4-16-13 – Spring Walleye Run

With most of the ice finally leaving our lakes and ponds, spring fishing is upon us.  In years past, we have focused most of our attention on panfish with the occasional bass trip.  The first Saturday in May brings on the opener of Walleye season but what many may not be aware of is that walleye season never closes on the Connecticut River which leaves us with great opportunities to cash in on some great spring walleye fishing.

As water temperatures  slowly rise, the walleye begin their yearly migration to their spawning grounds. For the river fish, that is usually upstream towards dams, or any other man made “road block”.  It has become a goal of mine to target these fish while waiting for the water to warm up to get after the panfish.  After a small amount of research on google earth, I decided to try a spot that looked like it might hold some fish during this time.  I only had a few hours after work and grab my rod with some jigs and a couple tubs of crawlers.  The spot I was fishing is passable but offers great habitat as well as fast moving water.  Walleye often times during the spring will congregate in these areas and will lay just on the edge of the fast moving current.  Knowing this, my cast was position just along that edge.  It didn’t take long to hook into what felt like a decent sized fish.  Another great thing about fishing the Connecticut River is that you never know what you are going to catch.  This particular fish happened to be the target species. Without a net, I was luckily able to land it along the rock shore to get a handle on it. It turned out to be a nice 24″ walleye.  I globed another crawler on and made the same cast which produced another hook up.  A bigger walleye rolled on the surface and managed to throw the hook as it slid into the current.   After a few more misses on what I think were walleye I managed to land two northern pike and a smallmouth.

There will be more trips to the river for spring walleyes.

The Vermont Master Angler Program

The Vermont Master Angler Program is gaining quite a following throughout the state. From young to old, anglers are contributing some incredible catches to display the top notch quality fishery that Vermont has to offer! The program began in 2010 with 200 entries and has since grown to just shy of 800 from across the state! The diversity of species being entered has grown the curiosity for anglers of many species that are not usually targeted. Bowfin, freshwater drum, and several panfish species seem to be the most popular while bass, pike, and walleye have steady following.

The program is described by the VT Fish & Wildlife as: “Vermont’s wealth of waters and abundant fish populations provide the opportunity to experience outstanding fishing. An excellent way to enhance the Vermont angling experience is by challenging yourself to catch “exceptionally-sized” fish of various species. The Vermont Master Angler Program is designed to recognize the achievements of anglers who catch exceptionally-sized fish from Vermont waters. This program recognizes the accomplishment of the angler in catching a large fish and the fish’s accomplishment in surviving and growing to such an admirable size.”

There are two categories to the Master Angler Program. They are:

Trophy Angler – Anglers catching a fish exceeding the minimum qualifying length in any of the 33 species categories. Their names and catches will also be included in the new Vermont Trophy Fish Report, posted annually on the Vermont Fish & Wildlife website.

Master Angler – Anglers demonstrating the skill necessary to catch multiple species that all exceed the minimum qualifying length outlined in this program, in the same calendar year. To qualify for the annual Vermont Master Angler Pin, an individual angler must submit qualifying entries for 5 or more species categories within a calendar year.

We contacted VT F & W Fish Biologist Shawn Good through e-mail with some questions concerning the program.

-are there any plans to make separate categories for seasons? tackle? harvest vs release?

We’re still in the early years of the program, and we don’t want to make too many programmatic changes at this point.  There’s a lot of potential with the program and many ways to make it interesting and fun with extra categories.  We’re certainly open to changes in the future.  One thing I think is on the books, though I think it will be very difficult for someone to accomplish, is a special award category for an angler who completes the entire 33 species list – kind of a “life list”.  Obviously, this would be cumulative over the years, and not need to be accomplished in a single year!

-is there any use of this data biologically or just to promote quality fishing opportunities in vt?

This is definitely one of the benefits this program provides to the Department.  Through our regular sampling activities, we have a pretty good handle on the status of fish populations in most waters, but some of the entries that have come in have surprised even us.  Having angler submissions on trophy fish catches can give the Department information on things like what waters are producing more

-have you noticed an increase in enthusiasm towards the program?

Defintely. In 2010, we had 200 entries from 90 different anglers.  In 2011, we had 481 entries from 181 different anglers – a doubling of participation in just one year.  2012, the third year of the program, is shaping up to be another record.  To date (as of January 4, 2013), there have been 772 entries from 273 different anglers.  So, not only have the number of trophy fish entries increased every year, so have the number of individual anglers participating in the program.  What’s even more encouraging is that the number of youth anglers entering fish has increased as well.  In 2010, 19 of the 90 (21%) individual participating anglers were kids; in 2011, 47 of the 488 (10%) wre kids.  In 2012 so far, 34% of the participating anglers are kids (93 of the 273 anglers).

-most people go fishing to catch fish. Do you think this makes people go out and target bodies of water that hold fewer but larger specimens?

I definitely think they do.  While this sort of fishing is not widespread, there is definitely a core group of anglers in Vermont that seek out “trophy” fishing opportunities, and that’s one of the things this program is designed to showcase.  Despite its small size, Vermont has some fantastic waterbodies that hold some true trophy fish.  All you have to do is look through the Master Angler Program website at all the entries that have come in over the last 3 years.  There are some truly gigantic fish being caught out there.  For example, who knew Otter Creek could produce a 16-lb wild brown trout!

-what species are the most reported? fewest?

In the first year of the program the highest number of entries was for bowfin!  These are caught pretty regularly as incidental catches while fishing for other things in Lake Champlain like bass or pike.  We realized however when SO many bowfin were entered that we probably set the minimum length a little too low for that species.  Our minimum lengths for each species was based on biological data on length distribution collected for each species from waters all over the state.  The intent was to set the minimum length to represent the upper limits of size for each species – basically the largest 5% out there – to truly represent trophy sized fish for each species.  For some species, like bowfin, we didn’t have a lot of good biological data, because it’s not a species we typically collect while sampling.  The first year of the program showed us that we clearly didn’t have a handle on just how big bowfin can get in Lake Champlain (which gets back to your second question you asked earlier).  We’re learning from this program just as much as anglers are!    Aside from bowfin in the first year, the numbers of largemouth bass and smallmouth bass far outnumber any other species.  That’s just a pure reflection of how great bass fishing is in Vermont.  We have so many hidden gems – small ponds and lakes all over the state – not to mention Lake champlain – that offers phenomenal bass fishing.  I think Vermont has the best bass fishing in the northern US!  There are definitely a few species that could be entered more.  We’ve only had a few muskellunge entered, and small numbers of cisco, smelt, suckers, gar.  So far, of the 33 eligible species, only three don’t have entries – American eel, American shad, and lake whitefish.  I think eel and whitefish should be the easiest of the three for people to catch and enter, if they take the time to learn about the species first, and understand where to find them and how to catch them.  Another objective of the program!  Educate Vermont anglers on fish biology, behavior, feeding preferences!  It’s all about learning and having fun!

At the end of every year, we put together an annual report that lists every fish entered into the program, and summarizes the catches in table format, so you can see what species had the most entries, what waters produced the most entries etc.  These reports can be downloaded from the Department website here:
http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/MasterAngler.cfm

-has this program drawn attention to any species that were previously ignored?

Again, this was another BIG objective of the program – to profile many of these lesser known fish species that can offer fun, exciting fishing opportunities that no one thinks to target.  I’d really like people to start getting outside their comfort zone and fishing for species that aren’t traditionally thought of as “sport fish”.  Things like carp, freshwater drum, gar, suckers – they can be a ton of fun, very challenging.

The majority of fish on the list of eligible species is reasonably obtainable to those who are willing to put their time in. Both of us have been following the quality and quantity of fish that are coming in from around the state. We have also been able catch several specimens from across the state. We put together a collage for each of our entries. Bobby entered six species and Dylan entered nine.

2-9-13 – Tail End Nemo

The end of the work week brought the people of the Northeast winter storm Nemo.  Most schools were closed and Boston was bracing themselves for two feet of snow, we went fishing. . .

We arrived to our setback early and found that the snow totals in this area were not as much as home.  Encouraging this was but the long walk down a steep hill and the longer walk back up it killed that excitement.  The plan for the day was to set up a few tip ups in hopes of getting a Walleye to take the bait.  We drilled our holes, our buddy Mark cut some more holes while I set the jacks.  Once we were set up we began jigging for panfish.  Using the electronics we “trolled” around looking for fish.  There was no shortage of fish! (but)  I’ve never, in all my years fishing seen fish so lethargic.  I would pull up to a hole that was literally stacked with fish, 6-7 suspended in the water column.  The fish would either not move, or swim back down and disappear.    This gave me the chance to refine my cadence and try some different things to try and entice these fish into biting.  Two cadences seemed to work better than normal.  The first was to pound, literally pound the jig.  I made my jig violently bouncing through the water column as to almost upset the fish into biting.  These fish seemed to become agitated with my bait as it worked down towards them, often times leading to a strike.  The second pattern that worked well was a slight bounce, which was interesting since the aggressive tactic worked.  There was not happy medium.  It was pound or close to dead-stick that triggered the fish on this day.

We followed the fish as the slowly moved through the channel trying to pick out the aggressive ones.  Mark was able to land a nice Crappie that actually got stuck in the 6-inch iced up hole.

After a few hours and no luck on the flags other than wind flags we made a move into shallower water.  Shortly after re-setting Mark landed this little Northern.

I was able to find a few fish for the frying pan as we worked thro0ugh the day.  All and all the day was a struggle but we made the best of it.  I did manage to catch this great Bluegill suspended in 20fow.  The fish was at least 10 inches and I would say close to a pound.

1-26-13 – Cold Day To Be A Crappie

Having been tied up with other responsibilities for the past two weekends and not able to fish I was excited to get back on the ice.  I decided to make a day trip to a spot 2 hours away.  We arrived at our location with decent conditions.  The mercury was finally above zero for the first time in five days, and the wind at this point wasn’t an issue.  I loaded my shack and made the 80 yard walk to where I would be fishing for the day.

I drilled out an area, shallow to deep.  It’s always a good idea to cut your holes first thing, one it will save you time later and two, it will spook the fish only once if the fish are sensitive to sound.  I started fishing the deep hole to begin with.  The vex was marking fish in 16 feet of water all through the water column.  First drop produced a small crappie, second drop, small crappie.  One thing that I have noticed about this spot is that these fish school in relation to size most of the time.  If you’re catching small fish you’re in a nursery school of fish.  I made a move to the next hole working my way out of the deeper water up towards the shallower shelf.  Right off the bat I hooked into a heavier fish, bass.  OK; well now I know the bass are set up waiting for those small crappie to make a mistake, I made another move, this time more drastic.  I found ten feet of water, fish were stacked on the bottom four feet.  First drop was a beautiful 13″ crappie.  Next few fish were all decent in size, bigger than before.  We continued to work the 10 foot range and were able to produce several decent fish through out the course of the next few hours.

As the morning went on the wind picked up and it became difficult to fish outside of our shacks.  As the sun went higher the fish slid shallower.  This is something we have noticed before while fishing setbacks off the main river.  The fish tend to seek out more cover even if it means going shallower when deep holes are present.  Large weed flats are great places to find active fish during high light conditions.  Another important thing to note was that the fish were not tolerating a presentation for long.  I was constantly changing my jigging cadence and my Maki Plastic to keep the fish interested.  These plastics teamed with a Bentley gold colored tungsten jig worked well for both the deep and shallow water applications we used today.

All in all it was a good day, unfortunately I wasn’t able to “fish” the way I wanted to as was confined to my shack for comfort.  It was a good day learning a few new tricks and applying some older ones to be successful.

1-6-13 – Crowded Day On The River

We’ve all had the days when we arrive at our favorite fishing spot and realize that we have it all to ourselves, on this day that wouldn’t be the case.  We arrived at one of our favorite spots greeted by calm skies with little to no breeze and temps in the 20′s, perfect day to be on the ice.  Unfortunately, the recent cold temperatures had given the tip up fishermen enough confidence to haul out the hard sides and set up shop for the season.  A few members of our group were able to arrive at day break and punched out an area as a way of “claiming” a spot.

The morning bite was hot, everything was right, the water was coming in, we had overcast skies, fish were active.  We spent the first couple of hours chasing the school’s of pumpkinseed, bluegill, and crappie along the edge of the main channel adjacent to the thickest weed line.   Early ice at it’s best however;  Early ice also means everybody and their brother is itching to get out.  The amount of tip ups in the ice was off the charts.  This is not a big setback and every inch of the channel was spoken for.  We were not able to fish our spots the way we normally would have.

A lot of people also brought on another dilemma.  Noise.  Once the morning had gone and the activity picked up we noticed that the fish were gone, well at least we thought so, we actually ended up learning a lot about this particular spot on this day.  We found that instead of running to deeper water when levels dropped and noise picked up, that the fish actually moved shallow and found the thickest weed patches to surround themselves with.  This made it a little more difficult using the electronic but we were able to pull some nice bluegill and pumpkinseed out of the thickest weeds while the sun was at it’s peek.  Fortunately for us the fish stayed close and slid only 20-30 yards away from the “area” we had settled in.

As the sun got lower in the ski and the commotion let down, we noticed that the fish slowly worked themselves out of the weeds and back towards the edge of the channel.  The fishing was fast times, chasing the feeding fish up and down the banks. Moving to stay on fresh and active fish, the rest of the night stayed successful with a stead increase towards dark.

The bite for the last 45 minutes consisted of mainly bluegill and crappie; favoring more heavily towards crappie. As we worked through the rows of holes we found that the fish were attacking our jigs as they worked down the water column. Anywhere for 2-5′ below the ice was stacked with crappie and occasionally a bluegill as you neared the weed edge. It was the time when we could do no wrong. The fish weren’t pick as long as it was moving.

A run like that was the best possible way to end a nice long day on the ice!

10-6-12 – Why Hunt When You Can Fish!

While many outdoor recreation friendly Vermonters were taking to the woods for the opening day of archery deer season, we were loading up the row boat to go catch some crappie on the Connecticut River.

The fish we were chasing roam a deep river channel. The school of fish is large and we have found that the largest fish present lead the way for all. To locate the school, we usually begin by cruising around making long, fast casts with or without a bobber. The active fish usually are suspending 5-10 below the surface in 20+ feet of water. Once we start catching large crappie, we know we have hit it. To track the fish as they move around we have to determine if they are moving up or down the channel.      To stay on the school, it is only a matter of staying ahead of their movements. It would be possible if we were to keeping fish to catch a limit in one pass but we have been releasing all fish in order to maintain a healthy population.

The fish seemed much more spread out today than the previous week.  We actually found the largest concentration of fish in an unusual place for the Glory Hole.  Instead of being suspended over the deep water feeding on minnows they moved up on a  flat and seemed to be feeding on a hatch emerging from the soft bottom.  We boated at least a hundred fish in a matter of hours and decided that it was time to get home and get camo-ed up for the afternoon hunt.  Good day of fishing once again using the “Live” Baby Shad made by LFT Lures.

We put together two videos from our glory hole trip. Check out Ice Fishing Teaser and Opening Day Of Deer Season Crappie Fishing on our YouTube page!

10-5-12 – Connecticut River Panfish

I arrived to the boat launch around 7 am. The sky was just starting to brighten up as the fog was dense and it was suppose to be a warm, sunny day. I figured the fish would bite well will the weather conditions.

On my first pass through my fishing spot, I found good concentrations of bluegill and perch. The fish were holding tight to shore, under limbs of oak trees that were close to the water, and under only the largest lilypads. I didn’t find fish relating to any structure like they usually do at this spot. As I worked along I found pods of fish working minnows in the weeds on the surface in water less than 3 feet deep.

The water was running more clear than usual which was surprising because of recent rains. Usually water visibility here is less than a foot and no sight fishing is possible. As I drifted along I could see many of the fish I was catching but they were easily spooked. As the fog burned off the fishing got more difficult. Once the sky had turned to solid blue, the fish had shut off completely and I headed home shortly after.

I used night crawlers and “Live” Baby Shad by Lake Fork Trophy Lures all morning. I found that the fish were very finicky preferring only the bluegrass color pattern. I tried just about every color in my box with no luck. Most of the fish that I caught on worms were bass and perch. Using these plastics that are 2-1/4″ for bluegill, I catch only the largest fish that bite as their mouths are small . I get many bites that I miss but I prefer to catch the bull bluegills!

Check out Connecticut River Panfish on our YouTube page!

9-30-12 – The “Live” Baby Shad Strikes at the Glory Hole

The last day of September brought Vermonters to the realization that summer has come to an end, fall is here and winter is right around the corner.  With all of our tree stands hung for the upcoming bow season, my good friend Mark and I took the opportunity to check on our favorite crappie spot.  We strolled upon this spot last winter and the amount of crappie in this hole is mind boggling, It has been named the Glory Hole.

I hadn’t been to the Glory Hole since spring so I was curious to see what the fish were up to, and see where they were holding up.  To make a long story short, they are right where we catch them through the ice and they were hungry.  The large school of crappie were roaming the basin and a rather larger setback of the Connecticut River.  As long as you know the contour of the setback you could stay on the fish.  It was one of those days where you can’t really explain how good the fishing was, check with our YouTube page soon for a video of the day.

We used two methods of presentation, jigs under a bobber, and a pendulum swing into the boat to a slow drop.
We first located the fish by making long casts with a 1/16oz jig tipped with the LFT Lures “Live” Baby Shad.  A long cast was made, let the bait drop for a few secs and slowly retrieve the bait.  The slow retrieve would cause the bait to pendulum swing through the water column.  This not only allows you to locate active fish but it also gives you and idea of what depth they are holding at without using any electronics.  The fish were suspended at 11 fow in 23 fow normally, when the fish became more active they moved up into the water column, 5 feet or less.  For the first hour and a half or so we had to work to get the fish to bite, this is usually the case when the fish are holding in one spot, somewhat dormant not feeding much.  We were able to connect one some nice fish.  Mark connected on the first big one.

The fish were concentrated right off from some structure on a break in a holding pattern.  Finally the pod of fish started to moved, this means in this particular spot that they are going to feed.  These fish travel together and chase bait through the channel of this setback.  We now changed our tactics and used a fixed bobber.  When the fish start to feed they become more aggressive thus spreading them out in the water column, mostly up.  The more aggressive and often times bigger fish are found higher in the water column.  These are the fish that we targeted while we used the trolling motor to slowly follow the school back and forth and around and around in the setback.  We saw a lot better quality of fish.

The good bite lasted for about an hour.  Now when I say good bite I mean a fish every cast, and a bite soon after the bait hits the water.  By the end our our four hour trip we boated close to 200 crappie, two pike and two perch.  All fish were released to be caught another day.

“Live” Baby Shad by Lake Fork Trophy Lures

9-29-12 -Eliminating Patterns

The summer has been a productive one on the river for us with the walleye bite.  We found great fishing in the timber and along shoreline brush.  That action seems to have come to an end.

The surface temp on the river has dropped 12 degrees in two weeks, putting in now at  58.5 degree temp.  The walleye are out roaming, well at least that’s what I’m assuming due to this below average day of fishing.

I was greeted by cool temps and a slight drizzle when I pulled up to the launch on Saturday morning.   It was a good thing I had my Blue Suit made by Ice Armor to keep me warm.  Pulled up to my first spot that has produced awesome numbers this summer as well as two larger than average fish.  The first drop is usually a sure bite, but nothing.  I worked the area more and finally keyed into a change.   The fish were there, maybe not in the numbers that we had seen during the warmer months and they were very lethargic, maybe cold rainy mornings make them stay in bed a lot later too. . . . .  The key to the vertical jigging presentation on this day was to lay the bait on the bottom and slightly lift so that the jig would barely tickle the bottom.  A fast action rod was also key today as most bites we undetectable until you lifted.  I did hook into two nice fish, one shook the jig at the boat and another was a solid fish that got off after I pulled it from the timber, by the looks of the gold I saw when it rolled it was a nice one.  The only fish I boated at all three of my “go to” spots were three short walleye, a couple perch and a rock bass.  Not a good average.

No worries, the fish will move back onto to the structure, it’s only a matter of time before we’re back on the river vertical jigging for walleye.

Check out Another Cold Day On The River on our YouTube page!

9-25-12 – Cold Day On The River

I took a day off of work to fish with a buddy who I haven’t seen in a while. We made plans to get on the water early hoping that the fish would bite right off. When we arrived at the launch it was 32 degrees and still dark. We couldn’t see more than a few feet because of the fog. We were forced to wait for a bit of daylight to come so we could see what we were working with. The launch is very narrow through some posts so you have to be spot on to hit it right. To top it all off the water was down a few feet from what was predicted!

After battling through the fog for a few miles, we were finally at our first spot. After a quick explanation of how to fish, set the hook, and read the current, we made our first drops. On the third drop of the day, my buddy hooked into his first ever walleye and the biggest of the trip!

With a quick learning curve in progress, we worked several areas over fairly well before realizing the fishing was poor. We caught several walleye, a few rockbass, some perch, and a lonely bass. With our hopes of a good day on the water diminishing to just enjoying the nice weather, we moved into some calm water looking for some panfish.

The calm water didn’t produce too well other than some pumpkinseed and perch. After spending an hour beating the shore and some structure we called panfishing quits and headed back our for some larger fish. Unfortunately, they were still not there. We worked thick cover and bottom bounced the deep holes that fish usually hold up in. We decided to fish only three more spots before heading home.

The first spot was a dud but we decided to work the second spot a bit different than normal. We fished shallower water working towards the deep. To our delight, the shallow water produced a variety of fish! We caught pike, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, perch, rockbass, and walleye. All in the same vicinity and back to back. After the success at this location, we decided to call it quits and get home before all the daylight was gone.

We tried every single color in the jig box but caught the majority of our fish on orange and white. I don’t think color mattered we just had to find fish in order to catch them!