Thursday, January 20, 2011

Trout Bum(mer)

Deep snow, sketchy ice and emaciated trout would accurately describe our latest escapade. Four anglers only managed two skinny browns during a half day on ice fishing this weekend. The trout population in this particular body of water is hurting from a decline in their main forage of land-locked alewives. Though illegally introduced, the alewives were the best thing that ever happened to trout in this lake. There are multiple reasons why the baitfish are dying off and it could be several years, if ever, before their numbers bounce back to where they once were. That means the holdover brown trout fishery we have been fortunate to experience over the last several winters is just a memory. It may be time to think outside of Connecticut  if I really want to target trophy trout through the ice. I can also stay local and focus more time on other target species like walleye and northern pike.


Photo credit: Aaron Swanson

5 comments:

  1. Yeah its too bad about that place. The jigging was second to none.

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  2. That photo of the brown, with the B&W angler is great.
    The brown is a bit thin, but beautifully spotted and colored.

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  3. Beautiful Trout! Love that effect on the photo.

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  4. Thanks, Steve. Yea, I'm a big fan of that effect too.

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