Privite Trout Pond

[68 TROUT]

After handling out-of-state family business, I made it home early last Thursday,
I had given my gas auger, to my Brother-In-Law to check out.
It was running rough and stalling out on me.
Well, he got it fixed and we had permission to fish a half acre Trout pond, in southern CT.
So, on Friday, we set out to try our luck!!
The owner assured me he stocked the pond, in August, with German Brown Trout.
We could take two through the ice, and release the rest, which was fine with us.
We set up around 11:00A.M. and set in 4 tip-ups and had 4 holes for jigging.
Believe it or not, we cut between 15" to 17" of ice. This pond is spring fed and brook fed,
so I thought we would cut much less...but, this winter proved me wrong.
We jigged up three native Brookies, small, around 7" to 9" but absolutely beautiful.
Released them to grow and provide fun, down the road.
We has several "mouthed" baits, Trout love to kill but not eat !!!
A couple of wind flags and then, between  4:00 P.M & 5:00 P.M.. the mother Load !!
We each caught two nice browns, between 12" & 14", on shiners, in about 10' of water.
Good fighters and just beautiful colors to them. We packed up about 5:00 P.M. had a couple of
toasts with our friend and headed home.
Those fish hit the grill that evening and were well enjoyed, with a nice bottle of wine !!!
Sorry, I am not into the computer pics, that is my Brother-In-Law,
but, he did not bother to bring his camera. He did not think we would catch anything....
Hope you all are enjoying the last of this season
Be Safe-Tight Lines

[P.Dona]

Nice !!  15" of ice still in the southern Ct !  Woo Hoo !  We're stocking another club lake the end of March.  We may need to cut holes to release the fish ! YIKES !

[68 TROUT]

P.Dona .......
Fished all over this state and a few others,
cannot remember this much ice, in this area, in some time....
Could not believe I would cut that much ice, this time of year.
Of course, that is deceiving, you cannot trust even that much ice,
this time of year, as the temp goes up and the sun comes out.
I remember an individual, going out on Crystal Lake, a number of years ago,
with 10" of ice and went through....Just cannot trust March Ice !!!
I am done and look forward to soft water and Turkeys !!
Be Safe-Tight Lines

[icetilt]

This winter is crazy. I fished my rod and gun club up this weekend in NE CT which is a simialr type pond to the one you were fishing and we still have 22 inches of ice on the pond and the current coming in is pretty good.

[68 TROUT]

icetilt ............
I cannot remember, in recent years, ice like this and this late.
Trouble with March is "The Sun" !!!!!!!!
Makes thick ice very porous and leads ice fishermen to take chances.......
You can go through very thick ice in March, I know, I did !!!
If you OR anybody, on this site go, PLEASE be careful !!!
Be Safe-Tight Lines

[icetilt]

68 trout i'm right there with you. I went through in late february one year on this pond. It was crazy they were driving trucks across it on the main pond and I was up towards the other end and hit a soft spot and went right through. The ice was 26 inches in the main basin. I use my spud and give it a good couple of hits when I get on the ice and then drill not far from shore. You never know. From what I can see right now the ice is still pretty solid with over a foot of black ice, on my club pond but i'm guessing after the end of the week and the weekend it will be complete garbage with the sun, higher temps and the melt coming in. I don't chance it.