Ice Fishing New Hampshire 3/23/14

Conditions: Snow to sunny skies, upper 20's air temperatures and high winds blowing snow around

We made a long drive to the lakes region of New Hampshire and wanted to try a new lake that is supposed to have good sized crappies in it. On the drive up we had clear sunny skies and the temperatures were holding very nicely but as soon as we hit the lakes region the snow started falling and so did the temperatures with it. Upon arriving we knew that we were at the right location as there were already a number of anglers out on the ice. Conditions were going to be tough as now the sun was shining bright as well as the winds blowing very hard and with it a lot of drifting snow. The location that we wanted to target was already occupied by a big group of anglers. So we set up in between them and another set to our left. There is a deep trough that hugs around the island in the lake and we started setting lines from deeper water of 25 feet up towards the island that was in 6 feet of water. The ice conditions were 4 inches of snow on top with 27 inches of solid ice. With the electric auger, it is getting quite a workout this season and after 12 holes we needed to replace the battery to keep drilling more holes. It didn't take long and the fish were biting our set lines and we had setup in a pickerel hole because we were getting pickerel after pickerel and these fish were small. We haven't caught pickerel this small this season and after a while it was getting very old as we wanted to be targeting bass and we never did find one. Once all of the set lines were ready, I started drilling holes in 20-26 feet of water and we started hole hopping in our search for crappies. With the thick ice we weren't able to drill all of the holes that we typically drill and for the ones that we did have all that we were catching through them were perch. The winds had been relentless and with only catching perch on our jig rods, it was getting to a point that we were ready to leave. By this point all of the other anglers on the lake had left and we were the last ones left and it was still early afternoon. This would be another lake that would be nice to visit in the open water with the boat and explore the lake and mark numbers of locations for future reference.

This trip didn't pan out like we had hoped, but we were still ice fishing as it is getting to the end of March. This next week the weather is warming dramatically and may be the last time on Massachusetts ice.

So till next time may your lines be tight and smiles on your faces...FISH ON...