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