Those who prefer sticking to East of Worcester could be thinking, “Boy that was a quick season” – ice conditions are that sketchy. But then there is as Paul Harvey famously said, “The rest of the story”. The folks from the Connecticut Valley region through the Berkshires and further out west are talking the language ice fisherman want to hear!
Your best bet is to fish hard this weekend because you can’t help but be weary of the expected nearly-40 hour thaw of next week. But that is then and for now the talk of ice depth for many water bodies well west of Worcester is between 5” and 10”. Rather than regurgitate the usual, I’ve pinned my tackle shop friends down to providing a best bet list in their bailiwick regarding species. If you yearn for yellow perch, Rod from Flagg’s in Orange recommends usually reliable Rohunta which is right behind the shop. However, if jumbo yellows are more to your liking than Lake Mattawa may be better. Last year a friend of Rodney’s brought in a pail full of eye-popping 14” to 15” perch that defied comparison. There aren’t a lot of perch in here, which is par for the course for spots that grow jumbos, but they are big. You’ll need sonar to find the fish; they are random and prone to roaming.
Mattawa is also a lock for trout because it is so heavily stocked. Other local trout options are Clubhouse Pond and Lake Moore. If Rodney had to pick one, however, he’d go with Laurel Lake which also is a solid choice for smallmouth bass. Laurel Lake takes a bit of effort to get to resulting in less pressure. Lake Moore annually gives up some big largemouth bass as well. In fact an absolutely pumped 12 year old boy just brought a 5 ¾ pound “Larry” in for a Masswildlife pin!
For crappie, the choice is a cinch: the North and South Spectacle Ponds.
If you’re looking for “one stop shopping” than Lake Wyola is a winner. Brandon from Granby’s Bait spent a day last weekend there and caught a 5 pound largemouth, a pickerel that had to go over 6 pounds, plenty of panfish and some rainbow trout. The kicker was the pound plus pickerel which was sticking out of the toothy maw of the 6 pounder! The blind-jigging panfish bite was also quite good, even without sonar!
Granby’s is one of Massachusetts primary bait distributors and you can always count on them having all sizes of baitfish in stock even the highly coveted pike shiner. You can put those pike shiners to good use at Quabog Pond, the Oxbow and coves of Onota. But a lot of Onota is wide open as is the case with South Pond which is mainly ice free.
Thanks to the big blow, just as we had our biggest freeze, big water bodies were reluctant to catch and may not at all this year. For example, Eddie of B&A told me that Wachusett Reservoir is wide open which for lovers of the Chu’ is a good thing on the heels of the 2 week delay in the opening day last year. Jim from JCB told me that there’s word of an 18 pound pike taken from Pontoossuc. Evidently a 17 pound pike was also iced at the Oxbow. In addition to pike, Cheshire has some hawg largemouth swimming in it; pike enthusiasts are often surprised to hook 4 to 6 pound Larries while swimming a big shiner. With all the pike action so close, JCB specializes in over-sized shiners. Jim suggest the Route 7 side of Pontoosuc for the underappreciated crappie in this prime pike water.
For trout, try targeting Onota and North Pond. A word for the wise if you venture out: watch out for “spring” holes which are more prevalent this year for some reason on Cheshire Reservoir than year past. Jim said that the EPOs are out in force so make sure you’re licensed. One alert EPO grabbed a guy who disappeared from his group as the officer approached to check licenses only to return a while later flashing his phone with what was obviously a just-purchased license. Evidently the look on the guy’s face was priceless when the EPO pointed out the purchase time disparity!
Fishing Forecast
“Normal” people may be pumped about the extended thaw for next week but for ice junkies the news is nerve-wracking. The antidote is to wring this weekend for what it is worth and worry about next week later. Pike fishing has reached pandemic proportions at Pontoosuc, Cheshire Reservoir and the Oxbow. For a real “whodunit”, check out Lake Wyola; from bass to rainbows to big pickerel and panfish this spots’s a winner. Crappie are anything but “crappie” at the North and Spectacle Ponds in the Connecticut Valley Region while a better bet for bass and rainbows can be found at Lake Moore and Laurel Lake. If a pile of fresh perch fillets is your idea of living the good life during the winter then head over to Rohunta or Lake Mattawa.
no ice is safe ice