Skunked at Wentworth!

Dan and I met Paul, Josh and Ben at Wentworth for what was to be a somewhat mild day on the ice, looking for Crappie. We had not been here for a number of years and by the end of the day realised why! Skunked...no fish, not even a legitimate flag...although had plenty of wind flags. The 30mph wind was just constant all day and forced us off our original spot to seek the quite side of an island for the day. We still made the best of it and enjoyed our time together. Ben slipped and kissed the ice pretty hard, putting his tooth into his lip...blood on the ice and no hocky game.

Balch Pond, Wakefield

Monday Feb 6th Dan and I headed back to Balch Pond for crappie. We fished the north side, center pond between the islands, parking at a summer camp off Whitehouse Road. I'll have to stop by this summer and try to get permission to go back next winter. Keep logging in and see if I actually do that! Again we found the deepest water in this area, set out most of the tip-ups in 25-30 feet of water using small shiners. We are having trouble with shiners this year, lost half overnight last trip and more than a dozen died today before noon. I have been fishing with shiners now for decades and normally can keep them alive for weeks...only thing that changed has been a new local bait shop?? First fish was this nice Largemouth Bass. This fish took the shiner, just off the end of the island in 7' of water. Before the day was over we had 2 crappie, 2 yellow perch and 2 white perch, all of which are currently filleted and in the freezer. Kept seeing schools of crappie passing through the fish finder beam but could not get a consistent bite from them. Crappie fishing is new for us, have to keep working on it. I think we need to do more with the jig once we find the school.

First Susquehanna Muskellunge and Company

Heres my Grandfathers Musky as published in the "Grit" the local newspaper of Williamsport Pa, my hometown. PopPop's fish was 35" long and weighed 10 pounds. Love his rubber gloves ... According to James Laurer,the Lycoming County Fish Warden, at the time, this was the first Muskellunge to be taken in this section of the Susquehanna River. The date was July 9 1969. I still have the head on my wall. Its always scared the hell out of the kids! This river has developed into one of the finest Muskellunge fisheries on the east coast. Musky are noted as the fish of 1000 casts. I fished hard with Musky Pete, a good friend from western Mass, in Pontoosuc Lake for this elusive fish. The 27 pound Mass state record Tiger Musky ( a cross between a Northern Pike and a Musky) was taken in 2001 from this body of water while ice fishing. Pete and I had been fishing in the same area the week before. The fishermans moto-you should have been here yesterday. Believe me we exceeded the 1000 cast rule on that lake, never connecting with one. Thats me on the right with the 10 pound 35" Northern Pike that Pete and I trolling up from Pontoosuc, my largest Northern to date. I remember that day well. We actually had to push the 12' aluminum boat out across 20' of shore line ice before we got to open water. One foot on the ice, one foot in the boat. I have yet to catch a Musky, nor have I fished my hometowns Susquehanna River, although its on my bucket list!