Long Sought-for-pond Derby

[rally]

 Heard rumors of a Derby on Sunday Feb 18 ,on Long Sought-for-pond Westford, has anyone else heard the same and is it still on? Haven't seen any fliers on it.

[fishermantim]

Check with American Legion post #437 on Dunstable Road.

[rally]

Found the flyer for this derby in ace hardware on rt 40 westford. you would think the bait shop 1/2 mile up the road would have one, to tell others. still don't know if it's on.?? Sunday 18th  8am-2pm cash prizes

[Mikeice1957]

Taking a ride tomorrow will check it out

[fishermantim]

Fished there today from 9 - 3.
Ice was still good, with roughly 6-8" over 2/3 of the pond.
I don't know if they will be selling bait at the Post, so you may want to get your own beforehand.

Now if I can get up on time I might make it there...

[fishermantim]

Oh, and I had a nice surprise today as well.

I was just jigging with waxies and dillies, shooting for panfish, when on one drop down I noticed a bar on my Showdown racing DOWN towards my falling jig. I stopped the jig and was rewarded with a nice 14" rainbow trout!

I always love when I get a fish I wasn't targeting.

[THE JIGGER]

Oh, and I had a nice surprise today as well.

I was just jigging with waxies and dillies, shooting for panfish, when on one drop down I noticed a bar on my Showdown racing DOWN towards my falling jig. I stopped the jig and was rewarded with a nice 14" rainbow trout!

I always love when I get a fish I wasn't targeting.

Any White perch?

[fishermantim]

Any White perch?

Yes. I find them out more towards the middle areas, around the deeper waters.
They move around, so finding them and keeping on them can be a challenge.

[fishermantim]

I wasn't able to make the derby, but hit the pond for a couple hours (2-4pm).
Started from Rte. 40 and headed out about 1/4 mile out towards the middle region.
Cut a total of 5 holes, 1 thru 4 got no fish jigging.
Hole 5 produced well over a dozen white perch, practically one after another.
I had a few fish race up to hit the jig, miss it as it was dropping, and turn and race down to slam it.
I got nothing but white perch, but some were in the 9-12" range and fought like heck when they saw the hole!

[fishermantim]

Tried a little night fishing last night using a thrown-together submersible light setup...which failed.
So I positioned the individual lights around a center hole facing down on the ice to hopefully shed some light down below.
I fished in 7.5' of water, got a few hits but didn't catch any.

The ice along the west shore near the American Legion Post was around 6-7" and should melt even more today!

The end may be closer than we would like to admit.....

[fishermantim]

Redid my light fixture with some added weight and it worked great.
Really lit up the area for a good 10' radius.
Only down side was the bag I had them in leaked so I spend a good half hour draining and drying the lights out when I got home.

The lights worked very well, but the fish failed to show.

Add to this the fact that the ice is pretty much toast, and if I want to ice fish any more this season I will have to head up farther north!

The best "last" ice is usually found on the western shores, around the beach across from the American Legion Post.
That ice was only "safe" within 30-40' of that beach, and going fast!

I heard geese "honking" across the pond last night, which tells me that the eastern side has open water.

To think that there was 6-8"+ there this past weekend???