Mission Accomplished ... Barely

[Boatless in BTV]

I hit Shelburne Pond today with the goal of catching my first crappie through the ice. I managed to check that one off, but this 6-incher was the only fish I caught four hours on the ice.



I haven't been able to figure that place out. I've fished there three times over the last two winters, trying completely different areas using tipups and jigging, and caught exactly one fish each time.

[jbritch]

There's some really big pike in there, I know first hand.  It was just a couple of years ago when I was fishing next to the rock face on the west side where you can sit and fish in the summer time not far from the landing.  The ABC News girl and her camera man walked past me but I hadn't caught anything yet.  She walked way out keeping on the west side to where there's weeds growing and you can see them sticking up out of the ice.  I didn't like that spot because it seemed sketchy ice.  Anyway she hung out with a guy that eventually caught a 6-pounder and told me so when she came back.  By then I had a big one, much bigger than the one the other guy got, she said.  I asked her to take a picture or get me on film but she said they already had enough film so I didn't get to be on tv.  I've also got some nice perch on the very eastern side right next to shore but wouldn't bother walking all that way again.  Never saw any crappie.

[Boatless in BTV]

Thanks for the input, jbritch.

I tried fishing the area you're talking about along the southwestern rock wall the last time I was there and did get one pike, though it was only like a 4.5-pounder.

Yesterday I was fishing deeper water along the eastern shore, about two-thirds of the way north. I was in 16-20 feet, and marked a reasonable number of fish suspended about 12 feet down, so I'm assuming they were all or mostly crappies. But most of them showed no interest in anything I put in front of them. I had one other bite besides the one fish I caught, so needless to say, it was a frustrating day.

And you're right, it's a very long walk back to the parking lot when fishing that area.