Finally, the long awaited much anticipated...
Who said a bad day fishing is still better than a good day working? He never fished a day like today!
19 degrees and no wind in South Burlington made me anticipate a good day on the ice despite the word from lots of others that the fishing was pretty slow at Tabor Point but, alas...
The bait lady at Hog Island Market told me when I asked if anyone was catching fish that, "Not around here" but I'd already spent an hour getting there. When I walked out of the store with my fatheads, the wind came up just like in a biblical movie, I think nearly 30 mph sustained!
Anyway, the ice is clear, no snow hardly at all so you'll need your creepers. There's a good 18 inches of solid ice so I could have driven out. Somebody plowed the access but it was very icy. I didn't bother getting any big bait so I didn't put out my tip-ups at all; would have been a nightmare anyway. When I pulled my big silver spoon up out of the hole the wind took it straight out parallel to the ice! It took nearly an hour for the first bite and that's all it was, just a bite so I moved. The next hole was just as dead but I did bring up two little dinks that I would have put on my tip-ups had I brought them out.
I started to see guys coming off the ice from those shanties you see in the distance. Then an old fellow came down from Highgate Springs, said he'd given up there long ago and had just come from Lake Carmi where the snow was really coming down and so came down here. He'd heard the bite was slow and he was right. He set up near me so I moved again, which I never do, and then I got another little dinky perch that I threw right back where he came from.
And that was it. Two hours and three put-back perch... bummer.
But, at least I got out and now I know I can drive out if need be. Looks like next Monday maybe???
