Monday, March 31, 2008

The Ice of March








The last weekend in March promised good pike action and believe me, it was true to it's reputation. After a slow start with fish grabbing the bait and dropping it on the return, we began to sink the hooks and landed nearly 30 fish for the day. Besides some good pike in the 4-6lb range, we tusseled with a few in the 7-8lb class and even pulled in some big bowfin. A few crappies, sunnies and perch rounded out the day.


We're setting up closer and closer to the marsh where the big hen pike are cruising in as they begin their spring spawn run. Most of the fish were returned to the water and the ones we did harvest for a fish fry were all clean and healthy looking ones both inside and out.


Ice conditions continue to hold up well here in the Alburgh Passage. The channel is opening up out in the middle where the current flows strongest, but the inside bays are still well locked in. Even the shorelines are stable; plenty of 4 wheelers still find good access and can travel up and down the bays. I fished for crappies yesterday and counted 38 cranks with the hand auger to get through the solid ice pack. That translates to about 16" of good ice still in the bay. With temps holding below freezing most nights this week, we'll be ice fishing again this weekend for sure!


Thursday, March 20, 2008

Late day on the Ice





Andy and Jason found a weed edge on a deep water breakline as the pike began moving from the channel into the head of the bay. Flags were flying all day. These photos are just some of the highlights.


Monday, March 17, 2008

More pike on the ice






As promised, here are some more shots of this week's pike. The Worcester crew knows how to follow Toad's advice!

Mid March Pike






This week saw several groups with great success on the ice. At least 18" of solid, stable ice makes it possible to continue to drive out to the bay just south of Holiday Harbor. Macomb (locally called Paquette's Bay) is the classic spring pike bay: deep water edge sloping into plenty of weeds with lots of baitfish and a small creek feeding the back of the bay. The Whitaker/Murphy group iced over 60 fish in 2 days, The Worcester gang landed several pike, some upwards of 9lbs., and the boys from Long Island will be eating some fresh fish all week.


Weather continues to be colder than normal especially at night, dipping down into the single numbers. I heard the ice popping and expanding this morning which means we're adding a few inches over the next few days. Most fishermen know that conditions can turn quickly,though, especially with the wind and rain of early spring in the north country. Right now it looks like about 2 more weeks of good ice. Best bet for big fish!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Where are the panfish?





All up and down the lake, fishermen are wondering what has happened to the panfish: sunnies, crappie, bluegill and yellow perch seem to be moving in different circles. The usual spots are not producing the sizes and numbers of fish and everyone seems to have an opinion about why.




There has been no noticable die-off of panfish, so the mystery continues on into open water fishing. On the flip-side, northern pike fishing has been excellent.




Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Ice storm pike





The weekend of March 7/8 saw a real mixture of weather on the Alburgh Passage. A sunny start gave way to rain, then ice began to form all up and down the line of the front. By the end of the weekend, all the fishermen, gear and fish were encased with about 1/2 inches of ice.

Several nice pike came to the hole, including these healthy fish.





Sunday, March 9, 2008

What fishermen have to say


Lake Champlain – North Hero, VT
Day 1: After a 5 hour drive Thursday night, we were in North Hero around 11pm.North Hero is a large island in a small chain that make up the “Grand Isles” . We were roughly 7 miles from the Canadian border. For us, it was about 260 miles. The name of the motel we stayed at was the “Holiday Harbor Motel”.We woke up at 5am, the bait shop/motel lobby opened at 6am. One hour to suit up and ready our gear was more than enough time. Walking in to the bait shop patrons are greeted with Vermont’s Northern Pike State Record. I believe it was 38lbs and change. A monster. What a great bait shop. The array of bait alone is enough to make your head spin. Available bait was as followed: Sm, Med, Lg, Xlg, XXLg, and XLPike Shiners, and Suckers. After buying a coffee, we walked out with roughly $40 in bait.The shanty we rented was closest to the motel and was only about a 10 minute walk. Not a problem.After punching out 20 holes (Champlain in VT &NY allows 15 tip-ups p/p) we began to setup. We ran an X type configuration with 5 traps facing outward in each direction from the shanty. One row running towards the shore, one out deep, and one to the R and one to the L. As half of the traps were set, Andy landed a nice Largemouth. After the remaining traps were set, I landed my first Northern thru the ice (pictured).Just after 9am a front moved in and it began snowing which continued throughout the day. Around the 9am window, as soon as the pressure dropped and the front moved in across the Lake, the flags began to pop. It’s the first time I’ve ever witnessed this in real time. The immediate pressure drop and storm had a direct and immediate effect on the fishing.We started hitting the fish pretty good. At one point we had a double header (both with Pike at once). Running steel leaders is a must. All hook sets were workable. There was one minor surgery that took place but I ended up getting the worst of it, see pic of what a Northern’s teeth can do. I should note that I was also using large needle nose pliers!After lunch I walked back and picked up another dozen XL shiners*.Throughout the day, I ended up catching 3 more with a total of 4 Northern’s and I managed to pull up a small Perch inside the shanty using a Swedish Pimple.Andy also caught a few nice ones. We kept commenting in how shocking it was to continually pull up these large fish. Every fish we caught was bigger than any fish we’ve ever pulled thru the ice in the past 20 years. Within about 2 hours of fishing I broke my personal best. What a day.* I should note, the state of Vermont now requires anyone who has purchased live bait to carry a bait permit (issued at purchase). Bait is only permitted for use for up to 48 hours. Bait was not allowed to leave the lake. We left a few shiners out on the ice and they actually made it thru the night.
Posted by Augersled at 2/01/2008
We woke a bit later, 6am. It’s still dark almost until 6:30. We picked up 2 dozen XL shiners and set out to the shanty. We were lucky, the temperature held overnight and we only needed to chip away a thin layer of ice, no drilling needed. Today was a bit clearer but still overcast. The snow over the ice made for some slick conditions. Bruce actually made it out both days in his truck (yes, everyone drives out to the shanties) to restock our wood supply.We ended up with more action, do in part that the shiners were so big that they continually set off flags. Some of the XL Pike shiners were the size of my open hand. Huge. By days end I picked up another 6 Northern’s. Andy also caught his limit. In all, we landed 19 Northern Pike in 2 days. I personally put 10 on the ice. I still can’t believe it. It was a long day and just before I strapped on my headlamp to head out and pull the traps, I landed my largest fish ever thru the ice, (pic of me smiling/kneeling). Our scale was frozen dead with drained batteries so we weren’t sure how heavy it was. I was guessing close to 10lbs. It was a beauty. Every fish but one had amazing colors. The water appeared crystal clear and the fish were all perfect. Some had blue and even purple coloring mixed in to the green and yellow. One fish (see video clip) had some sort of sore or blister on it’s side. Every Northern Pike that we caught was successfully released.We checked out around 9am and headed home. Rt 2, 89, and 93 were covered with speed traps.A special thanks to Bruce Batchelder of Holiday Harbor Motel. Bruce runs a very clean motel and bait/tackle shop. Bruce is also local to the area and very knowledgeable about the northern part of Lake Champlain. He’s not one to keep tactics and locations to himself. If you’re interested in pulling up some nice Pike, check out Holiday Harbor Motel in North Hero, VT.Info: http://www.holidayharbormotelvt.com/Holiday Harbor Motel, North Hero, VT 1-802-372-4077
Posted by Augersled at 2/02/2008

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Late Season Pike on the ice.





Ice fishing at Holiday Harbor continues through the end of March with large pike being caught every week. Fishermen from Vermont and around New England are icing pike ranging from 5-15lbs.