and then using my ice fishing gear, vertical jig for the fish I seek. This lake has a good mixture of fish with crappies, perch, largemouth and smallmouth bass swimming in some decent sizes as well. When vertical fishing for these species I generally use the Salmo Chubby darter and bring along a selection of various colors.

 

First area I started in 28 feet of water and had fish marked on the flasher fairly quickly but more lookers than any takers. I am finding over the seasons that if the fish are locked to the bottom, they will generally come up and look, but don’t like to commit. I hovered around this area for a little while before paddling off to the next spot.

 

In the open water fishing that I have done here, I generally stay on one side of the lake and wanted to make sure today that I would get to the other side to try. So that was where I was headed. While paddling there I would keep my eyes on the flasher and watch for suspending fish as these generally are more aggressive fish.

 

Arrived where I wanted to hit and wasn’t long and a fish came flying off the bottom and slammed the bait. Fight was on and you never know what you are going to bring up but to my surprise the first fish was a nice 14 inch crappie. These crappies aren’t as long as they should be but have some thick backs to make up for that. Worked around this area for a while but couldn’t seem to find another crappie.

 

Moved out a little deeper and then another flash came flying up to take a look at my bait and slam, another fish on the hook. Couldn’t tell what this one was either and when the fish surfaced a nice 2 pound largemouth was thrashing on the waters surface. Was feeling pretty good now and figured that as long as the wind wasn’t blowing too much yet I was going to work this area over.

 

I moved over some to some irregular bottom features and the screen lit up like a Christmas tree and the fishing rod loaded right up for a strong battle. While fighting this fish you could definitely tell that this one was going to be a smallmouth and it did not want to come up or give up the fight. Was a lot of fun catching this 2.5 pound smallie on my ice gear and this gets me pumped up for the coming ice season.

 

The wind was starting to pick up and fished a little longer around this area and caught another small largemouth bass. Moved back across the lake to try and get out of the ever building wind but wasn’t able to find any activity in this location.

 

Pulled the plug before noon and for the 2-2.5 hours out there, wasn’t a bad day with a crappie, smallmouth and 2 largemouth bass. All in all felt good to be on the water again and if I can find another day that the winds are laid down, I want to go back out there and try and find more of these fish.

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September 28 2009

Days like this weather wise don’t come that often when we get this late into September, light and variable winds, air temps going to the mid 70’s and high sunshine all around. Not many more trips will be had till ice season for fishing north but made probably the last run up to New Hampshire till ice covers the lakes.

I wanted to fish a lake that I frequent quite a bit and had a little surprise upon arriving at the landing. They had lowered the lake around 6 feet for repairs to the dam and this made it impossible to launch a bass boat there. Pulled out and headed south to another lake in search of finding the smallmouth and largemouth that swim there.

One thing about fishing this time of year is that arriving at the landing, there is usually only a couple of trailers compared to the summer months. Lakes especially during the week are void of any activity and this is allowing you to go to any location to fish that you want.

This particular lake after a long idle ride from the landing to the lake, decisions are always tough in where to start. Water temps were anywhere from 60 to a little under 64 and the clarity is definitely getting clearer as the waters cool. With the wind picking up and blowing into the left side of the lake, I figured that I would concentrate on the windy side to see if the fish are searching for baitfish.

Areas of concentration were going to be deep shorelines as well as long deep points and working these with crankbaits. This time of year I am looking for active feeding fish and crankbaits allow me to cover a lot of water looking for actively biting fish. Starting on a point and then working down a deep shoreline wasn’t producing anything until I hit a little shallower water and a 15 inch largemouth nailed the deep diving crankbait.

Continued to do this same thing on similar shorelines with no success and moved into an arm that comes off of the main lake. The front side is somewhat deep but as you go further back into this arm it gets shallower to the 5 foot depth. Switched over to a rattle trap style bait and fan casted and caught another 13 inch largemouth bass.

Moved back out into the main lake and back to the deep shorelines and points and hit one area that was a little shallower and caught a very small smallmouth. Since seeing that the fish that were caught were coming from shallower water worked a small shallow finger with a wacky rigged BearPaw Hippie Stick to no avail.

Moved around the main lake to similar areas and just couldn’t coax anything into biting and decided to call it a day. Only three fish were caught with 2 on the deep diving crank and one on the rattle trap. Days like this are going to be far and few in between and the fall bite really hasn’t kicked in yet but shouldn’t be long.

Most water temps are still hanging in the low to mid 60’s and for fall fishing that is still a little warm. Once we get the waters to the low to mid 50’s this is when the fish really start putting on the feed bag especially once we get through the fall turnover. Any fast moving bait will catch these fish and take a look at their stomachs when you do as they are going to be very fat as well. Take advantage of these fall days while you have the lakes all to yourself, the fish will also be all yours.
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September 22 2009

 

Fall is here but this week seems like summer has come back for a brief encounter and allowing us New Englander’s a little longer summer season. Air temperatures were in the mid 70’s but the water temps are dropping fairly quickly with mid 60’s for the warmest temps. Winds were howling as a front is pushing through and making it tough to gain boat position no matter where I fished.

 

I went back to the previous lake in hopes of finding some more nice fish that swim in these waters. Since the last trip yielded some fish on the wacky rigged BearPaws Hippie Stick in the coon tail, decided to try that once again in a few other areas.

 

Started in the back of a couple of coves that has a good coontail beds on the backside. Fished these areas as best I could as the winds were howling into both coves and wasn’t able to locate any active fish. Moved back to a lily pad and coontail covered hump that produced a few fish last time to come up short handed.

 

I tried one last cove that had coontail in it as well and came up with the same results of nothing biting. Decided to abandon that technique and went to the deep running crankbait and followed the 10-12 foot depths out of this cove, as well as the channel between the two lakes with no fish responding to this technique as well.

 

Since the winds were howling and fish were not cooperating decided to call it a day and head on out. This particular lake is decent for me early in the season as well as late in the season. The middle section of the season is always a tough one and last weeks catch apparently gave me some false hope for this week. Things will improve as the temperatures drop and can only get better and this time of year will and can be full of surprises.

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September 14 2009

 

Fall is in the air but summer has come back for a few days before fall takes over. An angler needs to take advantage of these days as they are going to be far and few between as the days pass by. Waters are cooling, leaves are changing and the best time of the season is right ahead of us.

 

Today was going to find me fishing a lake that I tend to only fish in the spring and fall only. Summer on this particular lake is heavily used by pleasure boaters pulling skiers and tubers most days so we usually tend to frequent other lakes at this time. But now the days are quieter on these waters as those users tend to not frequent the same as the days of summer.

 

The conditions today were bright sunny skies and a brisk wind that was coming from all directions. Air temps were in the 70 degree range and water temps now are 67 degrees. Vegetation is still very green as the nights have not cooled enough yet to start the dying of the vegetation yet.

 

Started the day fishing the same technique as the last trip out and that was to target shoreline lily pads with the frog bait. Tried a numerous amount of pad fields and there wasn’t anything that was willing to showing itself. Fished the windy pads as well as the calm water pads but for this lake these fish haven’t moved into the shallow locations yet.

 

Time had come to start covering some water to locate some fish and started throwing the crankbait on deep water shorelines. That didn’t seem to do the trick as well and covered a few areas that have produced many times in the past to no avail.

 

In the middle of the back part of this lake, there is a lily pad field in the middle of the bay and started working that. Didn’t realize but behind the pads there is a shallow gravel hump that is lined all around with coontail. Casting the crankbait through the coontail wasn’t doing much as I was snagging the weeds.

 

As I ripped the crank out of the last weeds a bass pounded the bait and it dug its way into and around the coontail but lost the battle. This largemouth was a nice chunky 18” clean and beautiful fish and was caught, photo’d and released to swim another day. Worked around this hump with the crank but wasn’t able to find another fish for this bait.

 

Since there was a ring of coontail in water depths from 3 out to 6 feet of water figured that these weeds may be worth throwing some plastics into them. So using a Bearpaw Hippie stick and wacky rigging it, this allowed me to work the weeds and find any fish that may be lying in them. Wasn’t long and the first largemouth was caught and a very feisty 13.5” at that with another 13” a few casts later.

 

Worked around this weedbed a couple of times with this bait combination but wasn’t able to find any other willing fish to bite. So decided to try one last location and fish the area between the two main lakes. Keeping the boat in 12 feet of water and casting towards shore with a crankbait, wasn’t long and the rod was bending with another 18" largemouth that was refusing to come to the boat but finally lost the battle.

 

This is really my time of the year to fish from now till November as the fish generally keep getting bigger and the fishing pressure getting less. The landings are becoming void of boats, waters void of tubers and solitude is coming back over the lakes and ponds and time on the waters are going to those that are willing to take on the conditions that mother nature throws at us.

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September 9 2009

 

Fall is definitely in the air the last few days with temps at night getting down into the 40’s and air temps staying in the 60’s. This in turn is going to start dropping the water temps very quickly and that is going to start the fall migration for the fish to start heading towards the shorelines once again.

 

With the waters cooling off the migration of frogs will start heading for the shorelines in preparation for their hibernation in the shallow mud. In turn the fish know about this and start preparing themselves in getting into the prime locations to intercept the tasty little morsels.

 

That was going to be the theme for this trip. I headed to a small local pond that has good sized fish and see if I can get this pattern to work. About half of the shoreline has some vegetation in the form of lily pads and the lure of choice was to be the Bearpaw LOAD Frog. This is a frog imitation plastic bait that is rigged on a 4/0 hook and casted into and through the pads or any sort of vegetation long the shoreline.

 

Started working the pads and wasn’t long and the first fish hit but missed on the blowup. One thing about these types of baits that the hookup rates are about 50/50 as the fish either misses the bait all together or you set the hook too soon. Hooksets have to have a hesitation to make sure that the fish has the bait in its mouth.

 

Moved down to the corner of the pond and there is a small creek that comes in here and there is a path in the lily pads to work through. Made the cast and as it was worked back a small fish swiped and missed the bait. Within a few cranks of the handle another fish attacked the bait and this one definitely wasn’t getting away. The fight was one of the better ones that I have had this season and when it was finally over a very nice 4 pound largemouth was lipped, photographed and released.

 

The winds were definitely picking up big time and making it tough to work certain shorelines. I moved to the side of the lake that was a little calmer and right away had a fish blowup and missed and snagged the bait on the pads. This end of the lake doesn’t have as many pad fields so I skipped portions of the shoreline. The end of the lake has a small weed flat and a small largemouth was caught there.

 

This was the case a couple of more times and couldn’t find any big sized fish as these were in the 12 inch class. On a point a little better largemouth was caught but was still only 13-14 inches long. All in all it wasn’t a bad few hours of water time with 4 bass caught with one big fish.

 

We are going into the prime time to be fishing as the waters are cooling; bait is migrating and looking for warm water and bigger fish are moving towards the shorelines again. Fall time on the lakes also is great for anglers as many boaters are pulling their boats out, some are hunting and the lakes are getting void of traffic and pressure. Bundle up and get out there and catch a few fish as many bigger fish will be caught this time of year.
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September 5 2009

 

Labor Day weekend brings family events and many go camping as this marks the end of summer to many. Many barbecues’s and get tog ether’s are going on and when the weather cooperates, that only makes the weekend that much better. Many take to the lakes in search of their favorite quarry and we were no different.

 

Spending the day in New Hampshire on the water is something that we always look forward to and can’t wait to hit the water. It has been a few weeks since last visiting this particular lake and thoughts of where to look for the fish begin to happen.

 

The last time there we had one location that was giving up a number of fish so decided to start there and hopefully pick up where we had left off. Worked the area over and couldn’t find a fish no matter what was used and pulled the plug on that area and moved on to the next.

 

Water temps are definitely on their way down and was around 72 degrees in most locations that we tried. Plastic baits just weren’t doing the trick so had to go back and give the crank bait a try once again.

 

We did pick up a decent smallmouth bass with the crank bait in 10 feet of water and also one other small largemouth bass that threw the bait before reaching the boat. All in all we had a very tough day today and not sure if the active fish were shallower as we were fishing mainly deeper water.

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September 1 2009

 

Fall is definitely in the air here in New England and the days temps still getting into the 70’s but the evening temps are dropping into the 40’s. Leaves are starting to change a little around the lakes and the best time of the year is still to come.

 

Decided to head up to New Hampshire and try a lake that I have only been on a few times and never have much luck catching numbers of fish there. This lake has numbers of big largemouth and smallmouth bass swimming in its waters and wanted to give it another try.

 

Arrived at the landing and a cool 46 degree morning greeted me with steam rising off of the water. Launched the boat and noticed the water temps were around 63 degrees which is very cool for this time of the year. Air temps were forecasted for mid 70’s with little to light winds which were perfect for exploring the lakes depths.

 

After the long idle trip through the river and channel, finally made it out to the main lake and seen a boat on the area that I wanted to try first. So found a flat coming off of the shoreline and grabbed the rattle trap and also a crank bait to start covering water in search of fish.

 

I fished this flat without any fish showing themselves until I got to the end of the flat where a small underwater point went out into the lake. The point tip was covered with rock and dropped off into 15 feet of water and casted the deep diving crank out and slam a smallmouth was on and didn’t want to come to the boat.

 

Just as I was about to lip the fish it jumped and freed itself from the hooks and now I was excited to start catching some fish. Worked this area more with the crank and some plastics but couldn’t find anymore fish. I followed the adjoining shoreline and this shoreline dropped right off into the main lake. Casting the crank to shore and bringing it back to the boat, another fish hit the crank and felt like a very nice one until it freed itself without getting a glimpse at it.

 

Continued to the next point with a smaller largemouth getting caught and then it was time to move. I worked a number of similar looking shorelines without any strikes. Decided to make the run to the other end of the lake and see if I could find some fish down there. I worked a number of islands and also the front face of the dam without any strikes as well.

Was about to leave the area and noticed a shoreline there that was steep and figured try that with the crank bait. After a few casts to the shoreline, wham, big fish hit and the battle was on. Was waiting for the fish to jump as I thought it was probably a smallmouth but it kept digging down. After winning the battle a nice 3 pound largemouth came up and really made my day.

 

Worked a few other areas as well as previous areas and wasn’t able to find anymore fish. As my trip back to the landing is a long idling one, this whole back area is a swampy shallow bay and decided to give the shallow water a try.

 

Fishing with a wacky rigged BearPaws Hippie Stick, a small smallmouth grabbed the bait from a fallen tree. Continued down the shoreline and also working some boggy areas, there wasn’t anything wanting to bite. As I left the boggy area and headed back over to the shoreline, a scrappy 12 inch largemouth grabbed the bait.

 

All in all it wasn’t a bad day with 5 bass into the boat as this was probably the most that I have caught in this lake on a fishing trip. There were two patterns that had formed, first were finding steep dropping shorelines that continued into the water. Positioning the boat 20 yards off shore and casting deep diving cranks to the shore and reeling them back was very productive.

 

The other pattern was fishing shallow waters with a wacky rigged plastic with fallen timber and rocks along the shoreline. The waters were warming compared to the morning temps and made for a great day to be on the water. New Hampshire has so many good waters to fish that make it tough to decide where you want to fish.

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August 15 2009

 

Summer dog days are here and we headed to New Hampshire to try a little deep water bass fishing again. Conditions called for 90 degree air temps, little to light winds and high bright sunny skies. Was very warm right away and water temps have climbed to near 80 degrees for surface readings.

 

A lot of boat traffic to deal with at this time of year especially when the weather is as warm as it is. But the fish are still there and willing to bite if you put the right lure and presentation in front of them. Started on a couple of shallow areas working plastic baits and these areas were definitely void of fish even though there wasn’t any traffic around.

 

Moved to the backside of a cove that comes out of the main lake depths to a rock shoal on the inside of it. Working water depths in the 10-12 foot range with deep diving crank baits, it didn’t take long to get the first largemouth into the boat. Casting to some shallower water and working the crank back through deeper water seemed to be the ticket especially if there was some weed growth.

 

Continued working this water depth contour around the cove back out towards the main lake and connected on a couple of more small large and smallmouth bass. Other anglers in the boat were throwing plastics and were unable to connect with any fish at this time. The sun was getting high and we needed to break for lunch and refreshments.

 

I headed back out a little later by myself and decided to run to the other end of the lake and fish the face of a large shallow flat. This corner of the lake has a big flat that averages around 4 feet deep and positioned the boat in 11 feet of water. There are numerous weeds growing in this area and decided to fish the area with Carolina rigged plastics.

 

Didn’t take long and was getting bite after bite with a mixture of large and smallmouth bass. Was casting into 8 feet of water and with some, not a lot of weed growth and definitely found an area that has a good concentration of fish. Worked the area for a while and when the bite finally died off, 7 fish were boated.

 

Made a run back to the main lake and started fishing amongst the boats and tubers. This area has a ridge that runs across the middle of the lake, north side is a large flat of 6 to 8 feet of water with lots of weeds, and south side drops off into the deepest water in the lake. I positioned the boat again in the 11 foot depth of water and casting up onto the flat in 8 feet with more heavy weeds growing there.

 

Wasn’t long and started locating fish once again and these were a little nicer sized fish. We fish this area a lot in the past but this year they weren’t using it at all but seem now that the water temps have come up, they are there. Few shallower anglers were reporting little success but the deeper anglers were having a little better day. With these hot sunny bright days, this is driving the fish deeper to escape the blinding effects of the suns rays. Don’t let this weather get the best of you and adjust your fishing and try going deeper to locate fish.

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July 18 2009

 

Cool temps and very cool nights are making it tough to think that summer is even here in New England. But the waters are open and inviting and the fish are still out there swimming around searching for food, so wetting a line is always a good way to spend the day in the outdoors with your kid.

 

We went out early in search of bass and whatever was willing to bite. My goal was to catch as many bass as I could and my son’s goal was to catch whatever wanted to bite. First stop was in front of a dam face to see if any fish were using the feed trough that was there in front. Fishing a wacky rigged BearPaw Hippie stick in black/blue color, first cast to the front of the dam a 1.5 pound largemouth bass was into the boat.

 

Is nice having a location like this that you know that you can pull up on and catch a fish from it almost every time. Tried a little longer but that was the only fish there. Left the area and headed for a big cove that is deep on the outside and comes up on the inside onto a rock shoal.

 

I was fishing the area with a medium running crankbait in depths of 8 to 12 feet of water. My son was fishing a shiner and bobber and starting catching some nice perch that made him very happy. Wasn’t long and the crankbait started putting numbers of bass into the boat but they were all cookie cutter size around 1.5 pounds each.

 

Fishing this cove area yielded 5 largemouth bass to the crankbait but couldn’t find anything of great size. Ran around to a couple of other areas and they weren’t producing either. Settled into the mouth of a long shallow cove and worked the Carolina rig and picked up a couple of similar sized bass on this bait. My son switches over to rattle trap bait and caught a huge perch as well as a pickerel.

 

That area seemed to die so we went back to the first cove and caught another bass there but still no size. My son wanted to end fishing and go play on the beach so dropped him off and grabbed another partner to try the other end of the lake. It was early afternoon at this point and high hot sun was out with little wind happening.

 

We decided to work an area that was a big flat of 4-8 foot depth of water. First cast with the rattle trap bait yielded the same size bass as earlier in the day. Between working the rattle trap and a Carolina rig, was able to put a couple of bass into the boat but size was still average at that.

 

The two of us worked areas that we have never fished trying to find a honey hole that would give us something with size to it. My partner was fishing a small minnow imitating swimbait and was catching bigger perch on that. Then he wedges this bait into some rocks and we went over to get it out of the rock and as we got there the line took off and broke the line just as fast. Would have been nice to see what that fish was but that is why they call it fishing and not catching.

 

Caught a couple more of the clone bass before we decided to call it a day and there were 13 bass caught as well as a number of perch and a pickerel. Not bad between two different partners and going from heavy mist cool damp morning to a hot calm sunny afternoon.

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July 10 2009

Fishing is finally getting into the summer patterns that we generally find in July but usually not this late into the season. They have been taking longer in their transitions from the shallows of the shorelines out to their deeper summer haunts. Searching around more is the name of the game and covering water looking for active fish is what is going to put them into the boat.

We headed back to New Hampshire in search of large and smallmouth bass to see if we could put a pattern together. Since the deeper water of past hadn’t been producing to well, started working the shallower areas with weed. Since I wanted to cover as much water as possible, decided to throw rattle trap bait and didn’t take long to connect with the first largemouth of the day. 

This fish came from 5 feet of water and in and around lily pads. Water temps are still hovering in the upper 60’s which is unheard of for this time of year. Covered a lot of water after this fish and took quite sometime to find the next one. The next fish came on crank bait fished on a flat edge in 8 feet of water.

The fish were coming far and few in between and headed off to pick up my partner for a couple of hours on the water. There is a dam down near where I picked up my partner and went over there. I fished a wacky rig BearPaws Hippie Stick in black/blue color. Cast the bait right in front of the dam and a fish picked it up immediately and was a chunky 1.5 pound largemouth.

Fished the shoreline area all around this cove and there wasn’t any action to keep us there. So moved off to another bigger cove and was fishing deeper water again in the 12 foot range. I was fishing this cove with a Carolina rig and also a deeper diving crankbait. In this cove the fish were a lot more active and caught 6 largemouths throughout this cove with only one of them coming on the Carolina rig and the rest on the crankbait.

The way that I have been fishing this particular lake lately is mainly with crankbaits and this is allowing me to cover water quickly searching for active fish. If the waters are less than 5 feet deep, then I will fish it with rattle trap type bait. Once the water gets deeper than that then I switch over to a medium diving crankbait. With these two baits they are allowing me to cover vast amounts of water and also getting the active fish to bite.
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Fishing Report July 9 2009

 

With the summer season in full swing and kids are finally out of school, my little guy is into fishing big time and lately wanting to go every day. It is becoming a big decision with all of the fishing options that we have, but he is making the decisions and this trip out was to go shore fishing at our pickerel lake.

To fish this lake we fish it from shore and he likes to use live bait to catch the fish that swim there. There are a few favorite spots that we frequent and the decision making to pick which one is totally up to him. One area we have is right off of the roadway and makes it very easy to get started. The other is a good hike through the woods and there are 2 accessible areas there that he likes to fish.

So starting on the road accessible area, didn’t take long to get the rods set up and placed the baits out there. Wasn’t long and the fish started biting and had a variety of fish as well. Started off with a nice 2 pound largemouth bass followed up by some nice perch. He also wanted to try his hand at some sunfish fishing and fishing with T.H.E. Jig, didn’t take to much work and he was reeling in numbers of decent sunfish.

He hasn’t grasped the theory that you don’t leave the fish that are biting to go and try another area, but until he gets that, we were off to the woods locations. These areas don’t seem to produce as well for the bigger predator fish, but he was having a grand time catching numbers of sunfish.

All in all this was a very productive day for him and this always makes him wanting to come back for more another day. Weather conditions were very warm with air temps near 80 with a very light breeze to contend with. We are very fortunate to have access to some of these areas to fish and this is allowing me to be able to teach him the rights and wrongs of fishing in a more relaxed setting.
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Fishing Report July 6 2009

Since vacation week of rain was finely over, we had to return to New Hampshire to pick up the boat. Figured that since it was finally a beautiful day weather wise, why not spend the day on the lake searching for fish.

Conditions were very warm with air temps near 80 and no wind to start out the day but a light breeze came later in the morning. Water temperatures are still only reading in the upper 60’s which is very cold for this time of year. Generally this lake will be mid to upper 70’s by this time and this definitely has been the coolest spring into summer yet.

Figuring that the fish should be moving to their summer haunts, concentrated more on the deeper areas that have been productive in the past. No matter where we went and what lures we through at them, these fish were very reluctant to bite no matter what we did.

Finally caught one bass that was around a pound and a half and caught this on a Carolina rigged BearPaws hippie swim tail in the largemouth bass color pattern. There are many weeds throughout this lake and it is making it tough to located and pattern the fish this season but there are many nice fish there and we will definitely figure it out in time.
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April 14 2009

 

Oh to have spring days once again and to see the open waters of our favorite lakes and ponds once again. Sad to see the ice leave but many of us are ready to bring on the open water season and that is where you are going to see us from now on.

 

The decisions we have to make when picking out the first few spring trips is always a mind boggling thing but a choice was made and off to the lake I head. Fishing during the week has a few advantages and the main one is you don’t have to deal with much traffic on the water.

 

The weather was sunny with temps expected to reach the mid 50’s and early April these are always welcome. There were a few trailers already at the ramp but this lake is big enough that you may never see those boats. Light winds are always a pleasant sign to keeping the cool air from the water cooling you down.

 

Water temps are reading 44 to almost 48 degrees in the back shallow protected coves and that was the first place to check out. This is a flat on the front with a creek arm going towards the back with depths ranging from 3 to 6 feet deep. Worked a number of different baits in this area but couldn’t coax anything to bite.

 

The baits that were being used were jig/pig, weightless fluke, Carolina rig, spinnerbait, mid range crankbait, lipless rattle bait and dropshot. Left this shallow area and went to a deep hump that comes out of 20 plus depths to around 15 feet. Figured that maybe the fish were still hanging deeper off shore and worked a dropshot all around this area and couldn’t find anything there either.

 

I continued into a cove that averaged of 5 foot depth’s and worked the lipless bait and Carolina rig but to no avail. Deeper back in this cove the average depth is around 5 feet and decided to start covering a lot of water with the lipless crank. Fan casting in all directions finally felt some dead weight and the first fish was on. Wasn’t a big bass but a chunky 1.5 pound largemouth and nice to finally get that first one of the season in the boat.

 

Kept working the area and hooked another fish and this turned out to be a small pickerel and these two fish were the only ones caught. The water temps were getting over 47 degrees and I always find the afternoon has a better bite as opposed to morning at this time of year. Another thing is that when a fish strikes it is not ferocious but more like dragging dead weeds back and always set the hook if any question is in your mind.

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April 10 2009

 

Well spring has finally come to New England and the open water season is underway. At least for southern New England most if not all waters are ice free but there still may be some ice in the northern regions. Many anglers have been venturing out already searching for their fish species of choice.

 

We are no different and my fishing partner is set on catching some pickerel this early season and wanted to try his hand at it. There is a reservoir not far from our home and is a shallow town water supply and this place is loaded with pickerel. Have only fished there a couple of times, and have been noticing that the size is on the smaller part but for a kid that doesn’t matter.

 

My son is really into using minnows for his fishing trips and after a stop at the local bait shop to load up on shiners we were off to the water. Don’t think that I have been to this lake and the wind doesn’t blow and of course this trip was no different. But fishing the wind blown side in the spring does have its advantages as the fish are looking for food that is blown into this side of the lake.

 

This lake is flat and the weeds are located 4 feet below the surface so setting the minnows under a bobber about 2 to 3 feet down is the norm. Doesn’t take long and the first bite of the day is occurring and the excitement that races through my sons face and actions is second to none. He grabs the rod and with a sweeping motion says, “Dad I have a big one on”.

 

He reels in his first pickerel and measures around 14 inches but size to him does not matter and he wants a picture with his trophy fish. This continues on for another hour and then the bite dies off. So we go to a couple of other areas but they weren’t producing any bites at all. So we headed back to our original spot to see if we could coax a few more fish into biting.

 

Didn’t take long and he was reeling in more pickerel once again and once the day was said and done he had caught 6 and probably lost as many as well. I am not a big fan of pickerel but to see the excitement on his face each time that bobber went under will keep us coming back for more. He is ready for vacation week next week and there will be many days spent on or near the water.
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March 22 2009

 

Where or where has this ice season gone, as it only seems like yesterday that I was waiting for the ice to form and now it is gone. This past trip found unsafe ice in southern New England but if you drove north there was still ice to be fished. So we headed to New Hampshire for our last ice trip of the 08/09 ice fishing season.

 

My partner was up for catching anything that would bite and since that was the plan, we were off in search of our quarry. Since the last couple of times out found our area a little slow, we decided to try a different area from recent trips.

 

We were running holes in 8 feet of water all the way out to 24 foot depths in search of some hungry fish. Not much happening in the mid rage but had a little activity in the shallower side as well as the deeper part of this run. Nothing wanted to commit to our offerings so we packed it up and headed to a different location.

 

We went to a flat that we have been fishing quite a bit this ice season in hopes that the fish would be cooperating there for us. Didn’t take long and the first smallmouth was iced and now my son was ready to do some fishing. We drilled holes all around this area and started moving from hole to hole in search of finding fish.

 

Weather wise it started nice first thing in the morning but there was a good 25 mph wind blowing and that only got worse as the day went along. Typical New England weather was playing its cards as we had a good snow storm thrown in there for good measures. Lake access wasn’t too bad in the morning but coming off in the late afternoon found to be a little tricky but did manage well getting off.

 

This area seemed to produce much better and fish were being caught and my son was having a good time. 6 bass were caught in total and this trip gave my son more to talk about in his fishing adventures on the ice. All in all it was a great season and sad to see it go but the open water season is now here and within a week we will be transitioning over to that.

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March 15 2009

 

The weekends seem to be getting a tradition of making a run to New Hampshire to do some ice fishing. This weekend was not out of the norm and found us back at the same location we have been fishing much of the winter here. Conditions were very favorable with weather very nice and cooperating to make a great day on the ice.

 

My son is really enjoying chasing bass through the ice and can’t seem to get enough of it lately and wants to go all the time. His enjoyment other than the fishing side of it is to be able to play around on the ice while the slow periods between fish are happening and I get a great enjoyment watching him having a great time on the ice.

 

Seems as each week passes that the fishing is getting a little tougher each time we are out there. Not sure if the fish are getting use to our offerings and avoiding our presentations or are they just vacating this area for another area in their pursuit of getting ready for the spring season ahead.

 

Fish were still caught but work was a part of getting these fish and size I felt was definitely down as well. Was fishing 15-19 feet of water and this area is deep and these depths run right up to the shoreline. One thing I have noticed even with the depth is that we are not catching any smallmouth here and that is what we primarily catch in the summer months there.

 

For the most part 5 bass were caught but there really wasn’t any fling of numbers and was just one here and one there. Talked with a friend of ours out there and he was having similar results and did mention that the day before nothing was happening out there at all. Ice conditions were excellent with 15 inches of good ice yet and shore access was good as well and hoping to get another couple of weeks at this lake before it is gone.

 

Planning on going out there again this weekend but we are probably going to be exploring a different area. The area that we would really like to go is a very long walk as that part of the lake access is gone from the sun melting the ice from shore. Fewer anglers are venturing out onto the ice these days and this is allowing us to be able to choose where ever we feel that we may catch fish. Looking forward to getting back to NH soon again and my little partner can’t stop talking about it.

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March 10 2009

 

We are getting to that time of year that the ice trips out are getting fewer by the day. This trip will probably be the last one to this particular lake as the warming weather is doing a number on the ice conditions. What is meant by this is that the ice depth is getting less every day and also the condition of the ice is weakening as well.

 

Snow has melted off of these lakes and travel is easy once again getting to the areas to be fished. Upon checking the ice it was 5-6 inches thick and the first drilled holes revealed that the ice is in the honeycombing stage and that is not a good sign for longevity of how long this ice will be here.

 

Still in pursuit of the giant crappies that swim these waters headed right back to previous places in my search. Times are definitely getting tougher now and thought that they would get better but that is not the case. Marking fish on the flasher was a huge chore as I had worked at least 60 holes looking for fish.

 

There was a little activity towards the bottom but just couldn’t get any thing to commit to my offering. Finally found one hole that had a fish suspending off of the bottom and it came into my bait fast and hit it and the fight was on. Was a lot of fun getting this fat crappie through the ice and once again this was the only crappie caught on this outing.

 

Seems to be a trend here in getting one or two good fish and that is it. Gets me wondering if these big crappies are few and far between and catching one here and there is more of a blessing than not. Did catch a number of good sized perch once again and they always fill the void when searching for crappies.

 

Since this was my last trip here, I had searched for large and smallmouth bass as well but they have seemed to void me this ice season and my gear. The last year or two they have dropped off as well and not sure if their numbers have dropped or if the fishing pressure is starting to take a toll here. Other than that I look forward to open water trips here and this lake will be one of the first opening this spring.

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March 7 2009

 

The New England weather is like changing your clothes, one day it is cool and dry, the next day full scale blizzard and then the next summer like conditions. Today was not going to be any different as we had experienced a good amount of snow but today was going to be 50 degrees and spring like weather.

 

These are the days that I really enjoy being out on the ice as you are not fighting those cold frigid days and rather enjoying the day on the ice. My son was ready to get out there and wanted to go bass fishing again so we headed to New Hampshire in search of large and smallmouth bass.

 

I knew that today was going to be sloppy out there but couldn’t have imagined that we went from a few inches of snow on the ice to plain standing water. But the fish were not bothered by what was going on over them and were going to be very cooperative for this young angler’s day.

 

We started out on the flat that I have been frequenting all winter and didn’t take long for him to get his first bass of the day. This was a nice 2 pound largemouth and gave him a good fight and that started the day. The thing he likes fishing on the ice is that he enjoys using tip-ups to catch his fish as when that flag goes up he races across the ice to see what is lurking at the end of his line.

 

We weren’t able to find anymore fish in this area and decided to hit an area where the deep water draws near the shoreline. Didn’t take long and the first flag was flying and another 2 pound largemouth was caught and released and now my sons blood was really pumping and he wanted to do it more and more.

 

There were many flags flown that day but the results were the same time after time with flags tripped and nothing to show for them. If all of those flags were caught, he would have been in bass heaven as we had one tip-up that flown at least 15 times by it self. The depths that we were fishing were around the 20 foot mark and I was marking fish on the flasher but they didn’t want my jigging offering.

 

All in all it was a great day and my son had a wonderful time out on the ice other than having wet feet most of the day. But he is fired up to go again this coming weekend and the weather man is predicting similar temperatures so we should have a great time out there. We are looking at 17 inches of ice at this point so should be good for a couple of weeks yet.

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March 6 2009

 

Time to give a small water supply pond a try and it seems the last few years I don’t get to fish here until almost the end of the ice season. Not quite sure why that is but after fishing there I am always ready to come back to it as soon as possible again. This trip was no different than previous ones in the past.

 

I generally start on the backside and then work my way towards the front as the backside is shallower than the front side. This particular pond gets little pressure as many don’t know that it is fishable and has a good variety of species from bass, pickerel, sunfish and crappies that swim its waters.

 

I had decided to run a couple of tipups in hopes of catching one of the big bass that swim here while searching for panfish with my ice gear. The tipups weren’t very active as I had moved them a few times as I switched locations and had a couple of flags with nothing to show for it. One flag did yield a fat 2-3 pound pickerel and gave a good fight before being let go back down the hole.

 

In search of the panfish here, started punching numerous holes around the area and the first location yielded very little activity if any on the flasher. This continued onto the next area as well but did have a little activity in a couple of holes but was unable to coax them into biting. With some aggravation I had moved further towards the front of this pond and found a hole in this area that was around 18 feet deep and ran close to shore.

 

Was only a couple of jigs of my bait and the flasher screen started lighting up and there was a lot of fish down there now. They were biting very lightly on my St. Croix spring bobber and continued working the bait to entice one of these fish to bite. I was working T.H.E. Jig in the pink/purple pattern in the 1/60 ounce version and added a piece of plastic to the bait as well.

 

These fish couldn’t take it any longer and the feeding frenzy had started. With the first hook set I knew right then that I had found the honey hole that I was searching for and a fat crappie lay on the ice at my feet. Without hesitation I dropped the jig back down there and bam, another slab was lying on the ice. The flasher’s screen was not clearing out at all and hooked into another fish and this time it was a nice bluegill.

 

I punched a few more holes around this area following this school of fish and it didn’t take long to having a couple more nice crappies iced again. Of course time was getting short and that seems to be the way it is in fishing, when they start biting you have to leave. Hopefully the warm weather and rain doesn’t take a toll on this pond as I want to give it at least one more go before this ice season is over.

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March 4 2009

 

Winter doesn’t seem to want to give up its grip on New England and delivered another load of snow at 12 inches. The ice here is starting to give way and some shorelines are getting a little soft and need to watch the points of entry. Throw this latest snow on top and makes for a little tough time seeing what the ice looks like being you can’t see it.

 

I wanted to take advantage of the ice conditions yet especially at the lake that I was at last week looking for big crappies. This water seems to open fairly quickly as opposed to others and wanted to catch more of these big crappies. You don’t find too many waters that have this caliber of size and I waited to long to try this lake this season so wanted to give it another try.

 

Getting to the lake and looking at all of the snow, I knew that this was going to be a workout getting to the area that I wanted to fish. Walking through 12 inches of fresh snow made it for a long walk to get out to the middle of the lake but when you want to fish, you will take on any conditions that Mother Nature throws at you.

 

I don’t think that there has been a day that I have been here that the wind doesn’t blow and of course this day was no different. With 20 mph winds and gusts up to 30 made the lake look like the arctic tundra with the snow flying and whipping around. But at least the sun was out and wasn’t so bad but you definitely had to be dressed for the conditions.

 

After trying to figure out if I was in the right area starting drilling holes and found the water depths to be 32 feet deep. Was close to where I wanted to be and setup for a day of fishing and searching for these big crappies. Started marking fish and the perch were very active and is fun catching these as well since they are a nicer sized fish and give a great battle.

 

But I am not there to catch the perch and wasn’t long and found a spot that had some suspending fish. I was working the chubby darter and the fish were looking at the bait and determining if they wanted to bite. Kept working the bait and the fish slammed it and the battle was on. After bringing the fish out of the depths and a nice slab crappie lay on the ice.

 

Looking at the bait it was deep in the crappies mouth as it had inhaled it and I was not going to lose that fish. Get a few pictures and released the fish back down the hole for another days battle. Drilled many holes around the area but just couldn’t locate anymore of these crappies but the perch made it entertaining anyway. Hopefully with the warm weather coming in there will be another trip out there to search for these elusive big crappies.

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February 27 2009

 

It has been almost a week since hitting the ice and with the weather getting very warm was time to hit the ice again. There has been a lake that I have wanted to try for a long time that have not fished in the winter and is known to have big smallmouth bass, jumbo perch and big slab crappies.

 

With temps getting near 60 degrees how could I pass this up as anytime you can be on the ice with this warmth, being out there is great feeling. Of course when you get temps like this that means you are going to have winds and man was there wind, gusts over 40 mph and they were there the whole day. The snow has all melted and there was plenty of water on top of the ice with also the top layer starting to honeycomb.

 

My goal today was to fish mainly with the Chubby Darter as my search was to find and locate the bigger fish in the lake. I started fishing the deepest part and following that up to a flat to see if I could locate the smallmouth. I was having some activity in this area and in the holes but was catching some jumbo perch in this area as they are very fat with eating and getting ready for the spawning season ahead.

 

Was working around the area flat that starts at 30 feet of water and worked up to the 17 foot range but was only able to catch some perch on the Darter. There was an angler out in the middle of the lake that seemed to look like he was having some activity and as I was watching him figured that once he had left I would move out there and see what was happening.

 

That angler had left so I picked up and moved out there and one nice thing about fishing in these warmer temps is that the holes stay open. After walking around for a while I finally found the holes that he had been using and you really had to watch your self as the water on top was rushing into the holes and undermining the ice away from below.

 

This area the water depth was around 33 feet deep and starting noticing activity fairly quickly as well. The activity that was near the bottom was perch but smaller ones and not the jumbos that I was looking for. Then started getting marks at the 27 foot range and these suspending fish are always the ones that I am searching for.

 

The fish started coming through at that depth and would come right up to the Darter and the first fish was on. As I was reeling it in, the fish was fighting good and thought that I had found the smallmouth I was searching for. The bait was nearing the hole and to my surprise a slab crappie came out and my excitement level went up a notch very quickly. I laid the crappie on the ice and measured it at 14.5 inches, it wasn’t that long but fat and heavy and these big crappies do exist in this lake.

 

Now my blood was pumping as I wanted to catch more of these fish and didn’t take long to find another one to hit the bait but lost it halfway back to the hole. About this time the winds really kicked it up a notch and that seemed to have an affect on the fish. Since that point, and after jumping between a numbers of holes, I wasn’t able to locate anymore of these suspending fish, was still catching perch but much smaller fish.

 

As the bite had died of tremendously, I had decided to start making my way back to my entry point to the ice. Drilling a hole every 25 steps or so and see if I could locate a school of crappies again. Many holes were drilled with no activity in any of them. One spot I did get some activity and the fish struck the bait but lost a good fish halfway to the hole again and have a good feeling that may have been a bass.

 

I made my way back to shore and didn’t catch any more fish along the way. It was a very nice day to be on the ice and really want to go back once more at least but have a feeling that this lake will not be usable very quickly. The ice was around a foot thick and getting soft and now there is heavy snow forecasted coming in. Temps will be dropping again next week but this lake will definitely will be a touch and go situation if I am able to get out there again.

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February 21 2009

 

Time to head back to New Hampshire and search for more of the bass that swim in this lake. Had a great time the last time we were there with getting my son into some bass fishing utilizing tip-ups and rod/reel to catch his fish. He enjoyed the tip-up version much more and was a better choice for him on that outing.

 

Today he was not going to venture to the lake with me as I was planning a full day on the ice with cold temps and high winds that blew all day long. I wanted to fish the area that had yielded my biggest bass of the season but unfortunately there was already a group of anglers staking out the area with their tip-ups.

 

They had positioned themselves all around and over the flat that laid there and my decision was to stay in the area and concentrated a little north of them. I hadn’t fished this particular spot before and after drilling a number of holes, found that the flat drops sharply off in this area and thought that may be the ticket.

 

I positioned a couple of tip-ups with one on top of that flat in 8 feet of water and the other off the side in 12 feet of water. The tip-ups did produce some fish and the deeper one had yielded a fat 2.5 pound pickerel right away in the morning but that was the only one that would come out of that hole. The shallower one yielded a very small pickerel but also lost a few fish in the thick weeds that lay below the ice on top of that flat.

 

While those sat there I drilled a number of holes around the vicinity ranging in water depths of 10 feet out to 18 feet of water. I was working these holes with a Chubby Darter and the first hole starting catching bass but only ones around the pound mark. The bass were in this area but the size definitely wasn’t there that I was looking for and caught around 8 there but couldn’t find that big fish.

 

The other group of anglers had packed it up and headed out so I went and explored a few of their holes with my Chubby Darter. While working the Darter very lightly like I have in the past I could see that there was activity in these holes as well. The other anglers that were fishing here had tip-ups in all of these holes and had caught a number of fish but never seen anything very big.

 

The first bass I caught here was a nice 1.5 pound largemouth and felt good reeling it in on my new Austin Rod. As I moved from hole to hole there definitely was fish here but with all of the activity in the area, they were a little shy of the bait. As I fished my last hole of the day here, a fish came into the Vexilar screen and working the Darter lightly, it hit the bait and the fight was on. After a good battle, a fat 2.5 pound largemouth lay on the ice and made for a nice close to the day.

 

After working these holes after livebait had been in the area, seeing and catching some nicer fish there, that definitely was the area that I should have been in but I had gotten there a little too late. From seeing what I had caught earlier in the day and seeing also what I had caught in this area after being beaten on some, I feel that the bigger fish were still relating to that underwater flat and just didn’t really want the livebait. If there would have been some artificial baits worked through the area, there may have been some very nice fish caught but that is why it is called fishin and not catch’n.

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February 18 2009

 

Now that my son has been bitten by the ice fishing bug, ice is flowing through his veins and being it is vacation week, he wants to get out as much as possible. He hasn’t had much luck in bass fishing in the summer months and I have been doing fairly well lately in that department, this is something that he wants to do, catch a bass through the ice.

 

Typically when I take him along fishing, I don’t plan on fishing much myself and just want him to get the most out of every trip. This one was no different but at the same time I wanted to catch some bass as well but this was his day. We headed back to New Hampshire and across the lake we went and thankfully the snow is gone and making traveling on the ice that much easier for the long walk ahead.

 

Since I wanted him to catch as many fish as possible, this trip was going to be a little different than what I normally do. We were still going to work the depths with the Chubby Darter, but as well we were going to fish with a couple of tip-ups as well and this will allow him the opportunity at catching more fish on the outing.

 

This proved to be a value added for him as we arrived at the area we were going to fish; the first hole was drilled and tip-up readied. I barely got the second hole started and that first flag went flying and the excitement in him was indescribable as he went running for the flag. At this point I explained the operation of a tip-up and what he had to do next and after a tug on the line, a decent 2 pound largemouth bass came through the hole.

 

This first bass really got him fired up and he was ready for a day of fishing now and there was going to be no stopping him what so ever. We were placing the tip-ups in water that was around 12 feet deep and the general area that we were fishing was an underwater point that has boulders on it. Bait of choice was 4 inch shiners and they were really the ticket for what was going to happen this day.

 

For the 4-5 hours that we were out there he had caught that largemouth bass, three smallmouth bass, one perch and one pickerel. Even with the temps dropping and winds picking up, he didn’t notice the cold at all since he was running after flags the whole afternoon. Towards the end he really wanted to jig up another bass on the Darter so we kept drilling holes until we found some active fish.

 

He was lightly working the Darter up and down and the flasher filled with fish and wasn’t long and the rod tip jumped. He set the hook and started reeling on the new Austin Custom rod and the fish wasn’t a match for that rod or the 7 year old boy that was holding it. Finally a 2.5 pound largemouth bass was iced and there was one happy boy with another bass to his credit and now he can say that he can catch bass.

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February 15 2009

 

My son really wanted to get out on the ice and the few times he has been out we have been catching smaller sunfish and crappies. This trip was to head to a great crappie pond and search for some slabs and the best bite is usually in the afternoon. So the plan was set and adrenaline running high with the anticipation of getting into those slab crappies.

 

This particular pond has yielded his best crappie at 14.5 inches last ice season and all he talks about is catching one that is bigger. I have been there a couple of times this winter and only in the morning with marginal results and the big crappies were void pretty much for morning activity. So figured that being he wants a big slabber, we will hit it at prime time and mid to late afternoon.

 

This was a wise choice as we started concentrating our efforts in the 18 to 20 foot depth range and wasn’t long and started marking fish. I usually don’t fish when I take him along as I want him to have the full experience of catching fish and my total concentration there is to help him achieve this. It always takes a few fish to get his hand back at hooking them once again and after a few misses he was right back on track.

 

The crappies were of a nicer size and their range was in the 11 to 12 inch class and great battlers at that. Generally you won’t catch a number of these fish but for quality we will sacrifice some quantity to achieve this. Bait presentation ended up being T.H.E. Jig in the black/white pattern in the 1/80 ounce version also tipped with a white plastic. There were a few nice sunfish caught as well and worked two general areas with our first place producing the best.

 

Most of the fish that were caught were suspending around 4 to 5 feet off of the bottom and had to be enticed into biting. We are in February and the bite will usually drop off a little but moving around and checking all holes all of the time, will still put fish on the ice. Good electronics are a must and a very vital tool in determining the catch of the day as this is allowing you to watch and adjust to what the fish want and are looking for.

 

With these warming days lately this is wreaking some havoc on our shorelines and this particular pond may succumb to an early open water season. The shoreline was opening up where we walked on and not so cold nights in the forecast are not a good sign for this particular pond. Will have to try and get out there a couple of more times before this season is over and see if we can find one of those slabbers that he is looking for to top his personal best.

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February 11 2009

 

With a beautiful day in store with light winds and 50 degree weather predicted it was time to venture north once again. We usually get a few days where the weather turns very nice and mild in the middle of winter and why not spend a day on the ice enjoying what Mother Nature gives us.

 

Wanted to try a couple of other areas that I frequent in the summer months and I haven’t been to yet this winter. The area that I started in was a cove off of the main lake and is deep on the front side with the backside having some shallow rock shoals. With the water levels down a few feet one of the shoals was sticking through the ice and that is where I had started.

 

Drilled a few holes and the water depth was around 13 feet of water and there was baitfish activity in all of these holes. Went to work with my Darter and didn’t take long for that first strike of the morning and a nice fat 2 pound smallmouth came through the ice and nice start to the day. Still working the darter the same way, with light movement of the rod tip and changing color patterns to figure out what offering they liked best.

 

By mid morning the activity in this cove, after drilling a number of holes was definitely dropping off as I had caught three smallmouths out of this area. Was hoping to get into more fish and hoping they were feeding up to the shoal but they vacated the shallows and I went out deeper looking for them. Worked my way out to 16 feet of water and just couldn’t find any activity at all and figured that they have vacated the area and headed for deeper water.

 

Decided to head across the lake to another area that I hadn’t fished yet this winter and this area entails a ridge that runs across the mid section of the lake. I fish this area a lot in the summer and catch nice largemouth off of it especially on the downward slope of the ridge to deeper water. The top of the ridge generally has good weeds beds and there are also areas that rock piles are scattered in the weeds. Started drilling holes and searching for the location that I wanted to try fishing.

 

Finally found areas where the water was 13-14 feet deep and there was activity in every hole that I had drilled in that particular area. What I generally do is drill 6-10 holes and once they are all drilled then I start moving from hole to hole searching for active fish. I am not one to sit at an ice hole waiting for them to come to me and my philosophy is to search for them just like I do when I am in the boat.

 

I run five different color patterned baits and always changing between these until I find what they are more focused on as at times they will look at the bait and not touch it. This is when I switch it up and start working again and usually this will trigger them into biting. I worked this area for a couple of hours and was able to catch 5 largemouths there and the biggest was around 2.5 pounds. Still not the fish that I was looking for as this lake will produce much nicer fish.

 

The weather was definitely changing at this point and it was getting later in the day with clouds rolling in and the wind shifting from north to south. The largemouth weren’t very active there anymore and figured I might as well go back to where I started since that was the direction that I needed to walk anyway. With the warm temps the holes were still open and made it easy to start moving from hole to hole again.

 

There were only a couple of holes that had any activity and one hole that was in 10 feet of water I had caught a nice 2.5 pound largemouth. This was the only fish caught here at this time and was a nice way to end a great trip. With weather the way it was and sitting on the ice getting sunburn, life doesn’t get any better than that and you need to take advantage of days like this because we don’t see too many of these here in New England.

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February 9 2009

 

With only a few hours to fish and needing to get that fix of a tug on the end of the line, decided to head over to a local pond that I frequent a lot with my son. Usually we can go there and have a successful day no matter the conditions as these fish are generally in the deepest part of the lake and that is where I concentrated my efforts.

 

With the warming temps the snow on top of the ice is disappearing quickly and making lake access very easy these days. This particular pond usually gets a lot of activity over the weekends and could see that people were out and had holes drilled every where. Seen some holes peppered over and around an underwater point and figured I might as well check them first and that way I didn’t have to drill any holes.

 

Checked at least 5 holes and there wasn’t much activity in and around these holes especially the ones on top of the point. The last couple off of the end of the point had some activity but was generally small fish there and it was time to move on to other areas that generally hold fish.

 

Moved over to a shoreline that is fairly deep near the shore and started punching holes around the area. There definitely was a lot of activity in this area and started catching fish with crappies and sunfish being caught. I wasn’t catching a lot as they would come and look at my jig and then shy away. I went to changing the colors of my jig to see if there was a certain color pattern that would trigger them to bite more frequently. A green/black started getting more fish but I also had to add a small piece of plastic to the bait as an enticer.

 

There were a number of small panfish caught but I know there are bigger fish in this pond so moved further down the shoreline to another area. Decided to change colors again and started catching fish with a blue/yellow colored jig and tipped this with a pink piece of plastic. Was getting the same results as fish were being caught but all small fish again and I am seeing that there is a good year class of panfish that will play into a good thing in a year or two.

 

Went to one last area that has been producing better quality and that area is in the shadows of the shoreline trees. Definitely had activity here as well but thankfully the size was a little better but not what I was really looking for still. The sunfish and crappies were bigger but I was also looking for a meal but never found enough of these fish to do anything with. Did set the hook into an aggressive small bass and that was fun on the small jigs that I was using. Being I wasn’t finding the sizes I was looking for, decided I might as well head out and will come back another day. Numbers of fish were caught but small was the name of the game for this outing but is always nice to feel that tug on the end of the line.

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February 6 2009

 

Seems lately one trip is for panfish and then the next trip will be for bass and this has been giving me some nice variety of fish being caught this winter. So this trip was back to New Hampshire in search of bass again and decided to work the last area a little more looking for that big bass once again.

 

Wanted to spend the day working more of the last area and once again was rewarded with numbers of fish but size definitely was down. Numbers were still there for the amount of time that I spent there, but an angler is always looking for that big fish to bite. The conditions were definitely a little different as a cold front took over New England and it was in the single digits as well as very windy.

 

Ice conditions have gotten a little easier getting around as the snow has settled and everything has frozen up with the cold temps. Drilling holes is getting to be a chore as the top layer of ice is 3 or 4 inches and then there is a slush pocket with another 10 or so inch’s after that.

 

I started the day on top of the flat that comes out of an arm in 7 to 10 feet of water, was only able to catch a small pickerel right away. With the cold front made the decision to start moving out into deeper water figuring that the fish may have dropped off because of this. Making this move did prove out to being a good decision as it didn’t take long and bass were starting to be located.

 

The best productive depth ended up being around 18 feet of water and had a mixture of small and largemouth bass mixed together. The last trip to this area only yielded largemouth but I had not gone out to these deeper depths. The slope of the drop was somewhat quick as drilling holes 10 feet apart it was dropping off a couple of feet at a time.

 

Still working the Salmo Chubby Darter and not working it in a ripping mode as most anglers do but lightly jiggling the rod tip for minimal action. You are able to see the fish come into the flasher and by working it in front of them generally entices them into striking the bait. Most bites were fairly aggressive and didn’t have too many light biters as other outings out there.

 

Towards later afternoon a number of anglers came out to the area and peppered the ice with tipups as there were 8 anglers out trying their luck. Didn’t stay to long after they came out to see how their success was going to be with livebait versus a lure that I was fishing. For the day there was 10 fish caught with five of each species caught and the biggest was 2 to 2.5 pound largemouth.

 

Planning on another trip out there this week and going to work a whole new area that I haven’t fished in a while. This is a deep cove that on the backside has good rock shelves and on the front side drops off into deep water heading out into the main lake. Hopefully success in this area will be good as well but time will tell if my decision will be a good one for that. Looking forward to the day coming up as we will be experiencing near 50 degrees with light variable winds and this will be very enjoyable in my search for big bass.

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February 2 2009

 

After having great day ice fishing with my on Sunday I wanted to go and scout some other waters and get a feel for his next trip out. Went to a pond that we frequent a lot and harbors some very nice fish as well with crappies above average in size and sunfish that are bigger as well.

 

Generally we fish this pond mainly in the afternoon and that is the better time that the crappies start moving around while they are feeding. Unfortunately I have not been able to get to this pond in the afternoon yet and this is my second trip there in the morning. Last year never fished it in the morning so covering waters that I generally fish in the afternoon searching for the bigger crappie that swim in this pond.

 

There are two areas that I work regularly and the first is an underwater point that has deep water that comes near shore. Started in this area and drilled a number of holes and only was able to catch a few small perch and small sunfish. Generally I am looking for suspending fish which usually are crappies if I can find suspenders to catch. After fishing these holes I never was able to locate those suspenders and the crappies were void of this area.

 

Picked up and moved over to my other area and there is nothing specific about this area other than I work the 12 to 19 foot range. Drilled a number of holes in various depths and doing the same and looking for suspending fish. 15 feet seem to be the best depth in this area but was not able to mark any suspending fish as well. There were a number of sunfish caught around the holes but nothing really of size.

 

For the day was not able to locate any crappies at all and will have to switch times of the day to fish this pond and go back in the afternoon. Sunfish have not been anything spectacular as well and they have been keeping me entertained but still looking for more size than what I am finding. The weather has been very cooperative and we have been experiencing mild weather lately here in New England and can’t deny that. There is always another day and we will locate the crappies in this pond before this ice season is over.

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February 1 2009

 

Finally found some time that the kids weren’t doing something with any of their activities or other family obligations and my son was more than ready to hit the ice. When taking my son ice fishing I generally stay somewhat close to home so that if things aren’t working out or he is ready to leave it won’t take long to get home. So we headed to a pond that we frequent often that has an abundance of crappies, sunfish and perch but the sizes are generally not huge but fish can be caught frequently.

 

My son was much pumped as he hasn’t been on the ice yet this year and today couldn’t have been better day weather wise. Sunny conditions and little wind with warming temps near the 40 degree mark made it great weather to have him out there. He doesn’t really need nice weather as generally he will go out in anything and always finds something to do either catching fish or doing a little playing and exploring.

 

This particular pond I usually concentrate in the deeper part of the lake and decided to work the 14-18 foot depths. Wasn’t long and he had his first sunfish on the ice and I could see that excitement in his eyes as he told me that he won first place by getting the first fish of the day. I had decided that today I was not going to fish and wanted him to have an experience that he will remember and want to do it again.

 

Wasn’t much longer and number 2 sunfish was coming through the hole and now he wanted to catch a crappie and was ready to do a little work. I rigged him with T.H.E. Jig in the yellow/black pattern and the active fish were definitely taking to that color. There were many inactive fish that were just taking a look and wouldn’t have anything to do with the bait. But as I drilled more holes we started running and gunning those holes to find active fish and to get him use to setting the hook and catching some fish.

 

Finally started finding some suspended fish and I knew right away that these were the fish that he was looking for. With that first suspended fish hovering around 8 feet down it didn’t take long for it to come and inhale T.H.E. Jig and the fight was on. When that first crappie hit the ice he was so excited that crappies were found and he wanted to catch another right away.

 

Since he is a year older from last ice season he really has matured more and is able to do more on his own. He was able to set the hook, but still missed a few like we all experience, but he definitely held his own today. Think he told me that his final tally was 11 fish for the day for him with the 2 sunfish and 9 crappies in total. His goal was 20 but he really had a great time out there and maybe if we would have gotten out a little earlier he may have hit his goal.

 

I can’t wait to get him over to our big crappie pond and see what we can do over there as for the two of us he holds the record for biggest crappie at 14.5 inches on that pond and I know that he wants to beat that. Weather wise, we are looking pretty good for a while as the temps have moderated and we will be getting another snow storm this week but think he will be ready and willing to hit the ice again next weekend and can’t wait to share a few holes with him again.

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January 30 2009

 

Since my plan last week worked fairly well in targeting bass through the ice I had decided that I will venture back up to New Hampshire and give it another try. Decided that I wanted to try a few of my other summer spots and see if they will produce as well as last weeks trip did. So the plan for today was to visit the opposite end of the lake and try a few areas.

 

Since we have had snow once again since my last visit here and rain after that, getting across the lake was not an easy chore. There is a foot of snow with slush underneath as well as an inch layer of frozen snow crusted on top. Lately I have been carrying my snowshoes with and on this trip they were invaluable as they allowed me to stay on top of the crusted snow and making the walk across the lake a little easier.

 

I decided to start my day on a protruding rocky sharp corner that was shallow on top with the sides dropping off into deeper water with some weed growth mixed in as well. Started working the depth around 15 feet of water and the first hole produced an average largemouth bass on a chubby darter. There were more fish down there as well as the flasher was lit up but was unable to coax anymore into taking my bait.

 

Drilled a number of holes following the contour lines of this area and staying in the 12-16 foot of water range and most of the holes had activity in them. Unfortunately these may have been sunfish or perch as I wasn’t able to coax any other bass from this area. The next move was to run a ridge that crosses the main lake but a group of fishermen had come onto the ice and setup along a good portion of this ridge so I decided to go elsewhere.

 

Next move was to a deep shoreline area that had deep water next to shore and frequently the smallmouth hang in this area in the summer. Working the depths from 12 feet out to 18 feet and had a little activity in a few holes but again wasn’t able to coax these into greeting my bait. Moved further down this shoreline that has a good weed line from a flat out into deeper water and this area was void of any fish at all.

 

I had one area left on my mind that I wanted to check that I use to fish a lot years ago and I haven’t fished it much lately. This area is another flat that comes out and then drops off into the main lake depths and there are boulders scattered around as well. Drilled the first hole and dropped the bait down there and brought the bait back up and it was covered in weeds which you don’t see much of in the winter.

 

The area was around 7 feet deep and I have not fished this shallow in a long time and decided to give it a few minutes before moving to deeper water. I was jigging the chubby darter and then the screen on the flasher started lighting up and figured that some panfish moved in. As I worked the bait these fish were not leaving and I was trying to make the decision to get ready to move a little deeper when a fish hit. I set the hook and knew right away that this was a good fish and she was not going to come to the hole. Luckily I was fishing shallow water and just had to get her nose started up the hole.

 

As she came to the top of the ice, all I could see was my 8 inch hole filled with this fish. I haven’t seen a fish this big in a while and it was a giant largemouth bass at least 5 pounds and maybe more. My excitement was running wild and I was shaking so much that I couldn’t get the hooks out of her and had to take a moment to get myself together. To catch a bass this size through the ice is my cup of tea and this really got me fired up to work this area more.

 

I proceeded to drill a number of holes around the area and they were ranging in water depths from those 7 feet out to 11 feet of water. The deeper holes were not very active and the shallower holes seem to have more activity in them. I was able to catch 2 more largemouth bass from this area and one of the other bass was a good 2.5 pounder as well as the other was about 1.5 pounds.

 

My time was running out as I had to be other places at a certain time and the last couple of holes I had lost one of the bolts to my auger blade and that made that auger useless. Luckily I always carry two augers with me so I was able to drill a couple of more holes and the last hole I had five minutes left and that is where I had caught the 1.5 pound bass.

 

I really would have liked to work this area much longer and see if I could get a pattern running for there as it seem to hold fair numbers of fish. The next trip back I will definitely be hitting this area first and see if I can get more of those bigger fish and hopefully see more of them as well. I am really getting to like fishing for bass through the ice and so far my trips have been very well rewarded and I always look forward to the next one. Snow is coming in again next week and hopefully after that I will be back out there once again trying to ice some bass.

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January 27 2009

 

Cooler temps have taken over New England once again and with an approaching major snow/ice storm coming, decided to head off to my favorite crappie pond. Had a number of things that needed to be taken care of before heading to the ice and only had a couple of hours of fishing time left when I arrived. This particular pond fishes better in the morning or later afternoon versus mid day for crappies.

 

But I wanted to wet a line and give it a try and see if I could locate some of these big crappies. Nice surprise to see that the snow has settled quite a bit compared to a week ago and made it much easier getting around the ice. Instead of heading back to the underwater point that I fished last time decided to concentrate more on a deeper flat that the fish travel around on.

 

Upon drilling the first three holes there was fish activity in each hole but they were all lookers and there weren’t any takers. Changed the size of my jig as well as the color and just couldn’t get any of them to commit to the bait. Since my time was short and these fish were not cooperating decided to make the walk over to the underwater point and try there. Definitely wasn’t much activity in this area but one hole did produce a very nice sunfish and that was the only fish taken there.

 

Since this area was dead walked back to where I started as I only had a little time left and started working those holes once again. The activity was still there and finally found a color combination that they were looking for and that was T.H.E. Jig in the orange/yellow pattern. Started catching some small sunfish and then the white perch started taking over. This was the first time that I had caught white perch in this lake and didn’t even know that they were in there. They made for some fun fishing as my trip was winding down there were a handful of sunfish as well as white perch but no crappies were iced today. Keeping on the move is the way to keep you in fish and for those that do that success should follow them around.

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January 22 2009

This is the day that I have been waiting for a long time to try and have never committed myself to doing it. I wanted to go out ice fishing and target bass once and see how I could do out there and if I could actually find them. Took off early in the morning for my favorite New Hampshire bass lake in hopes of finding some large and smallmouth bass. What was going to transpire was beyond what I could have ever imagined.

Today was strictly a search for bass and although I had my pan-fish rods along they were to never leave their case. There were two areas that I had picked out and could only fish one of them and had to make that decision. With all of the snow on top of the ice there would not be an opportunity to try both as one was a deep ridge that ran across the lake and the other area was an underwater deeper point near a channel that has rocks on it and the latter was the choice of the day.

My efforts were going to be concentrating in the 8-15 foot depth ranges and I started in 8 feet and there was fish activity there but was only perch. So I started moving out deeper drilling holes and working these searching for bass. It wasn’t until I reached the 11-12 foot depths that the fish that I was seeking were starting to be located and activity was greater as well.

 

Many anglers that target bass on the ice use tipups with minnows here in New England but I don’t like using livebait and decided to go with the Salmo Chubby Darters and jig these. So armed with my Chubby Darter I finally hit that magic depth that the fish were relating to and the first smallmouth bass slammed my bait and the day was underway. At this point I didn’t know if I was going to catch a bass or not as it was getting to be 11 am and I was questioning my decision but now that I iced the first bass I knew that I made the right choice.

This area I stayed in for the rest of the day but drilled a number of holes around looking for active fish. I had around 12 holes that were working and they were in depths from 10-13 feet of water and they all had some activity in them. The fish were biting much better when there was a cloud cover as later in the day the sun became more prominent and the bite really faded off. For the day there I iced 8 bass with 3 largemouth and 5 smallmouth and I think that is the most smallmouth that I have ever caught off of this lake for the day. 

I was running two different Chubby colors and they were the perch pattern and also the shad pattern with the shad pattern producing more fish. I would lower the Darter to about 1.5 feet off of the bottom and just lightly jiggle it up and down. Watching the flasher screen I could see them come in and this allowed me to work each individual fish to see what they wanted. I had lost a couple of bass at the top of the hole as well as after setting the hook I lost a couple after the first few reel cranks. 

There is 1-2 feet of snow on the New Hampshire lakes and this is causing slush to form where the ice meets the snow and good boots are a must. Also, there is a good 12 inches of ice with only a 2 inch layer of frozen slush and the rest is solid. I am planning on getting out there for another trip next week and hopefully the results will be similar or better as I have found a new passion. Targeting big fish is always fun but it is a lot of work and many days the results aren’t that great. But for a plan to come together as this one had, it has me hooked now to give it a try and learn as I go. I do this similar thing in the summer where if I want to learn something I only concentrate on that for the day and by sticking to my guns on finding bass, I have done this in the winter as well.
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