With the ice season at just about its mid-way point, we’d expect the action to be slowing down as we hit the winter doldrums. However, this isn’t the case in the least bit. Many anglers continue to find success in their ventures across the state. This blizzard turned out to be a joke for the western half of the state, while the eastern half of the state got pounded by snow. Regardless, the weather kept anglers off the ice for a bit.
Largemouth reports came from Candlewood, Ball pond, Wethersfield cove, Zoar, Coventry, Squantz, Hatch pond and Burr pond. Smallies have been very active and solid reports came from Candlewood, Lillinonah, Squantz and Wethersfield cove. A lot of fish came on shiners under tip ups. Although some of these fish came as a surprise while anglers were jigging for pan fish, exciting nonetheless.
Good reports of trout continue to come from Candlewood, Squantz (11-pound seeforellen) and Ball pond. Tyler lake and Mt. Tom gave up some small trout as well. The Highland lake tournament was this past weekend with two nice seeforellen browns hitting the ice. The second place fish was an 8lb+ seef and the first place fish was a 12lb+ seef.
Pike fishing has been productive as of late. A good number of fish were reported from Bantam. Unfortunately, a lot of those were smaller fish with some decent ones mixed in. Coves on Lillinonah and Zoar gave up some fish up to 36″. Better action in general has been reported from coves along the CT and Pachaug pond. Jumbo pond shiners, fallfish, suckers and chubs are all excellent bait choices when targeting pike. Currently, dead baits seem to be all around more effective than live bait. Just remember to fight the excitement and walk to your flags. Running across the ice is never a good idea for safety reasons, but it can also result in fish dropping the bait.
Walleye reports were kind of slow this week. Just a few fish from Mashapaug and some dinks from Coventry. Pan fish action is again, great all over. Jumbo yellows came from Candlewood, lake Housatonic, Lillinonah and coves on the CT. Slab crappie reports came from Lillinonah and the CT river coves as well. Sometimes these mid winter crappie can be hard to find as they roam deep basins. It is always a good idea to set a spread of tip ups to cover an area while you jig to locate those wandering fish. The edges of weed lines and brush piles are good places to target and remember that the night shift is very productive for crappie fishing. Small jigs and small shiners are key.
NOTE: The Valley Anglers annual Jig & Pig event has been postponed until next Saturday, 2/7. Contact the shop with any questions or to sign up (203)-792-8324
Kyle Quine
Fishing CT