Ice Fishing 2009/2010

Editor's Note: The 2009/2010 ice fishing season has been like no other. Some places produced nice fish, while others failed. Beyer's Cove on Big Green Lake was the biggest disappointment. Besides a nice northern pike taken on a tip-up, the biggest fish most ice fisherman caught (including us) were 5 inch baby perch! Also, almost all of the fish had headed to the main lake by Christmas. This caused us to look to different lakes and rivers in the pursuit of a fish fry. Here are the lakes/rivers that we fished at:

-Harrisville Pond: Be careful when getting onto this lake, the ice near the shore isn't that thick. My dad had a wet boot for the rest of the trip because the ice gave way beneath him. The fishing was the best right after Christmas, with panfish being the main quarry. I managed to catch a nice sized perch, but it was not enough for a fish fry. The pike were not active when we visited.

-Little Green Lake: This was the third lake that we tried. Make sure that you bring your creepers along when walking out onto the lake, it is very slippery! Unfortunately the day we went on was very windy and cold. We didn't end up catching anything, but we watched the permanent shack next to us catch 3 nice northern pike on tip-ups. We were the only ones fishing on the lake that didn't use some sort of permanent or temporary shack!!

-Princeton Locks: Fox River: Of all of the places that we fished at this winter, this was my favorite, and the most fish producing spot of all. Every time that we fished on the Princeton Locks, we were rewarded with a few 20+ inch carp! (Not to mention the occasional sheepshead) All of the carp were caught on homemade lures, except my dad caught his on a waxworm and a minnow.

Below is a collection of photos highlighting our ice fishing season thus far. Enjoy! Sam Goulet

This photo was taken from the parking lot of Harrisville Pond. There were many other ice fisherman in the pursuit of a fish fry!

Here is a photo of my dad, Capt. Dave Resop, and I on the first ice fishing trip of the season. Photo taken on Beyer's Cove.

A sample of one of the carp caught by Dave Resop. Notice the open water in the background.

An action shot of Dave gaffing the biggest of the 6 carp that I caught last weekend.

Here is the only fish that was caught on Harrisville Pond. It was caught on a jig with a red plastic.

Here I am with a 23" northern pike caught on a tip-up with a crappie minnow. It was the biggest fish that our family has caught on Beyer's Cove this season.

They were as thick as thieves! Here is my dad with two yellow perch caught at the same time on a custom two-jig rig! They were caught on Beyer's Cove in early winter.

This carp was actually caught by Hannah! (I just like holding big fish!) Nice job Hannah!

Here is the biggest carp that I caught last weekend! It was 26 inches in length.

Timer shot taken on the seat of an ice fishing bucket! My dad and I posing with another 26 inch carp caught on a waxworm.

Here is a close-up shot of the carp in the picture above. Notice how fat its belly is!


It was a tight squeeze to get this carp up the hole! Notice the homemade lure hooked in its mouth.

That concludes the early/mid winter ice fishing edition of the Fox River Times! Stay tuned for further pictures, tips, tactics and fishing tales! Also you can read my little sister's summer blog at: http://www.hannahssummer.blogspot.com/

As my friend Dave Resop would say...sianara!