One-Day Season

Last weekend's short-lived arctic blast produced just enough ice in Connecticut for one memorable day of hardwater fishing. Knowing this was essentially a one-day season, we got an early start and had lines in the water before first light. The little ice we had was strong and crystal clear. The first spud into it sent a loud reverberation across the waterbody. By mid-morning the ice was turning grey with air bubbles. By early afternoon, there was more water on top than there was ice below. It was time to go home. 

Those hours in between though were glorious. It was a scalding hot bite at times; the type of action you dream about when a lake or pond first freezes over. There was a point when I had three of my allotted six lines out of the water at once because I was unhooking fish and rebaiting tip-ups. Four of us fished together and we all caught our target species of northern pike, with a few good ones in the mix. A highlight for me was catching three of them by rod and reel. Something I have been exploring more of and recently wrote an article about.

It's not lost on me how lucky I was to get in a few hours of ice time this winter. The stars and moon aligned with the conditions, timing and location. For how crappy this winter has been in terms of local hardwater opportunities, this was an outing I will never forget. 

Softwater

the thick of winter
catching trout in a riffle;
I should be on ice

False Starts

Connecticut’s ice fishing season has been a series of false starts so far. With our current weather pattern, it’s been a case of one step forward, two steps back. The first holes drilled in the state this fall were around November 17^th on the usual small, shallow ponds in the northwest corner of the state. But, in what seems like a yearly occurrence now, it warmed up before the ice really took hold. This temperature tug-of-war didn’t change in December. It got could enough for more ponds, coves, and even some larger lakes to lock up, but not could enough to build a solid base of ice to survive the next warm spell and bouts of rain.

All that said, if you really wanted to fish hardwater in Connecticut right now you still can. There are a handful of water bodies tucked away in higher elevations of either corner of the state where fishable ice endured.  However, they have been pressured hard and, at least to me, aren’t worth using up the few free passes I’ll be given this winter. With the predicted long-term forecast, it’s going to be a while before anything exciting freezes over again. We could use an extended blast of cold air. I just don’t see it yet.

The first hole drilled of ice season

While watching the forecast and plotting my next move, I’ve been reliving the two times I was fortunate to get out this floundering ice season. Two weeks ago, my friend Jeff and I were the first ones to put holes on popular northern pike fishery, which had us brimming with confidence. We were treated to an incredible sunrise and three inches of gorgeous, black ice, but the pike bite never materialized, at least for us. Another group did quite a bit of flag chasing and landed their share of hammer handles using small live shiners. We were fine ruling out smaller fish that day in hopes of finding one large pike, but our dead baits sat mostly untouched. Fish or no fish, it was an awesome return to hardwater. I hadn’t laughed that hard or fished on ice that nice in some time.  

Into the black

The most important tool in ice fishing

Tecumseh at first light

Frozen in time

Oatmeal in the shelter

About a week later, a couple days after Christmas, we were lucky to get out again, this time on a different body of water with a few more friends. I’d fished there once before and knew it was in our best interest to ditch the dead baits for live shiners. Collectively for the group, it was a day on the ice to remember with both quality and quantity. The morning action was scorching hot; multiple times there were two or three flags up at once. The best part of my day, a moment now seared in my brain, came during a phone call home.

It was FaceTime call with my girls who were enjoying a lazy morning during Christmas break. I was jigging over a hole in the ice with a phone in one hand and a rod in my other. I had tied on a Hali tipped with a piece of smelt flesh, hoping to entice some keeper yellow perch or calico bass. There were a few marks on my electronics, but I was caught off-guard when my rod doubled over. This was no panfish and the kids could sense my excitement. When Jeff walked over, I passed the phone so he could give my wife and kids a live look at my first fish of the ice season, and what turned out to be my first-ever northern pike caught while jigging. A pretty cool moment for those on the couch and on the ice. 

A FaceTime pike on the jig!

It was that kind of day where things just went right. We were surprised to even be on fishable ice. There was about two inches of soft, grey ice on top and almost four inches of black ice underneath, but with temps in the high 40s, we lost ice throughout the day. That turned out to be the last day this spot was fished in 2019. Even cooler was that all five of us caught our first fish of the ice season that day, which would have been the highlight if it wasn’t for two brutes that capped off the trip.

Our host Mark hooked the first a little after 10 a.m. He’s not an avid angler and doesn’t own ice gear (yet), but his brother Frank insisted that he take a few of his flags that outing. Mark chose the right one to take and latched into a hell of a fish on light line and fought it very well. When it finally came topside, the pike measured about three feet in length and was thick all around; by far the best fish of Mark’s life. It was the high point of the day for sure until Buddy topped it no more than 20 minutes later with another girthy pike that went about a half inch longer. Both pike were released in incredible shape. With good genes and appetites, those fish are well on their way to becoming trophies. 

Mark with the best fish of his life

Buddy with best fish of the day.

Between the group we landed about 20 pike that trip, perhaps the most I’ve seen in one outing, with a crappie and smattering of perch mixed in. The majority of the pike were smaller in size, but all well-fed and growing, which leads me to believe this area is a healthy nursery for northern pike. It’s nice to know that there is always the prospect of very respectable fish moving through too. The two December ice trips were a great way to close out a year in angling. Now it’s a waiting game for the next ice trip, but there are plenty of open water opportunities to keep anglers busy until then. All the best to you and yours in 2020—tight lines!

Bye bye ice.

Last fish of 2019!

First fish of 2020!

First on the Last

Partly sunny and above freezing from the start, it was a full-on beach day when the wind wasn’t blowing. The ice was still about 10-inches thick of varying quality—not bad for March in Connecticut, especially considering the strange 2018-2019 winter we had. In the back of mind, I knew it was my last trip of the season, so I tried to keep that in perspective throughout the day.

A 7 a.m. arrival was later than I’m used to, but how can one complain when getting the red carpet treatment? I was the guest of a friend of a friend that lives in a homeowner’s association with private access. Even better, it was to a location I had never laid eyes on before. Opportunities like this don’t come my way often and I was pumped up to check out new water.

The conditions looked good on paper. Wedged between two snow events, I had high hopes for a moving barometer and feeding fish. Northern pike were the target and in this particular waterbody, the predators seem to prefer their food alive and well. So, with that in mind, I mixed in a few big live shiners on jigging rods along with my usual dead baits under tip-ups.

One of the rod and reel combos was a conventional set-up that I placed in a Nor’Easter—a contraption handmade by a mom-and-pop operation called Indian Hill. Like a traditional tip-up, it gives the visual aid of a tripped flag when your bait is taken. Unlike a tip-up, it allows the angler to fight the fish on a rod instead of by hand. Fighting a pike through the ice on a jigging rod has always appealed to me, but I never had any luck in the dozen or so outings I have tried this thing out.

I saved the Nor’Easter for the last hole I drilled in about 11-feet of water halfway into a large cove. With my host at my side, I sent down a lively Arkansas shiner and placed the line in the line holder that acts as the trigger. It’s a clever design, but it can be a little temperamental and trip false flags once in a while. Sure enough, after setting it, we got no more than five paces away and it pops. I joked that the wooden trap would end up as kindling if it kept this up all day. To my pleasant surprise, the braided line was off to the side just a hair when we got back to it. I literally must have dropped the baitfish right on top of a pike lying in wait.

Crouched next to the hole, I picked up the rod, engaged the reel, and slowly came tight to some weight that began swimming away. It lasted only a minute or two, but it was a really cool experience battling my first pike on a jigger. A respectable fish, not huge by any means, but healthy, full of fight, and quickly released. I wish I could say that started a chain reaction of flags popping all over our spread, but it was not to be. We did, however, have a blast just soaking in the sun and enjoying the prospect of a huge fish moving in at any moment to feed.

What lacked in flags was made up in jigging for panfish. It’s not worth the effort in most places that I fish for pike, but this spot had good depth and the bottom was paved in yellow perch. A bonus was reeling in a big fallfish. Awesome pike baits in their own right, I immediately airlifted it to one of my tip-ups and put it to work. I also missed a mystery fish that doubled over my rod to its cork handle. I am guessing it was a pike that zeroed in on the school of perch, but in that body of water the options of what it could have been are numerous. Regardless, it was enjoyable showing my fishing partners the clear benefit of having electronics when jigging on the ice. Even the basic model fish finder that I have can be a game changer.

By early afternoon, dad life was calling and it was time to start a slow pick-up in hopes for one final flag before hitting the road. Naturally, I let the Nor’Easter soak for as long as possible, but no more luck for me. Buddy saved his luck for late in the day. When I got home, he texted a photo of a pike he landed similar in size to mine. Two pike over 30-inches and a pile of panfish, all in all, that's a pretty good day. I met some new friends, fished new water, and checked a new box—northern pike on the jigging stick. A neat ice fishing first on the last day of the season. 

Farewell and Adieu

After a modest five trips over two months, my ice fishing season is over. I don't ever recall putting my ice gear away in February, but it was 65 degrees today and I saw skunk cabbage sprouting in the woods. That makes two winters in a row that I wasn't able to walk on some of my favorite bodies of water. Perhaps it was a blessing because it forced me to focus on new water and, in the process, pulled the two largest fish of my life through the ice in back-to-back seasons. I do miss ice fishing deep water for lake trout and walleye, but there's no denying the thrill of walking to a tripped flag when targeting trophy pike or muskie. No matter what species I'm after or how many times I get to do it, every trip on the ice with friends is a good time. Here are a few shots from this short and sweet season. 

Ice Finale

Last week’s storms wreaked havoc on much of Connecticut's fishable ice, save a few bodies of water in the northwest hills. The deteriorating conditions, coupled with several lakes closing on the last day of February, meant that Saturday’s ice trip would be my last of the season. My uncle and I decided to join a few anglers on a notoriously stingy walleye lake, but one that we believe is no doubt home to multiple state records.

The edges of the lake were shot, but a plank was used to get on the main body of ice. The remaining ice was enough to fish comfortably on, but it was getting funky fast. There were small open holes everywhere, which never refroze from past fishing trips. We had to watch our footing all night, as these holes were now covered by snow. We each set our five tip-ups baited with large shiners right off bottom in 23 to 14 feet of water. Each tip-up was also set with a light that would blink red if our baits were taken.

Our partners that night had one flurry of action, with four flags going up in a matter of five minutes. One of the flags produced a 19-inch walleye, which was the angler’s first from this lake and taken home for breakfast.

The rest of the night was rather quiet save for the occasional snow squall moving through. I jigged up a lone rock bass and patiently waited for blinking red lights that never came.  My uncle and I had one last ice feast, packed up the shelter and pulled our traps for the final time of the season.

Yes, some anglers will be walking on ice next weekend in Connecticut.  Everything from planks, ladders, waders, and kayaks will be used to get on for one last flag.  As for me, I will take this week to store away all my ice gear for the next nine months. The hardwater season went quick like it always does, but that is sometimes a good thing. The toll of ice fishing can be draining on the mind, body, wallet, and partner. I love to ice fish, but part of the reason I love it so much is because you can only do it for a few months each year.  None the less, I had a great season and enjoyed every minute of it.