This week has brought even more snow. Some places have a lot of slush under the snow, others are frozen solid. In any event, anglers took to this ice in search of something fishy. Some good largemouth bass came from Candlewood, Ball Pond, Dooley Pond, Moodus and Highland Lake. Reports were that Candlewood is still fishing very well for bronzebacks, Other smallmouth reports came from Batnam and Squantz Pond. The biggest fish that came from Candlewood was 4 pounds. Trout fishing has been good on Candlewood, Squantz. Highland, Crystal lake (Ellington), MT. Tom and Black pond. The bigger fish seem to be wise to jigs and have been hitting shiners instead. So flags have been flying. The smaller, stocker-sized fish have been whacking jigs, though. A lot of fish were reported from Squantz and Black Pond. Nothing really notable, though. Candlewood gave up the best quality trout. The browns are still chewin’ and they sure are beautiful fish.
Pike reports were slow once again this week. There was a few fish pulled from Bantam, Lillinonah and coves on the CT. Walleye reports were pretty excellent with keeper sized fish coming from Mashapaug, Pocotopaug, Beach pond and some dinks came from Coventry. All fish were taken on shiners during the night shift. It is a good idea to use long and light leader with circle hooks. Also be sure to walk to your flags and not run. A few salmon hit the ice at Mt.Tom. Also, a few more holdover schoolie stripers were caught in coves on the CT.
Pan fish action remains hot all over. When it comes to jumbo yellows, Candlewood and Lillinonah have been great. Small shiners and small jigs tipped with spikes or mousies will work just fine. Yellow perch as well as white perch are plentiful in coves along the CT, Lillinonah and Zoar. The crappie bite seems to be picking up with good slabs coming from Candlewood, Lillinonah, Hatch pond, Mamanasco and Wethersfield cove. Big bluegill have also been very aggressive and there were a few fish reported that broke the 10″ mark. Not a lot of anglers get too excited over bluegill. But they are hard fighting fish for their size and when they are bigger than your hand, they can be a blast to catch!
NOTE: Fishing CT’s ice fishing tournament will be held on 2/21 at Wethersfield cove.
Kyle Quine
Fishing CT