Ice Fishing

Who all here are ice fishing diehards? Up here in alaska i battle negative temps and stringent fish and game rules along with shy fish. Im curious to hear about ice fishing down your guys ways. And if you have pics please post em, i love to see different kinds of fish.

Just went out today, as a matter of fact! My brother & father were pulling 'em in left & right. Mostly largemouth bass ... but an occasional pickerel to make things slimy ... and eat your hook. Nothin' huge, but nothin' tiny either. Not a bad day considering it was 20° for a high. Usually get numbers like that when the water temp is over 60°!

Not a bad day man. There have been days of -10 and 30mph winds with just a 4 inch burbot. Good to meet a fellow ice fisherman. Here is a pic of a rainbow i caught on my birthday.
We could have caught more but we only keep what we eat and our bellies could only take so much.


Biggest catch of the day. The birthday fish.




It was only -5 that day. Quite the godsend.

So falling thru the ice isn't a real issue by you. Here in NY the ice sometimes isn't the greatest. Now it's 4" covered by snow. Sometimes thicker, sometimes,,,,,,,,,

... and you don't have to worry about the new yuppies in mansions just built next to the lake that will sprint to the phone & call the cops if they see any motorized vehicle near THEIR lake!

Nice fish! We can't eat anything we catch around here .... we'd probably die!

Perfect size for eats.

SMITTY wrote:... and you don't have to worry about the new yuppies in mansions just built next to the lake that will sprint to the phone & call the cops if they see any motorized vehicle near THEIR lake!

I didnt think anyone could own water though. Do the cops try and get you on a noise ordinance or something?

The lake by me, Pymatuning is a good fishing lake that normally has a lot of icefishing going on but this year they haven`t plowed the road to access it. Don`t know if it is dilibrate to curtail fishing or just too deep, I know I have a heck of a time walking thru the deep stuff even in the snowmobile tracks.

I put perch in the pond just for ice fishing. Nobody does though.

I have been out quite a bit. last weekend there wasa finally enough ice to drive th trucks on. it makes you not even worry about the weather once you can drive on. I fish mostly for Pike and use large dead pond shiners for bait. Big statewide derby this weekend we'll see if we can take it again.
good luck on the ice everyone.

ken wrote:I put perch in the pond just for ice fishing. Nobody does though.

I'm always looking for a place to ice fish. I go to Middlefield all the time to visit with friends.

valley trash wrote:I didnt think anyone could own water though. Do the cops try and get you on a noise ordinance or something?

Everyone around here thinks they do. I have to watch my ass because I refuse to register my ATV. Why register it when YOU CAN'T RIDE IT??? Ya know? Life used to be somewhat normal around here until people from the greater Boston area discovered our "cheap" land & invaded like cockroaches. With that, came loss of hunting areas, & constant visits from the police regarding the bikes or ATV's. JERKS!! Should have stayed in that cesspool to the east .... instead they brought the cesspool to us!!

Me & my buddy got up at 3:30AM during the summer to hit a pond we had heard about years ago in Princeton ..... we get all the way out there (was over an hour drive from my house) & find the ramp barricaded with orange construction barriers, & plastered with NO TRESPASSING signs!! They shut the whole lake down!! Not even legal by MA standards, but they did it anyway. I couldn't help but notice the brand new 6,000 square foot hip-roof colonials built all near the ramp. Par for the course, as they say ...

I've lived all over the country, & there is truly no place like the northeast. It's a world unto itself. You never even realize it until you leave & see how normal everyone else is!

Bottom line - there's just too many people in MA. Gotta find fun where & when you can ... any day might be your last legal one. This year, we get to PAY .... yes .. PAY to fish in the ocean!!!

Sorry for the rant!! Fish on!!

Yea man, ive got a buddy there in Lynnfield who all but gave up fishing because of all the hassle. I usually get to hear how beautiful it is and the next second hes telling me it sucks. And for the same reason, all the people. Dont let all those tv shows and stuff fool you about alaska when they say the last frontier and all that "its all wild" crap, if theres a road to it then its probably packed with people. There seems to be a huge lack of access up here for the amount of people. We need more roads to fishing spots, hunting areas, and outlying villages. More access would spread the population out but im sure those greenies have their hand in that, even though most of those greenies live in the city and never use the resources . You have to get a ride on a plane to get out to the really amazing spots to catch fish up here. Im sure im pretty spoiled though. Hey, what kinds of fish do you have in the lakes around you SMITTY?

Yeah it is nice here VIEW wise ... if it weren't for all the people & the politics, it wouldn't be half bad. Just waiting for my opportunity to leave.

Depends on what lakes you go to & what your after. I typically just fish for bass - they put up a good fight, & it takes a bit of skill to get the big ones.

We have:

Largemouth & smallmouth bass
All different kinds of trout, like Rainbow, or Brown
Pickerel (more of a nuisance when fishing for bass)
Kivvers (called panfish everywhere else ... you'll catch these annoying buggers one after the other when fishing for trout)
Crappies
Perch (there's a few different kinds of these too)
Pike (never even saw one yet)
Tiger muskee (never saw this either, but their out there somewhere)
Catfish (sort of rare in these parts -- usually catch them by accident)
Carp

That's just what I could come up with off the top of my head.

Haven't icefished in a long time but back in the 70's & 80's I was a tool and die maker at a plastics company and made these jigs in my spare time there. They never were much good at catching fish, used live bate mainly.