I might be a day late, but I DO have some news on the hard water front!
I was able to make it out two Sundays ago where I fished on a small secluded pond in the hill towns. There was about 5 to 6 inches of ice. I was fishing more shallow water, 6-7 feet, and about a foot and a half off the bottom. My first outing of 2022 was solo, and in about two hours I landed 9 fish in shiners including a sizable pickerel that surprised me and a nice perch. I will be at it again on Sunday this weekend in the hill towns!
Nelson made it out with his crew for our first ice fishing trip of 2022 on Sunday to a small pond in the northern part of our area. When they arrived the temperature was -8 but luckily there was no wind. He reports that this pond had 6 to 7 inches of ice. They set up tip ups in 6 to 15 feet of water with shiners about 1 to 1 1/2 feet off the bottom. The fishing was slow but they managed to catch some perch,bass and pickerel. Nelson also set up a couple tip ups for trout and managed to catch only one and said that most of the action came from the shallower water. There seems to be safe ice everywhere in Western Mass right now but please be careful and make sure you know the ice that you’re on. Get out there while it’s here.
Don’t forget to enter the Chronic Trips 60 day multi species fishing tournament. You can find it on the Fishing Chaos app, just search Chronic Trips. If you’re going to be fishing anyway why not take a chance and win some prizes.
See you on the ice!!
Cousin Jon went out over the weekend with Miss Charlotte who made her first ever hard water trip with Shawn the Fisherman and provided some supervision of the perch retrieval in between naps.
Shawn the Fisherman got out for an hour on the backyard on Sunday last weekend. Ice was 5 inches solid, and only had a couple hours before coaching basketball. It was DAMN cold, but thankfully this 12″ Perch couldn’t resist a shiner and provided the some action!
Everyone be safe out on the hard water!
Berkshire Brett reports that he has not been out yet, but from what he has been hearing around is around 5″ minimum of ice. Brett reminds everyone to remain safe and cautious especially on the very large bodies of water. He said that based on the upcoming temperatures this weekend we should continue to get fresh ice and says we will be looking at the average ice depth being well over 6″ around southern Berkshire county.
I have been watching a lot of pages on FB and it seems that there has been a lot of positive activity in the area, so get out and fish, but most important stay safe!
Get out and fish! And, as always, tight lines!
Wild Woman 