Outdoor Reports
BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors mission as a fishing guide service as well as a New England fishing informational web site that fishes the great waters of New England. With a focus on freshwater fishing the open waters as well as the hard waters of New England's winter ice. We are in search of and the catching of Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, Perch, Sunfish and Crappies as well as being a top leader for fishing information with updated local fishing reports, fishing articles, fishing pictures, fishing videos, fishing tournament schedules, lake maps, outdoor recipes, fishing tips, kids fishing events and outdoor activities and state outdoor news
Fishing Reports 2010
Fishing Guide Service
Heat, which is all I can say about this summer and it, definitely is having an affect on the fish as well as they are not as predictable as they normally are. Went to a northern MA lake and the water level is fairly low compared to other years and the waters are starting to cool a little as most temps were a little over 75 degrees. This particular lake when the heat is on like it is the algae bloom is in full force with a tint of green to the water. There is milfoil in this lake as well but this year it is much thicker and there are more areas that have it then previous years. I arrived at the lake to little wind but that changed as the morning went on to a stiff wind across the main lake. Started fishing a creek mouth that generally has a good number of large fish in the area and target the clumps of weeds that have gravel open areas around them. Worked the area a few different directions and only was able to locate a couple smaller largemouth bass. Moved over to a point that leads out into the open lake and there weren’t any biters in this area as well. Decided to move to the wind blown shoreline and run this with a crankbait just to try and locate some aggressive fish. Only was able to catch one small fish down this whole stretch. All in all it was kind of a disappointing day on the water as only a few fish were caught in the few hours that I was out there. Was watching others fishing the same general areas and it didn’t look like they were having much action as well. As the temps start to fall, this will trigger a feeding binge for the fish to get into their fall feeding. Times are going to get better as we move towards the ice season and this is the time of year that many hang it up. Take advantage of these coming months as the fishing is only going to get better.
August 21 2010
We had picked up a couple of single person kayaks to replace a tandem kayak that we had and decided to take them out and try them and do a little fishing. We went to a small pond that has motor restrictions so is great for taking canoes and kayaks out without having to worry about bigger boats.
The afternoon started warm and bright sunshine but as the day wore on it turned cool, fairly windy and the clouds came in thick. There were a few folks out there trying their hand at fishing and we picked our first location and paddled over to that area to give it a try.
My son enjoys panfishing and today was going to be a day of letting him do this type and enjoy the experience of catching fish. We were fishing the shoreline areas and using T.H.E. Jig about a foot underneath a float. We were finding out very quickly that the smaller fish were closer to shore while the bigger sunfish were out in deeper water.
With the breeze blowing into the area that we were fishing, we let the kayaks blow onto the shoreline and then casting out toward the depths really was paying off. After catching numerous fish, the action seemed to die down a little so we moved down the shore and the action picked up again.
The wind was blowing quite a bit so we moved to the other side of the lake to get into a little more protected areas and the fish in the first couple of places were fairly slow in biting. We decided to try one more spot and there was a rock sticking out of the water so that allowed us to sort of anchor ourselves in one spot.
Didn't take long and he was reeling in one fish after another and as long as he was casting towards deeper water, the bigger fish would be biting. He was very excited as we had hit the mother lode of fish and he would count one after another. The afternoon went on and on but as the weather turned towards the bad side, the fishing slowed and we wanted to get off the lake if anything was going to happen.
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August 15 2010
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August 8 2010
Been a while since been out on the lake fishing in the boat and had an opportunity to fish a new lake in New Hampshire. This particular lake is a fairly good sized and deep clear water lake that supports a good trout population as well as some very nice smallmouth.
I arrived early at the lake with calm sunny conditions with a number of boats trolling the deep water in search of trout. Air temps were mid to upper 70's with high 80's to come later and the water temps were a surprising 73 degrees but because of the deep water here, 60 plus feet, which keeps the lake a little cooler from the hot summer we have been having.
The water here is gin clear and without any wind figured that the shallow dock bite might not be a good place to start searching for smallmouth bass. Opposite side of the lake there was a rock shoal that I worked with a few different baits that consisted of a carolina rig, crankbait out on the deeper edge and also a weightless senko style bait. There didn't seem to be anything searching the rock cropping for a meal.
Moved off of this shoal and there was a fairly good sized flat going out into the lake. Fan cast this area with a crankbait as well as worked it over with the carolina rig with a couple of different style plastic baits. In the 15 foot range there was a little vegetation that grew off of the bottom up to 6 inches in height and was hoping that the fish were cruising looking for a meal.
The far end of the lake is more of a shallower flat as the deep water is on the north end through the middle of the lake. Moved down to the far end of the lake and was hoping to find more weed flats and see if maybe I could find a largemouth bass since the smallmouth were a little allusive.
Concentrated on water depths of 13-20 feet of water and was figuring that with the hot summer and clear water these fish may be in deeper water. Fished mainly the carolina rig and kept switching the plastic baits trying to find one that maybe these fish wanted. Was fishing a french fry type plastic in 15 feet of water and felt a good bite.
Set the hook and the fight was on and wasn't quite sure if this was a bass or a trout as the feeling wasn't quite what I was use to. I had hooked this fish on a long cast and it surfaced right away but couldn't tell what it was. Finally as the battle was coming to an end, I could see that it was a nice smallmouth and boat a chunky 2 pound fish. Worked over this area for quite some time in hopes of finding a school there but that wasn't going to happen.
Not sure if I will get back to this lake anytime soon but wouldn't mind going back when fall gets here and the fish start feeding for the winter season. This lake does get busy after the noon hour and the landing is one of the best ones that I have been to in New Hampshire so far.
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July 25 2010
We haven't seen much time lately to get out on the water so we had a few hours this early AM and went to a local reservoir to see if we could catch a few sunfish. Weather has been very hot this summer and wanted to go early to avoid some of this heat. Arrived at the reservoir to a stiff wind blowing into our faces and this always makes it tough for a young angler to fish.
He was bound and determined that fish were going to be caught, wind or no wind and off to his first spot in search of fish. We were finding out very quickly that this was going to be a day that we needed to work at catching some fish as the waters have warmed and the fish are seeking cooler temps.
He kept trying different spots and get a bite here and there but couldn't really find that spot that was loaded with fish. Finally found one area that had some brush in the water and there were a few fish hanging around there staying in the shade to get away from the heated waters.
Since the fish were not cooperating that well, a couple of hours was all that was spent searching for them. The temps were already starting to rise and making it uncomfortable at 9AM to stay and try our hand at catching a few more. He enjoyed his time searching for fish and even though not many were caught, he always enjoys looking to catch some fish.
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July 17 2010
It was time to head back to New Hampshire and fish one of our favorite bass lakes. Weather wise the summer is continuing on with its heat and abundance sunshine, light winds and the waters are warming very rapidly and are reading in the low 80's at this point.
Was able to get out early and my son wanted to go along as well and he had multi-species on his mind as we set out onto the lake. After launching the boat and heading out onto the lake, we went around the corner and stopped at our first place of the morning.
This is a back cove that has a rock shoal that comes almost to the surface if you don't watch for it as it isn't marked. Stayed out in the 10-12 foot range and was fishing with a crankbait and only a couple of casts and the first smallmouth was coming to the boat. Was fan casting this area and seemed to be loaded with fish and a number of largemouth were caught as well but they were all mostly small fish.
My son was fishing for sunfish and they were surfacing all around us and he was having a great time catching one after another. We were in search of bigger fish so we left that area and went to the other end of the lake as there is a big flat there and looking for fish that may stay in the area after spawning.
Worked the deeper waters as well as the shallower flats and was fishing with a carolina rig and just couldn't get anything to bite. Left there and went to a small cove off the main lake and at time there are some nice fish in the weeds and rocks of this area but had the same results as the previous location.
We only had a certain amount of time that we could be out there and wanted to try one more location. This location is a flat in the main lake with water depths around 8 feet deep and there is a ridge that comes off of this out into the main body of the lake. Years past this area yields some of our biggest fish but lately has been dead. Always like to see areas come back to life and hopefully this one will.
There is one location here that is a small rock pile in the weedbed and if you can locate that, the bigger fish of the area usually congregate there. Was fan casting a carolina rig looking for this spot and the line went tight and went to set the hook and broke the first fish off. Felt like a big fish and through out a buoy marker while I retie. Cast back into that area again and another good bite came on and boated a decent 2 pound largemouth.
Kept working around that area and had a numerous bites and they were all feeling good but between the break offs and loosing fish on the way back to the boat, made it very frustrating. It was getting that time that we needed to get off the lake and even though we missed a number of fish, we felt it was a very productive day for the middle of July.
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July 10-13 2010
Being from the
I am fortunate that my parents live on a lake in northern MN and this makes it very easy to get on the lake any time of the day. The last time that we were there, we had come across a location on the lake that gave us a number of large bass and I couldn’t wait to get out there and try it again.
The location is an underwater hump between a point and an island and tops out at around 8 feet of water. I generally position the boat on top of the hump and then cast out into the deeper water bringing the lures back to the weed edge that is growing on this hump.
There was one general area that if you hit it, there was some of the best bass that I have caught in this lake. There is a corner on this hump that has an indentation and these bigger fish are schooled up in this area. Had 3-4 cast in a row that produced a 3 pound plus largemouth on each of those casts.
The morning bite was generally the better time at getting these fish but the second day there was a major cold front that came through. This front really shut down the bigger fish and this hump seemed to be void of fish at that time. We started working other areas and 
finding that the better fish were in deeper water and a few small fish were in the lily pads.
The last day of the trip our best location started producing better but wasn’t to the point as the first morning flurry that we had. I had a good friend come up for a couple of days along with his teenage son and between those two, my son and wife; we really had a great few days of fishing together.
Always enjoy getting back to MN and to have time to fish the waters there. One day would really like to drive out there and bring the boat along and fish a number of the old favorite lakes that I use to frequent so often. Plans are in the works for making a trip back this winter to do a number of day’s ice fishing.
_______________June 27 2010
Luckily I have a few ponds nearby that I can fish if I only have a few hours to get out and there is one small 100 pond close that works very well for this. Usually fish here a few times throughout the summer and seems lately that there are more anglers fishing here as well.
Arrived early and there were already a number of boats in the water. Sunny skies with no wind at all and air temps around 75 and water temps were reading between 74 and 77 degrees. This pond has very dark water and the weedline only goes out 4-5 feet. Most of the pond is developed and one end has a heavy lily pad field as the rest of the pond is a few docks and clean shorelines.
In the middle of the pond there is a gravel hump that comes to within 1 foot of the surface and the northern end of it has a finger that goes halfway across the bay that is 6 feet on top and drops off into the deepest part of the lake on the west side. I generally start working that ledge to see if I can find some of the large bass that live here and worked this area for quite some time but couldn't find a bite.
Went over to where a creek comes into the lake that has a big lily pad field in front of it and usually fish this area with a weightless frog. Fan casted all around and in the past this area has given up some big fish but today only a small pickerel was going to hit.
Left there and went to the other end of the lake and started fishing a dock that had a couple of boats as well as a pontoon tied to it. Casted a senko type bait around these objects and pulled 4 small bass of these. Generally this ends has a good sized area with milfoil and working a weightless worm around finds you some fish but I was unable to find any of the milfoil and have a feeling that they may have treated this area.
Following the shoreline around fishing with the senko looking bait, picked up another couple here and there but just couldn't find any size. Worked a few more docks and boats but wasn't getting the results that I was looking for. Moved back out to the gravel hump and was working this area with a carolina rig and felt like the sinker had wedged itself in between a couple of rocks. Lifted it again and and the line was moving and set the hook, the line screamed to the surface as a nice 3-4 pound largemouth went airborne, so did my bait.
Very frustrating when you lose a large fish but that is why it is called fishing and not catching. Worked all around the area to see if I could find any other fish and wasn't able to get any bites. It was getting more boat traffic out there so decided to head out and get a few other things done. Fish right now seem to be scattered around with the smaller fish shallow and bigger fish deep.
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June 19 2010
Generally we fish the same lakes throughout the year and you get to a point that you want to see and try something different for a change. So that was on the agenda and after scouring over New Hampshire lake maps, we ended up on a small lake in the Raymond, NH area.
Never been to this lake before comes with it the excitement of seeing and trying to figure out where and what the fish are looking for to bite. Conditions today were sunny skies, no wind, air temp was around 80 with the water temp in the 69-71 degree range. Water is a tanic color as many lakes in the region are but the weed growth does get out there into the 8-10 foot range.
Since there were no winds decided to start working the emergent weed growth along the shorelines and was working a BearPaw load toad over the top. This bait is a weightless frog imitation and as you bring it back towards you the legs act as if they were kicking in the water. Worked this along a good stretch and caught a couple of small pickerel with no bass showing themselves.
Switched between that bait, carolina rig and a crankbait and the shallow water just wasn't producing for what we were looking for. Did see numerous small perch that would follow the bait back to the boat so that shows that there is a good forage base for the predator fish in this lake.
Since the shallow longer shorelines weren't producing moved to a part of the lake near the dam area that there was a deep water near and along the shoreline. Typically this type of area I like casting deep diving crankbaits to the shore and bringing it back. Wasn't long and a good fish hit the crank and after battling this fish swung a nice chunky largemouth bass into the boat. This is what we were looking for as well as there are suppose to be smallmouth here as well.
Worked this deep water shoreline for quite a while and couldn't find another bite there. Moved to a shallower cove and worked a variety of baits with no results as well. Moved back to the deep shoreline and worked this the opposite direction and nothing happening. Went back to the frog and had a few small blowups that looked like pickerel but no bass. As we were approaching the noon hour the water skiers were starting to come out and fishing, what there was, dropped way off and decided to pull the plug.
There wasn't many fish caught this day but still had fun learning and seeing a new body of water. This may be something that we try more numerously this summer and get away some from fishing the same old lakes and see some new water. Summer is definitely here now and fish are or have transitioned to their summer haunts so get out there and enjoy a summer day catching some fish.
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June 12 2010
Since the previous trip was a very wet one and my son wanted to try that body of water again, we went back to a small local pond and see if he could do a little better. Conditions were fairly close to the previous trip with little wind, air temps around 70 and a threat of rain.
We started where the previous trip, many fish were caught but they really didn't seem to be hanging around that location at all. Moved over to where he did well the week before and was getting a few bites but nothing to speak of in getting fish to the hook.
This is a town water reservoir and we fish mainly on the dam side of it and below where the water comes out of the reservoir, there is a creek with some backwaters. We went down there and started in a bigger pool and caught a few small sunfish. Of course by this time the rain was starting to lightly fall and was making it another cool and miserable trip.
We moved over to where there was more flowing water and there was definitely more fish in this location and you just had to deal with the trees that were around you. Just about anywhere that you would cast in this pool you would get bit and the fish were a little better sized.
We were fishing with a variety of different color patterns of T.H.E. Jig, (Totally Hot Everyday Jig), and seemed to come to the conclusion that anything with white in it was the best combination. We went back to the reservoir area and tried a few other locations in the rain but they weren't cooperating. Headed out and being this is only 5 minutes down the road makes it a great place to go for a short trip no matter what the weather is.
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June 6 2010
Being my son is involved in Cub Scouts, they have their annual fishing derby at a local pond and the scouts look forward to this every year. Weather wasn't going to cooperate very well for the scouts but they were troopers none the less. It was to be held Saturday morning but with lightning in the air, it was rescheduled to Sunday morning.
Sunday morning came and there were overcast skies, with rain following suit not to much later. It rained most of the morning while the fishing went on but these guys were not going to let that get into their ways. Their minds were set to catch fish and every single one of them worked as hard as they could at doing that.
Everyone had to fish using the same basic equipment with no lures being allowed and livebait in the form of worms were the bait of the day. So everyone was targeting sunfish and hoping that a bass or trout would swim by to give them that edge for a bigger fish. Didn't take long and the first fish was caught and all of the boys were fired up and hard at work trying to catch their fish.
My son started fishing at a spot and within minutes already had a few sunfish registered and was on his way. There were 4 categories with a trophy for each that they all were fishing for with smallest fish, biggest fish, first fish and most fish. My son was holding his ground and was in the lead for most of the morning with most fish caught.
Unfortunately his spot starting drying up as well and kids were accumulating there and catching the fish as well. He decided to pickup and start moving around but wasn't able to find any more fish by doing that. I mentioned to him to go back to where he started and he caught a couple more but there was another boy that was slowly catching up to him and passed him in the final moments.
The rains were getting heavier and the fish were biting less and less so there was a mutual agreement to call it a day and award the trophies to the winning kids. All in all they all had a great time and will be looking forward to next year's event. Only thing caught were numbers of sunfish and no one had caught that one big fish.
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May 30 2010
Spring for us here in
We were fishing a lake in
Basically moved all around the lake working steep shorelines, rocky flats, shallow weed areas, and anything that we thought would put fish into the boat. There were a few perch caught on rattle trap type baits and at least had some action.
The rains have subsided, cooler temps should start leaving the area and summer hopefully will finally make its way here. With that happening fish will move away from their shallow haunts and go out to their deeper summer lairs and this is when our fishing generally will start to take off.
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May 23 2010
Weather in
We were fishing in
Started fishing on a shallow flat shelf that had pockets of weeds around the sand and rock. Tried plastic baits, spinnerbaits and rattle trap style baits with plastic being the only one that the fish seemed to want. But, the fish were not inhaling the bait and would have the tail end of it and came to the surface of the water only to throw the bait back at me.
After working around this flat with little success moved down the lake to a deep cove that has a rock shelf. Fished around and over this shelf with plastics and crankbaits and had only a perch to show for this area. Kept following around a small island and had the same thing happen on plastic bait again with them holding onto the tail and throwing the bait as the came to the surface.
This was getting frustrating and moved further down the lake to the dam and usually there is always a fish ort two there. With the flowing water fish generally park themselves there waiting for food to float by. Fished around this area and couldn’t get a bite there. Only had a couple of hours today to figure out what the fish wanted and where they were.
Started getting somewhat of a pattern going as they wanted something that moved a little slower as opposed to chasing down a faster bait. With the water temps higher than I had expected, these fish should either be in spawn or possibly coming out of spawn already.
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Fishing is a little slow at this time of year yet but as the days get warmer and the waters start to warm, it won’t be long and the action will take off. Arrived at the lake at 6:45 am and there were a few boats already out on the water. Skies were sunny with a stiff northerly wind blowing down the length of the lake and the water temps are still a brisk 57-58 degrees. Weed growth looks to be coming in very nicely and hasn’t gotten to the surface yet but has the lush green colors that we anglers look for. Since we are in the pre-spawn phase, I decided to start in the front face of a mouth creek that has depths of water from 3-6 feet deep. Working plastic bait around the clumps of weeds was searching to finding some of the bigger fish. Many anglers were running the shorelines searching for those fish to yank on their lines. Had a few solid bites but these fish seemed to be nipping at the bait and not committing themselves to it. Moved around and left in search of other areas. Went to a productive deep shoreline and decided to go with the wind and work a crankbait covering lots of water here. Was using a deeper diving crank and casting towards shore and bring it out into deeper water while dragging the bottom. Wasn’t long and had a solid hit and a fat little 1.5 pound largemouth came swimming to the surface. That felt good and wanted more but worked all the way to the other end of the lake and didn’t get another fish. Moved back up the lake and started the same crank bait along this shoreline and then swung the boat out into deeper water between the two points. Right as I got to where the water drops off into the main lake another largemouth took my crankbait. Wasn’t much size to this one but a fish is a fish. Went back to the creek mouth and worked this area over again with plastics and missed another couple of fish. Moved to a wind blown point shoreline with the crankbait and couldn’t find anything there either. All in all it was a fun day, windy, would have liked more fish but as the waters warm they will be coming. _______________ The ice is gone and has been for quite some time and lately the rains have left and the sun has found its way to In turn, this will bring this spring spawn season weeks in advance and now is the time to get out there and enjoy some good fishing. We headed to a local pond as we only had an hour or two and my young son wanted to get his open water season underway. With excitement in the air, fishing rod in our hands, and rigged and ready to catch fish we went to a local pond for a little shore fishing. There is an area that I like to fish here from shore that is a corner of the pond that has access to deep water, has a weed flat near shore and usually a good area for early spring fishing. Today’s bait choice was going to be fishing T.H.E. Jig, (Totally Hot Everyday Jig) underneath a float. Color choices that were productive were the purple/green and chartreuse/white combinations. No live bait is needed when fishing these baits as these are small hair jigs that dance in the water representing insects and emerging larva. It didn’t take long and fish were being located and caught and our first crappie of the open water season was in hand. No real big ones were caught as the general size was around 8 inches long but they were very black and won’t be long and they will be spawning. The trick to catching fish in this area was to cast out as far as you could and had the float set at 18-24 inches in depth. We worked this area as well as a little further down the shoreline and in the short time that we were there caught 10 fish for our efforts. 4 crappies, 3 sunfish, 2 bass and a 1 perch, quite a variety of fish species as they were caught only on these two jigs. Wanted to stay longer and see if the bigger crappies came in as the sun got lower, but my young son had other plans on his mind. All in all was a very good day out for our first open water trip and now we are pumped and ready to bring on the open water season. Next trip hopefully will be in the boat in search of largemouth bass. _______________ Weather has been getting better now that we are well into February and the nights are still cool but the days are warming nicely. Which makes getting on the ice nicer as well as the trips are getting to last longer. There is a lake that we fish that is fairly large in size for our location and plenty of structure as well. This body of water generally isn't a high producer for numbers of fish on a day but the ones that are caught are usually of a much nicer size. These waters contain perch, crappies large and smallmouth bass which each species grows to rather large size. The concentration was to be in search of large crappies and also find the elusive smallmouths that have eluded us in the ice season. We fished an area that is fairly deep and gets down to 35 feet as we wanted to locate suspending crappies. We had a few bites and missed most but caught the above nice perch. Worked all around this area drilling a large number of holes and just couldn't seem to find anything other than a few more of these perch. Picked up and moved over away where there is an underwater humped and drilled holes up and down this contour line. Worked here for quite sometime and only produced a few more perch but one of them was a very fat 13 incher. Moved out into deeper water once again but we just couldn't seem to locate anything and watching the number of other anglers out there, they were on the move all the time as well. Ice conditions are excellent as we had a solid 14 inches and no snow on top is making travel very easy. Looking forward to our next trip which is going to be taking us to New Hampshire where we are going to be searching for sumo perch, fat smallmouth and aggressive largemouth bass. A possibility of a little snow this week and hopefully that misses again as traveling on the ice right now is optimal for us.
May 16 2010
April 11 2010
February 20 2010
Weekends sure
seem to take a long time to get here and once they are here you blink your eyes and they are gone again. We should have two day work weeks and 5 day weekends and then I couldn't be more happier.
We were fishing an area that comes out of a channel between to lakes and as you enter this part of the lake, there is an underwater deep point. We had holes drilled in ranges from 10 feet out to 16 feet of water. Was marking fish in most holes but a lot of lookers versus being biters.
My son was going to be the one that tried to catch most fish today and it took him a number of failed hook sets before he finally started getting his groove together. These fish were not inhaling the baits as they were more or less nipping at the tails.
Over the course of the day I think he said that we had caught 12 in total with 1 perch, 1 smallmouth, 1 pickerel and 9 largemouth bass to show for our efforts. All in all it was a good day and we have seen better on this particular lake but as long as the two of us are enjoying our time on the ice, in my mind that is all that matters.
We are counting the days already for our next adventure and may have to switch gears and head to our favorite crappie hole. Seems that we haven't seen to much ice time this season but hopefully the next few weeks we can pick up the pace as late ice is coming and this is the prime time of our ice fishing season.
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February 13 2010
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February 6 2010
The weekends this year have been so busy with family things and kids activities that ice fishing has taken a back seat with only being able to get out a couple of times. So th
is weekend we have put everything aside and after swimming lessons today the fishing weekend starts.
Since it was early afternoon already, figured that we would stay close to home and hit a local pond and try for some crappies and sunfish. Ice conditions are shaping up very nicely as there is no snow on top and this pond we are looking at 13 inches. Today's weather was cool and breezy and definitely still feel the chill of winter out there.
This particular pond is a water reservoir and we stayed near the dam end in deeper water. The area that we were working is the transition area from the shallower backside to where the water drops off into deeper water that is on the face of the dam.
Once dropping our jigs down there the Vexilar screen lit up with fish and they were there the whole time we fished. There were many lookers but with the cold front that had come through many of these wouldn't commit to the bait.
As I was working my bait my son says "dad, I have a fish on" and I look over and his rod was doubled over. I told him that was not a crappie that we were looking for and was something much bigger. He was struggling to get this fish in and after coaching him to try and tire the fish out, a nice 3 pound bass came up through the hole.
He was very excited and wanted his picture taken and was ready to catch whatever was willing to bite. We fished these fish for a while and caught some crappies and sunfish and was nice getting on the ice again. This is our fishing weekend and tomorrow we are leaving first thing in the morning for a trip to New Hampshire and in search of large and smallmouth bass.
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January 16 2010
S
ince our last trip was cut short in search of a few pickerel the last time out we had decided to head back to our favorite pickerel lake. This particular lake is shallow and the weeds are generally 5-6 feet under the ice. Making sure that the lines are set shallow enough so that the minnows don't get tangled into the weeds.
It was a nice weekend and this day we had mid 40's for temps and little wind as well so that made for a very enjoyable day to spend on the water. Snow is melting on the lakes very quickly but staying firm enough so it isn't sloppy out there.
We set our traps out around the area we were in and it took a while before any action was to come along. Once the first bite came the others came fairly regularly the rest of the afternoon. There was even a time when we had 3 traps going at once.
We would set the traps shallow with the minnows only a couple of feet under the ice and the fish were still coming in to take a look. For the afternoon out there we caught 11 pickerel that went from 12 inches up to 3 pounds. Also, caught a fat and very nice perch as well.
The way the day started wasn't sure if we were going to be catching anything and already planning on other options. But moving around some and searching the fish out made for a productive day.
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January 2 2010
Finally the ice season has come to New England and not to soon. Was wondering if we were going to ever get on the ice but most places are locking up well now and not a lot of snow on top to insulate so the cool nights are producing ice all the time.
With so much time to prepare for this season and trying to decide where that first trip will be, the hour and a half that I had to get out dictated a quick run to a local pond in search of crappies and sunfish. The day was cloudy and fairly breezy with snow showers happening the whole time.
A few new pieces of equipment for this ice season to try out and they proved their value in quality, craftsman and functionality. One was a new 24 inch Austin fishing rod which proved itself fish after fish and the other was a StrikeMaster ElectraLazer auger that is battery powered and made swiss cheese of the ice very quickly.
For this pond there was 5 inches of clear black ice with a coating of 5 inches of snow on top. The snow is still light so there is no water seepage after drilling the holes allowing to keep us dry. Punched a number of holes and put the Vexilar to use in search of fish and there were a few holes that were very active.
This particular pond has an abundance of panfish but have noticed that size has come down some but quantities are still there. Was working water depths of 13 feet of water and using a black/white T.H.E. Jig on 2 pound Gamma Ice line and this combination proved well for the 10 sunfish that were caught.
There were a number of lookers taking a gander at the bait and lightly working T.H.E. Jig to entice the feeders proved to be the combination to get that tug on the fishing line. All in all it was a good day to finally be able to get on the ice once again and this weekend a trip of pickerel fishing is planned.
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