Fishing February 20

Weekends sure seem to take a long time to get here and once they are here you blink your eyes and they are gone again. We should have two day work weeks and 5 day weekends and then I couldn't be more happier.

Plans were to head to New Hampshire and fish our favorite bass lake and unfortunately we haven't been able to get up there this season compared to weekly last year. Traveling on the ice is fairly easy at this point as the snow has melted again leaving bare ice. Winds were blowing as every day it seems this winter but the temps were near 50 and made for a decent day on the ice.

We were fishing an area that comes out of a channel between to lakes and as you enter this part of the lake, there is an underwater deep point. We had holes drilled in ranges from 10 feet out to 16 feet of water. Was marking fish in most holes but a lot of lookers versus being biters.

My son was going to be the one that tried to catch most fish today and it took him a number of failed hook sets before he finally started getting his groove together. These fish were not inhaling the baits as they were more or less nipping at the tails.

Over the course of the day I think he said that we had caught 12 in total with 1 perch, 1 smallmouth, 1 pickerel and 9 largemouth bass to show for our efforts. All in all it was a good day and we have seen better on this particular lake but as long as the two of us are enjoying our time on the ice, in my mind that is all that matters.

We are counting the days already for our next adventure and may have to switch gears and head to our favorite crappie hole. Seems that we haven't seen to much ice time this season but hopefully the next few weeks we can pick up the pace as late ice is coming and this is the prime time of our ice fishing season.

BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors

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Free Ice Fishing Class Offered in Peterborough March 6, 2010

Are you looking for one final hurrah for winter? Join the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s “Let’s Go Fishing” Program and the Peterborough Recreation Department for a fun-filled day of ice fishing, a recreational activity that everyone in the family can enjoy.

This introductory ice fishing class will be held on Saturday, March 6, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Peterborough Recreation Department, 64 Union Street. The class is open to anyone; however, we recommend those 16 and under be accompanied by an adult. Reserve your spot by contacting the Recreation Department at 603-924-8080. The class is $5 for Peterborough residents and $8 for non-residents, the fee covers a BBQ on the ice! Registration is first-come, first-served and all equipment and materials will be provided. You do not need to have a fishing license to participate.

The morning will be spent inside, learning about equipment, safety, knot tying, fish identification and basic winter ecology. In the afternoon, participants will head out to a local pond and put their newly learned skills to the test.

New Hampshire Fish and Game’s “Let's Go Fishing” program has taught thousands of children and adults to be safe, ethical and successful anglers. Find out more at www.fishnh.com/Fishing/lets_go_fishing_class_schedule.htm. The program is federally funded through the Sport Fish Restoration Program.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department works to conserve, manage and protect the state's fish and wildlife and their habitats, as well as providing the public with opportunities to use and appreciate these resources. Visit www.FishNH.com.

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Fishing Feb 13 2010 Massachusetts

Weather has been getting better now that we are well into February and the nights are still cool but the days are warming nicely. Which makes getting on the ice nicer as well as the trips are getting to last longer. There is a lake that we fish that is fairly large in size for our location and plenty of structure as well. This body of water generally isn't a high producer for numbers of fish on a day but the ones that are caught are usually of a much nicer size. These waters contain perch, crappies large and smallmouth bass which each species grows to rather large size. The concentration was to be in search of large crappies and also find the elusive smallmouth that have eluded us in the ice season. Fished an area that is fairly deep and gets down to 35 feet as we wanted to locate suspending crappies. We had a few bites and missed most but caught the above nice perch. Worked all around this area drilling a large number of holes and just couldn't seem to find anything other than a few more of these perch. Picked up and moved over aways where there is an underwater humped and drilled holes up and down this contour line. Worked here for quite sometime and only produced a few more perch but one of them was a very fat 13 incher. Moved out into deeper water once again but we just couldn't seem to locate anything and watching the number of other anglers out there, they were on the move all the time as well. Ice conditions are excellent as we had a solid 14 inches and no snow on top is making travel very easy. Looking forward to our next trip which is going to be taking us to New Hampshire where we are going to be searching for sumo perch, fat smallmouth and aggressive largemouth bass. A possibility of a little snow this week and hopefully that misses again as traveling on the ice right now is optimal for us.

BackWoods Sportsman OutDoors

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Angler Catches New Record Walleye in Vermont

Vermont has the best walleye fishing in New England, and Richard Levesque’s latest entry in Vermont’s fish record program underscores that point. Levesque shattered the previous state record for walleye on February 10, when he caught a walleye weighing 14.55 lbs. through the ice on Lake Champlain.

Levesque, who lives nearby in West Swanton, caught the big fish at 9:00 p.m., using a tipup baited with a golden shiner. The walleye measured 32 ½ inches long and had a 20-inch girth.

The previous Vermont state record walleye weighed 13.44 lbs and was caught in the Clyde River in 1997 by Doug Niles of Newport Center, Vt. The fish was examined by State Fisheries Biologist Brian Chipman at Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s office in Essex.

Day 2 of Fishing weekend Feb 6

With high anticipation of making this trip to New Hampshire in search of large and smallmouth bass, the drive seemed to never end. We are primed from the previous day on the ice and with past trips to this particular lake, excitement is very evident.

Getting to the ice it was very evident that fishing was going to be tough to say the least. Sunny skies, high straight lined winds and cold temps to go along with this was going to be a factor especially with a 8 year fishing with me.

Wanting to find a place to get out of the wind so that we could enjoy the day on the ice was going to be another task. The prime areas there were anglers already fishing so we braved the cold and wind and setup and tried to hide behind the point we were fishing.

Typically this lake there is decent and consistent action but today was going to be a different story. We had a few bites that didn't connect and was also finding fish that would look at our baits, but they wouldn't commit and the weather eventually took over and pulled the plug after a few hours.

Not the type of day that we wanted to have but still was nice getting out there on the ice. Ice thickness was around 14 inches with no snow on top.

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Day 1 of fishing weekend Feb 6

The weekends this year have been so busy with family things and kids activities that ice fishing has taken a back seat with only being able to get out a couple of times. So this weekend we have put everything aside and after swimming lessons today the fishing weekend starts.

Since it was early afternoon already, figured that we would stay close to home and hit a local pond and try for some crappies and sunfish. Ice conditions are shaping up very nicely as there is no snow on top and this pond we are looking at 13 inches. Today's weather was cool and breezy and definitely still feel the chill of winter out there.

This particular pond is a water reservoir and we stayed near the dam end in deeper water. The area that we were working is the transition area from the shallower backside to where the water drops off into deeper water that is on the face of the dam.

Once dropping our jigs down there the Vexilar screen lit up with fish and they were there the whole time we fished. There were many lookers but with the cold front that had come through many of these wouldn't commit to the bait.

As I was working my bait my son says "dad, I have a fish on" and I look over and his rod was doubled over. I told him that was not a crappie that we were looking for and was something much bigger. He was struggling to get this fish in and after coaching him to try and tire the fish out, a nice 3 pound bass came up through the hole.

He was very excited and wanted his picture taken and was ready to catch whatever was willing to bite. We fished these fish for a while and caught some crappies and sunfish and was nice getting on the ice again. This is our fishing weekend and tomorrow we are leaving first thing in the morning for a trip to New Hampshire and in search of large and smallmouth bass.

Stay tune and check back tomorrow and see if we are able to pull this off.