After a hearty breakfast at the Daily Grind (prime rib omelet with cheddar and hot sauce, home fries with ketchup, marble rye toast with strawberry jelly, and coffee), and running a few errands, I got a late start ice fishing.
My first stop was Bridges Pond in Williamstown, where I got skunked the last time I went, but hoped to land a bass.
Unfortunately, after trekking along the railroad tracks to get there, I found that the sickly gray ice was covered with 6+ inches of slush, which looked like it would be sheer misery to fish on all day.
So I backtracked and drove to K of C (Hallockville) Pond on the Plainfield/Hawley line.
I arrived around 12 noon and left around 4:30 PM.
When I arrived, it was 34 degrees, but the temps steadily dropped, to 24 by the time I left.
It snowed steadily the entire time I was there, and the winds picked up over the course of the day.
There were 10 to 12 inches of ice under 4 or 5 of snow, which was slushy in some spots.
The fishing was about what I had hoped/expected - - nine pickerel (the biggest two were 20" and 21") and one (9") perch, most of which were caught on tip ups, but with one pickerel apiece landed on the dead stick and jigging rod.
