I decided to "try something different" today, so I took a drive to Pelham Lake in Rowe.
I've ice fished it probably three or four times over the years, and I honestly cannot say the fishing is tremendous there, but I have a soft spot for it, for a number of reasons. First, it's set in the Town of Rowe, probably the most picturesque small New England town I've ever seen. Second, the Lake itself is gorgeous, overlooked by Adams Mountain. Third, when I took my younger son fishing there a couple years ago, he caught two fish (a 7" perch and a 24" pickerel) on a single tip up at the same time (certainly a memorable experience). Fourth, the son of one of my co-workers caught a 6 pound bass there fishing from a kayak this past summer.
I arrived at the Lake about 11:30 AM.
To my surprise, absolutely no one else was on the Lake, and it remained that way the whole time that I was out there.
It was a gorgeous sunny day, with cloudless blue skies, and breezy (with winds ranging anywhere from near zero to 25 mph). The temp was about 35 degrees when I got there, gradually rose to the low 40's during the afternoon, and then crept back down to 37 degrees by the time I left around 5 PM.
For reference, at the Eastern Summit of the Mohawk Trail, it was 31 on my drive to the Lake a little before 11 AM, and 34 on my drive home around 5:30 PM.
Getting on and off the Lake was tricky, because the ice at the edges was eroded, but I managed to make the three trips to get all my stuff out there without getting my feet wet. Fortunately, once on the Lake itself, there was 10" to 12" of admittedly poor quality ice, which "dipped" about 3 or 4 inches when I walked on it later on after it had been warmed by the afternoon sun.
I set up my standard panopoly of equipment - - tip ups (baited with shiners), dead stick (ditto) and jig (baited with butter worm) - - and set to fishing while listening to WUPE FM on the radio.
Fishing was fairly slow, so after an hour or so I began cooking lunch: eggs, pork sausage patties with cheese and diced vegetables (tomato, onion, olives, and banana peppers), hash browns, a Bells Porter, some Japanese peanuts, and later on had a pot of hot coffee with cream and sugar.
Over the course of the day, I caught eight dinky (4" to 5") perch while jigging, plus two pickerel (a small 12" specimen on a tip up and an average sized 17" one on my dead stick) and, best of all, (around 3 PM) a 20" long (4.5 pound) largemouth bass (also on a tip up).
The bass was exciting to land because it was definitely the best one I've caught this season.
I started picking up my gear around 4:30 PM, and was off the Lake and on my way home a little after 5 PM.
Alas, I did have to get my feet wet getting back onto shore. The edges had melted even more while I was out there, and I ended up having to cross a foot deep section of open water as I walked back and forth to transfer my gear from the ice to shore.
Given the recent warming trend, I'm afraid that my ice fishing trip today will be the last one anyone makes out onto Pelham Lake until next season. I'm certainly glad I went.
