I HEARD THE FAT LADY SING

It looks like I'm done...
Done ice fishing for the season. I had no problem getting on the ice this morning but getting off the ice was a different story.
I thought I picked a good route but NOT...
I went through the ice...no creaking, no crackling, no warning at all.
SPLASH...
I was in up to my belly, flopping, flailing, flailing, and flailing, trying to get out...
I made it.
The most valuable gear (camera and phone) were in my upper most pockets just in case.
I had to dig thru ice and slush in my lower pockets to find my truck keys.
Stick a fork in me...
I'm done.

It's been a season of ice fishing for Lake Champlain Yellow Perch that I'd just as soon forget.
Getting on the ice was tough if not impossible at times and once on, moving around was out of the question.
Record snow falls made hard-water fishing this year miserable at best.

It's time to clean up the winter gear, stow it away safely, and look forward to a summer of lazy days trolling and fighting Lake Champlain's Salmonid population!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

I HEARD THE FAT LADY SING

MOANING AND GROANING...BLOWN HARD

Hard North winds forced creaking & banging on the ice. 
...rumbling....shaking.
fishing-
forced indoors...

Again, an encounter with a flying machine,
Non-mechanized today...

And we'll eat 32
Cathy and I...

Ice fishing Lake Champlain, yellow perch!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

MOANING AND GROANING...BLOWN HARD

I CALL HER PATTY...FATTY PATTY

FATTY PATTY

Ice fishing, Lake Champlain Yellow Perch...
For Mom & Dad.


19 GREAT EATERS

SIX OF EM WERE OVER THE TOP

I was almost solo:

Maybe the end of twenty-eleven ice???
(I got wet getting on and off the ice)

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

I CALL HER PATTY...FATTY PATTY

47-37-29

The temperature fell like a rock this morning.
47° when I woke up...
37° an hour later...
29° two hours later when I got off the ice.

I SHOULD HAVE CLOSED THE WINDOW

But I got enough for a good finger food snack of fresh yellow perch for those back at home.



Friday, I made it out for a couple of hours in the gale force winds. I caught about 30 yellow perch and kept 14 for Cathy and I to enjoy for dinner.
















Saturday...we did the Burlington Mardi-Gras!

And I met some new friends!

Last but definelty not least was last week-end with BoBo and The Fish Bandit.
They're quite the team...fish beware!!!



BoBo





The Fish Bandit

We didn't do big quanities of perch nor did we get any slabbers...but we had a riot!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

47-37-29

WORLD RECORD LAKE TROUT CAUGHT ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN?

Nicholas Palmer, age 15, of Alburgh, Vermont landed this 16.8 pound Lake Trout on 2-pound test line on Lake Champlain!

Quite possibly a world line class record taken thru the ice.

Simply put: AMAZING!

The complete story is here.

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

WORLD RECORD LAKE TROUT CAUGHT ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN?

CHAMPLAIN ICE AND YELLOW PERCH

We've been waiting patiently for thicker ice, not to say that any ice is "safe" ice, but thicker ice makes fishing much more comfortable.
Cathy and I finally made a "date" to fish on Thursday.  We both managed to schedule a day off, and would fish when Cathy got out of the Dentists chair.

We hit our spot at noonish and found a good solid eight inches of black ice.  Good strong ice that made us both feel comfortable being on it.  We set up our portable two-person shack, fired up the heater and began to jig in ten feet of water.  We could clearly see our jigs near the bottom and it wasn't long before the fish began to move in to see what we were offering.

Cathy was the first to pull up a nice fat ten inch Yellow Hen...the first fish of 2011 for her and a good size Perch for the fillet knife.  I was soon to follow, then another and another.
We fished for four hours, the fish coming and going.  At times there wouldn't be anything below us, other times several fish would come in and take our bait.

We were thinking the fish were leaving, following forage that was more interesting but that wasn't the case.  It turns out there was a nice Northern Pike hanging around.  We got a few good glimpses of it, probably near eight pounds or so.  The perch didn't want anything to do with that big Esox predator hanging out. The perch would leave, then return when Mr Pike wandered off.

As the sun began to set and the temperature started to fall, we ended our first day on the ice of twenty-eleven.  A successful first ice fishing adventure of the year with a mess of lively, colorful, delicious Lake Champlain winter Yellow Perch.  We brought home 17 keepers, all between nine and eleven inches.  Anything smaller, we released to grow another season.



11-1/8"...best of the day


Needless to say, we had an excellent meal of fried perch fillets on Friday.  What a great meal, fresh perch fillets from the ice of Lake Champlain!

Get out on the ice, be safe, and enjoy the fishery!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

CHAMPLAIN ICE AND YELLOW PERCH

NEW "ICE MACHINE"

I'll have to get one of these!



Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

NEW "ICE MACHINE"

THE ICE IS NEAR

The ice is near...
It's time to check out the gear, clean it, refresh the line, fire the heaters.  Open the portable shanties to air out and get inspected.

It won't be long now...

Here's a highlight from last year when My Grandson Justin and I tagged teamed a nice lake trout on four pound test Berkley Fireline while jigging for yellow perch on Lake Champlain!



Yup...
The ice is near!

Oh, and one of Lake Champlains favorite ice fishing lures...
The Swedish Pimple

click to watch video



Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

THE ICE IS NEAR

CHAMPLAIN ICE IS FADING FAST............. STAY OFF THE ICE!

The ice on Lake Champlain is fading fast.  With the current weather forecast, I wouldn't recommend anyone venture out onto the ice. Period.  The ice is beginning to pull away from the shoreline everywhere, especially in areas where there are concrete sea-walls or rip-rap that absorb heat from the sun and then conducts heat into the surrounding ice and water.

The ice itself is getting very weak.  The latest report of someone going through is an ATV at Tabor Point. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and everyone got off the ice safely.  The ice has become very soft and honeycombed.  I drilled a couple dozen holes through the ice yesterday and found the ice very wet and mealy all the way through.  The ice brought up by the auger was wet, the consistency of a "snow-cone".
All the red-flags and danger signs are there! 

STAY OFF THE ICE!

It's unfortunate the ice has begun to get unsafe so early.  The bigger fish (yellow perch) haven't yet moved into the shallows for their annual spawning ritual.  We tried to find them yesterday and couldn't get into any larger fish consistently.  We found a few mature adults which we returned to the water.  I'll miss pulling the big slab perch through the ice this spring but it's not worth risking my life over!

There's always next year...I think I'll hold off for safer ice!

Fish on, fish H8 me.

CHAMPLAIN ICE IS FADING FAST............. STAY OFF THE ICE!

PULLING PERCH AND PIKE

Saturday, Cathy and I got a chance to get out and pull some yellow perch thru the ice of Lake Champlain.
Cathy managed two Northerns on her jig rod. She did an excellent job fighting both fish on four pound test Berkley Fireline Micro Ice.
Pike aren't our targeted species, but they sure were a riot for her on light tackle!

Cathy had never caught  pike before, these were her first!
She happily released them both to catch another day.

Oh yea, we managed a nice bunch of yellow perch to take home.

Fish on, fish H8 me.

PULLING PERCH AND PIKE

NEW STATE RECORD WALLEYE TAKEN FROM LAKE CHAMPLAIN

 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 an impressive 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.

Source: Department of Fish and Wildlife.

CONGRATULATIONS RICHARD!!!

Fish on, fish H8 me.

NEW STATE RECORD WALLEYE TAKEN FROM LAKE CHAMPLAIN

SAFETY ON THE ICE----IT NEEDS TO COME FIRST!

ALWAYS, ALWAYS know the ice conditions. ALWAYS CHECK the ice conditions OFTEN. Drill test holes OFTEN and KNOW the ice conditions.
NEVER, NEVER drive over a pressure crack.
Need that be repeated or said any other way?
This picture was taken today, 2/8/2010 from the tip of Mills Point, Malletts Bay:

Be Safe!!!

Fish on, fish H8 me.

SAFETY ON THE ICE----IT NEEDS TO COME FIRST!

Super Bowl Weekend Perch on Lake Champlain

I thought I'd be far to busy to hit the ice this weekend but somehow I managed two short trips.
Friday evening I hit the ice for a quick 2 hour perch pulling session.  Came home with 21 keeper perch and threw back just as many small ones. (I hope to meet up with them in a few more years!)

Friday's Catch

This morning (Super Bowl Sunday) I figured I'd sneak out while everyone else was still asleep and see what I could do.   Cold and windy on the ice is what I faced.  No shack, no protection, no worries.  I only had about a two hour window.

Again, 21 nice keeper perch.  Just enough for Cathy and I to have for dinner some night.  This morning the perch were nicer.  I only threw back 4 small ones.  Maybe the larger ones had come in out of deeper water for the night?

Sunday's Catch

Yours Truly, a little cold, headed in.

Fish on, fish H8 me.

Super Bowl Weekend Perch on Lake Champlain

EXTREME LAKE CHAMPLAIN ICE FISHING

or should I say...
from one extreme to the other!

Saturday was good, not great.  We cleaned 53 keeper perch from the west side of St. Albans Bay.
Nothing over ten inches but a couple of good meals.

Sunday was almost a bust, almost a skunk,,,
at least as far as good perch thru the ice goes.

Sunday was in Mallets Bay, wanting to pull yellow perch through the Lake Champlain ice.
First fish on....
This laker, must of been an eight pounder, maybe more.  A great 15 minute battle on 4 pound test Berkley FireLine  Fused Micro Ice Crystal (the best stuff on an ice jigging rod!)

Caught within 2 minutes of fishing, and released for someone else to enjoy.

A couple more small perch, too small to keep including this trophy!

From one extreme to the other.

Just another fun, enjoyable weekend on the ice of Lake Champlain!

Sorry it had to end!

Fish on, fish H8 me.

EXTREME LAKE CHAMPLAIN ICE FISHING

FIVE POUND SALMON ICED

Reported by Mike of Dockside Outdoors.

A fisherman (name unknown) recently showed up at Dockside with a beautiful 5.2 pound Landlocked Atlantic Salmon he caught while ice fishing at the cowbanks.
Evidently, he'd been fishing for perch near the bottom when he decided to switch gears and try his hand at Salmon.  He switched baits to a larger Swedish Pimple and fished suspended, 15 feet or so off the bottom when this beautiful Silver fell for his offerings.


Fish on, fish H8 me.

FIVE POUND SALMON ICED

TREBLE HOOKS SUCK

Just the other day while hanging out at Dockside, my favorite hang-out, bait and tackle supplier, I showed Mike a picture of a "Swedish Pimple" I'd been using while perch fishing through the ice.

"Why did you remove the treble and replace it with the single hook?" he asked

"I hate them" I replied, "they make it too difficult to remove the hook from the fish, and tear up the fish that we want to release..."

Then there's this:

Not Good!

Treble Hooks suck!

Fish on, fish H8 me.

TREBLE HOOKS SUCK

LAKE CHAMPLAIN YELLOW PERCH

Saturday at the Cow-banks was a slower day fishing than we would have liked.  The fish weren't very active and the quality definitely wasn't there either.

Sunday we moved north, to an area we've only fished in March, when the ice is readily deteriorating and the yellow perch are headed towards spawning grounds, waiting for the water to warm.

Still...
it wasn't real hot action, but we found some nicer fish.
We punched holes, waited, and nothing happened.  We moved out deeper, punched holes again and waited.  Then a fish hit...Okay, we'll set up "camp" here.

Schools of fish would come and go.  We'd get steady hits, put a few of them into the bucket, and then wait for the next school of perch to come by.  Sometimes the wait would be a few minutes, sometimes as long as 15 or so.

But...that's okay.  The fishing included catching.  And,,, it included quality time with my wife.  Quiet, except for the radio playing quietly in the background.  Quiet, without anyone else around.  There wasn't another fisherman within a mile of us. 
Nice and quiet.

Cathy did it again...set a new personal best Lake Champlain Yellow Perch record. 

In fact...since we've been together, and keeping  "record" of our catch, she's been on the leader-board, hands down when it comes to pulling big perch thru the ice.

This nice fatty went a solid 12-1/2 inches with a nice plump belly.  I can only imagine what this fish would look like in another couple of months, just prior to spawning.

We stopped fishing with our "limit" of what we're comfortable with to clean.  If we have too many to clean, it becomes a chore and can have a negative effect on the entire experience.  We packed our fish in vacuum bags to be enjoyed another day.  Yummy Lake Champlain Yellow Perch.

Fish on, fish H8 me.

LAKE CHAMPLAIN YELLOW PERCH

LAKE CHAMPLAIN BURBOT/CUSK WANTED!!!

To anyone out there ice fishing... ECHO is looking for a Burbot to exhibit along with Lake trout and Atlantic Landlocked salmon. If you land a burbot, no bigger than 18" or so, or, if you'd like more information, please give them a call at 802-864-1848 x128.
Thanks and good, safe fishing!
 

Fish on, fish H8 me.

LAKE CHAMPLAIN BURBOT/CUSK WANTED!!!

FIRST TIME PERCH PULLER!!!

Our ten year old Grandson, Justin is beginning to show some real interest in going fishing with us.  The other night he called and asked if he could spend the weekend.  When Cathy mentioned we "may" do some hardwater fishing on Lake Champlain, he was thrilled.

We stopped by Dockside, said hello to Mike and others, then Justin bought his first "scoop" of small fatheads to use as bait, and signed his first "Vermont Baitfish Transportation Receipt". 
Off we go...

I had an idea on where I wanted to fish as I had been on the phone, checking with friends on the ice.  So far, reports weren't good.  It appeared the fishing was slow everywhere.  Not good. I explained to Justin, "if we're out there doing our part, the rest is up to the fish!"

We checked several areas and talked to fisherman coming off the ice.  "No, no fish".  "Very few".  "One yellow perch in an hour".  "Three of us got 10 perch in 5 hours".  "Should have been here yesterday", were the responses I was getting.  Well, in one particular spot, with open water not too far off, the eye's of the "fisherman" that just came off the ice told a different story.  "We're going back to Hill Rd" I told Cathy and Justin, "I don't think that fella we talked to was being truthful".

We ventured out several hundred yards and Justin said his feet and legs were beginning to get cold.  The temperature was in the single digits and we were quartering into a 7 mph breeze from the North. We needed to get the portable shack set up and the heat going.  "Just a little further I explained".

We stopped and got set up.  Justin warmed up and was able to take his heavy coat off once the heater was on and the shack warmed up.  A few quick lessons and it was fish on. From that point on, it was all smiles!  "This is fun" Cathy and I heard over and over as Justin kept pulling yellow perch through the ice.  One after another.  Like a pro! 

We ended up with a nice catch of perch.  We kept the fish larger than 9 inches, had a few in the "pounder" class, a five gallon bucket 1/2 full when the sun fell below the horizon and we headed for the truck.

The jury is still out:  Who caught the most?  Who caught the biggest? I think Justin wins those categories. Who had the most fun, Cathy and I, or Justin?  hmmm...
I don't think any of us will ever forget Justin's first Perch Pulling on the ice of Lake Champlain.

He was again, cold when we got to the truck, but nevertheless, is looking forward to his next adventure, Pulling Perch through the ice on Lake Champlain!  Maybe, just maybe, we can get him out next weekend!  I don't think we'll have to twist his arm!

Fish on, fish H8 me.

FIRST TIME PERCH PULLER!!!