Hornpout thru the ice

[Gold Rush]

I caught a hornpout thru the ice today in the middle of the afternoon. Hooked it on a dilly worm in about 18' of water. Not big, but first time catching a hornpout icefishing.

[Fishin_603]

Interesting, can’t say I’ve caught one through the ice either

[TheCrittaC]

Seen it happen, never caught one, nice job.

[AQUAASSASSIN]

I’ve even gotten them on the Cusk lines

[Roccus]

Wait until you get a 3" eel.. that wiI'll get your attention..

[benny8]

My bro caught one about 15 or so years ago on a CT River Setback. Middle of the day. Was about 13" long. I'd love to catch a bunch of them thru the ice.

[DConICE]

Remember catching one on one of my first ice fishing outings...  by the time we got to the flag it had almost spooled the tip-up.
Think I have only caught one since.

[bootstrap]

ive caught a few here over the years perching on the bays of chaplain

[gunvault]

I have caught them many times in a few lakes and ponds while ice fishing for perch, I got them on small shiners , an added bonus to the fish fry, always loved eating them as a kid, definitly  cool though  good luck

[FreshwaterPhil]

Is that another name for bullheads? Caught one thru ice on Champlain many years ago.

[AQUAASSASSIN]

Is that another name for bullheads? Caught one thru ice on Champlain many years ago.

Same fish, they are called Horned Pout in NH “ Hornpout”

[FreshwaterPhil]

Same fish, they are called Horned Pout in NH

Figured. I've heard some Ontarians call them mud pouts.

[800stealth]

Pretty rare but I've got a few, oddly enough they've all come on micro tungstens... Shakes up the day.

[AQUAASSASSIN]

Back in the day when the Bellamy Reservoir had giant crappie you could fill by the 55 gallon drum all 12-16” and guys did, that place is why NH has limits now and those VT guys got popped for crossing the border with perch and what not to sell.

Anyhow, we’d catch Hornpout all the time and huge golden shiners in between the Crappie in the back channel

[800stealth]

I remember going to Bellamy probably 20 years ago chasing bass, we were just going through the Clark's guide. Shocked to see giant slabs crushing bass gear all day, went back again like 6 or 7 years ago and it was a completely different fishery. Did ok but the average went from 14"s to 9"s

[stripernut]

One of the first times I ever ice-fished with a group was at night for Hornpout, tip-ups with night crawlers, right pond and you can get a mess of them. Jigging at night a school of them will often come thru, and fill a sounder screen, they LOVE Glow in the dark jigs...

[Dan in NH]

Over the years I've caught  a bunch on tip ups