St. Albans Bay

[vtcountrychamp]

Decided to do a drive around the lake today to find some good ice for the upcoming derby. I ended up at St. Albans bay and I was able to walk on fine with no water. You just have to go to the right side of the access since that is all water. I fished about 200 yards and the constant cracking scared me too much so I walked in closer to shore. I ended up catching a half a pale of yellow belly's in 4-7 feet of water about 30 yards off the shoreline. Didn't get a single bite though in anything over 10ft of water.

[perch bait]

We'll see how it holds up with mid-60s and rain on Wednesday. Be safe out there!

[NHHARDWATER]

Thanks for the Report on St A.
Keep us posted (anyone) on what happens after this rain passes and the cold sets back in. I want to make a trip up, just not with a boat .... And I'm too old and fat to paddle around in a jet sled like PB has been doing!

[perch bait]

Thanks for the Report on St A.
Keep us posted (anyone) on what happens after this rain passes and the cold sets back in. I want to make a trip up, just not with a boat .... And I'm too old and fat to paddle around in a jet sled like PB has been doing!

[Panfish_Chaser]

You guys get any panfish in the bay? Never been there in the winter...

[vtcountrychamp]

You guys get any panfish in the bay? Never been there in the winter...

I have only caught pike, yellow and white perch in the bay. Normally white perch are really in there when the ice starts to melt.

[VTMatt]

There are panfish guys in the bay, just look for the series of 10" holes in close to shore. Why anyone needs 10" holes to panfish or for anything in VT is beyond me. Friend almost broke his leg this weekend.

[fishingidjit]

There are panfish guys in the bay, just look for the series of 10" holes in close to shore. Why anyone needs 10" holes to panfish or for anything in VT is beyond me. Friend almost broke his leg this weekend.

I'm on my third 10 inch auger in the last forty years and my friends all have 10 inch augers. No one in our group has ever come close to breaking a leg in a hole . I am always glad to have a 10 inch hole when a 20 pound fish is coming through it ! I do have a four inch auger for panfish but maybe these folks only have one auger and want to cover all size fish.

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

There are panfish guys in the bay, just look for the series of 10" holes in close to shore. Why anyone needs 10" holes to panfish or for anything in VT is beyond me. Friend almost broke his leg this weekend.

Very few pan fisherman I know use 10" augers. You must be confused with pike guys.

[VTMatt]

Very few pan fisherman I know use 10" augers. You must be confused with pike guys.

Well, first pike fishermen I know that set up 30 flags about 10' from eachother in a random pattern then. Also judging by the foot trarfic they must have had a flag every 3 minutes.

[vtpike]

Lot of panfish guys I know don't use tipups

[Light liner]

I was out there Friday am, there were 4 guys hammering gills in there.
Right before they left they drilled about 30-40 holes with a 10" auger.
We watched them thinking **censored**?

[thefishingweatherman]

I was out there Friday am, there were 4 guys hammering gills in there.
Right before they left they drilled about 30-40 holes with a 10" auger.
We watched them thinking **censored**?

Maybe they were trying to get the ice to break up sooner, you know, cause they got theirs? I have a great invention to counter that though; it's called a canoe.

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

I was out there Friday am, there were 4 guys hammering gills in there.
Right before they left they drilled about 30-40 holes with a 10" auger.
We watched them thinking **censored**?

Huh... where were they fishing? I was in St Albans until dark that night. None of us have 10"  augers. Could you have mistaken the guy that punch 30-40 hole on Thursday night? If so, that was my friend, and again it was not a 10" auger.
Stop spreading BS.

[Light liner]

Dude why would I lie?
To the right of hathaways., in the cove.
They left the ice about 10-11 am.
We were there until 3.

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

Dude why would I lie?
To the right of hathaways., in the cove.
They left the ice about 10-11 am.
We were there until 3.

Sorry... we were the four guys hammering them in another spot.

[m400598]

I love me a big ten inch hole....... To fish through

[Champlain Islander]

I have been a pan fisherman for many years and most of the perch guys fish with 4 1/2 inch hand augers and the flat fish guys use a powered 6". Lots of guys now use electric augers either commercially made or adapted for use with a cordless drill. The larger augers I see are normally used for pike. I suppose for those people if they only have the one auger then they would use it for fishing pan fish. I don't see a problem with that.

[NHHARDWATER]

aaaaaaaannnnnyway ....... how 'bout that St Albans Bay, Eh? How's she looking for Sunday? Hathaway launch gonna lock back up? Pressure crack gonna heal? Thoughts?

[VTMatt]

Going to be a dangerous weekend. People are going to be under the impression that one cold night is going to fix everything.

[shadylane]

Going to be a dangerous weekend. People are going to be under the impression that one cold night is going to fix everything.

yyeepp and there'll be a lot of spots with 1/2" thick ice, with maybe a bit of snow on top.

[lingcod]

x2 VTMatt. Play it safe, there will be even MORE white perch stacked up in there when (if) it safely locks up again, not to mention all the other species.

[Light liner]

I don't think I would trust modis for this weekend. I would trust a good spud bar and spikes on rope around my neck.
I checked conditions where I fish yesterday and I'm done for the year.
Be safe.

[VTMatt]

The modis comment was a slightly tongue in cheek.  Common sense and spudding are a every trip thing for me.

Some places have degraded far more than others. I know that Hathaway shoreline had a solid 4' of open water before good ice. Other spots had "ice" that would hardly support a child. I measured 8" of ice in one spot, walked to another and there was barely 4. I kept walking to cut another hole and could feel the ice cracking and sagging beneath me. If i didnt turn around, I would have been swimming in 20 FOW.  I also used 12' long boards just to get on the ice. Yeah, people are still ice fishing....but the ice is more dangerous now than ever with all of the rain we had.

[bootstrap]

two words....bullhead gumbo.

[perch bait]

two words....bullhead gumbo.

Mmmmmm...  Where are you catching them right now? Rivers?

[vtcountrychamp]

aaaaaaaannnnnyway ....... how 'bout that St Albans Bay, Eh? How's she looking for Sunday? Hathaway launch gonna lock back up? Pressure crack gonna heal? Thoughts?

went to the bay today and there's no way of it recovering, but I did put in a kayak and caught some nice perch in the open water around the ice.

As far as ice fishing goes, we did fish carry bay and were able to get onto it no problem without planks off the concrete pillars. We only fished up to the pressure crack and there was 8" of ice, but will more than likely be the last time I fish that. Then we went to look at Mallets bay boat launch and were able to get on no problem off the left dock, but as you go out the ice gets thin real quick. We could only make it to the end of the docks to the left and maybe caught 10 small perch. The wind was a killer today.

Depending if a large enough opening comes up this weekend I'll be jigging for white perch off my canoe or kayak in the bay.

[mudchuck]

Dangit, at the rate things are going, I'll have to throw the canoe on the car and bring gear for both ice fishing and canoe fishing...

[bootstrap]

Mmmmmm...  Where are you catching them right now? Rivers?

in the crick, bite was very slow. prob has shut off with the cold. I keeping my feet on solid ground.

[perch bait]

That makes sense bootstrap, since it is still "winter".