Who Remembers?? Some thoughts on ice fishing Lake Champlain

[Shepabs]

Hand carved wood jig rods that you wrapped your chalk line around, Ounce and a half double ended sinkers with a snelled hook looped through one end. Jigging with perch eyes?   Galvanized metal minnow pails,  fish decoys that we used to get whitefish near the hole,  Willow whips instead of tip ups for pike  (walleye) fishing up in West Swanton.  Ice chisels instead of power or even hand augers.   First auger I ever saw was at Busheys Sporting Goods in St. Albans and it was a spoon auger.  Then they came out with a Fin-bore auger in the mid 60's.  Couldn't afford that so we kept chiseling!!! 
Ice fishing was an adventure then. No one had 4WD so getting into the snow on the lake with Dad's dodge dart could get you stuck and in trouble in a hurry.   Snowmobiles were for rich people and 4 wheelers didn't exist.  Our mode was transortation was by foot and lugging your stuff in your arms was the only way there was to get it there.   I can remember when a big advance in technology was the invention of the plastic pail!!!  Sheetrock buckets were next generation.     

I often wonder what my Dad would think if he could come back and see the mobile tub sleds and portable shanties, 4 wheelers, modern jig rods with reels and the wide variety of jigs and baits available to us now.  Not to mention what he'd think of a modern flasher units that will show you the fish and your jig! 

We may have the gear but they had the fish.  His shanty was in St Albans bay when he was young and he had a camp on Lapan Bay.
He used to tell me of the "Bran" sacks of perch they used to catch.  Almost all big slabbers.   My Grandfather owned the 3rd camp past Black Bridge on the way to Hathaway's Point. 

I grew up hearing stories of how Liquor was run into the bay from Canada during prohibition.  The guy who owned the camp next door had a boat that had a big ford motor.  They'd run it into the bay out in front of the camp and scuttle it next to shore, then unloaded the liquor the next day.  Pull the boat up the next day and get the motor cleaned out and running again for another booze run to Phillipsburg. 

I've got lots of great memories of ice fishing on Lake Champlain, some with my Dad but many more with our neighbor "Bud" Irish. 
Bud was a Carpenter that didn't have much work in the winter and so he fished and dragged me along.  We caught a ton of perch, shot a lot of Bull and every weekend Bud used to give me a "Shaefer" from his 6 pack!!  For a teenager, that was living!!  Those guys are long gone now but I'd sure like to have the opportunity to show them how the sport has changed and see their expression on their faces when they got to walk into something like a Cabelas or Bass Pro Shop! 

Things change as we grow older and I'm sure they'll keep changing for the forseeable future.  I can only wonder on what advances there will be in the sports of hunting and fishing after I'm gone.  Hopefully I'll be around to see a bunch more improvements but quite frankly, I don't see how it can get much better than it already is.     

[Shepabs]

Oh Yeah, Lets not forget GPS to get you to your favorite spot, Digital Cameras, Videos on smart phones where you can instantly upload your catch to Utube.  Heck in Maine, at Worthings Smelt Shacks you can even get pizza delivery!!     

[Lavman]

Great thread! Conjurs up memories of when I was a younger kid (I am only 39 now - older kid!). My Dad still uses his wooden jig stick with "cat gut" line, flat steel shiny sinker and 2 hooks and he still catches fish as well as I do with my mono line and bibets!
Dad still has the galvanized bait bucket and we still use it (now it has a battery powered airator stuck to the side of it). Last year his original "Hot Seat" blew out the last of its white pellets so he just sits on his tuque now. Used to have the Coleman catalytic heater that ran on Coleman fuel, now its portable propane bottles and mini heater.
I recall the spoon drill and the old rebar chisel Dad had. He bought a power auger last year and I was handed down the Mora 5" hand drill that he has had for 30 years or so. I ordered new blades for it this weekend - still running the original blades!
Yup, times have changed but it's still as fun as ever.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

[perchhauler]

We use to chop our holes with an axe, when the ice got thick you had to have about a 2 foot or better hole on top so you could reach all the way down with the axe, wonder we caught anything at all after all that chopping, one year dad made a nice chisel, from a bar of steel that he heated cherry red in the cookstove  in the kitchen, we made bobs out of scrap wood. Seems we always caught plenty of fish to eat, in the same spot, all winter, year after year. Most everybody had nice shanties, but once they were on the ice, they didnt move them very often.  Everybody had "their" spot, and kept a respectable distance from each other. These days, I take dad out after bluegill once in a while, and he still gets upset when guys move within 100 yards, let alone after they drill 20 holes with their tanaka augers 10 yards away!
 

[gogetthegaff]

I remember an article in Field & Stream in the 70's written by Harold Baker of Randolph about fishing on southern Champlain. It was all about using "jacks" back then for walleyes and sauger. I remember too, from Singing Cedars to Benson Landing you could see spreads everywhere of 15, 30, 45 or more set up and left on the ice, usually with a permanent shanty right in the middle of the set. Just drill the holes, bait em' back up and you're ready to go. Seems like every guy had his own version of the jacks, some had arms that just balanced with a small hinge, some slid or tipped under their own weight, some had sliding weights that you could hear when there was a take. Nothing finesse about it either. Heavy line, no leader, maybe a snap swivel, a split shot, a size 6 snelled Eagle Claw hook, and 3 inch emeralds from Ed's Bait Shop. And we killed the eye's back then, saugers too. Just about every time out. One thing I do remember is how cloudy the water used to be on that end of the lake compared to how it is now.

[tench]

I still hammer fish with the old school sticks and big sinkers Best way to slay perch a lot of times...
My grandfather uses them to jig up lakers- they give a real solid hook set he says.
My grandfather told me a story about my great grandfather a while ago, when he started ice fishing he didn't have anything to cut holes in the ice with so he'd use old holes or find a pressure crack to fish through.   They bought an auger when the two of them filled three barrels with perch in two days.

[sanman]

im with ya there tench!! the old school wooden handline was what i learned to icefish with and works great! i have two or three little jigging rods too but i seem to like to go back to the handline with thick mono a big "torpedo" sinker as we call them and two hooks tipped with perch eyes, if the perch are biting its the best way to nail them, double slabbers!!!     i even cut my own wooden handline the other day, all i need to do is put some line on it and ill be fishing!   i also have one of those galvanized bait buckets that used to be my grandfathers that i always use, and some old minnow traps of his too!

[mroy44]

My dad still uses handlines and I love to go back and use them sometimes.  Handlines were how I learned to fsih its fun to go back tothem.  My dad makes home made ones out of maple about two feet long, he stains em and puts a nice metal endpiece on them they are sweet!!

[tench]

im with ya there tench!! the old school wooden handline was what i learned to icefish with and works great! i have two or three little jigging rods too but i seem to like to go back to the handline with thick mono a big "torpedo" sinker as we call them and two hooks tipped with perch eyes, if the perch are biting its the best way to nail them, double slabbers!!!     i even cut my own wooden handline the other day, all i need to do is put some line on it and ill be fishing!   i also have one of those galvanized bait buckets that used to be my grandfathers that i always use, and some old minnow traps of his too!

Remember to use braided line sanboy 

[kencorey]

i still use champlain tip ups that my grandfather made from maple i think there around 25 years old and i have 2 old ones from my other grandfather that most be around 35 plus , they still get fish . have some old jig poles from one of my grandfathers in my little shop with home made jigs flashers made from spoon handles. remember when you chisled the hole 10 " at top and if the ice was thick about 3" in water.

[granby7773]

I still use wooden jig sticks ,,, and still have a 6" spoon auger  ,,, we would build shantys out of 2x2 and use black plastic on the inside and 6 mill clear on the outside ,, we had no heater so it worked like a green house and we made them w/   a "trench" and used a chisel to open it up .

How bout the days when the "Benson" derby was the "Great Benson Fishing  Derby" . We used to pitch a old army tent and sleep on the ice ,,, back then mid 80's it was more of a party .

 We would walk a long way to fish "Ling" off Thompsans point at night,,,,

  and I still think willow whips work best on perch and walleyes 

[TRT]

I have cherished film of my grandfather ice fishing in the 40's an 1950's
in the all wool pants - coats and brandy of the day.

[DyingBreed]

I have cherished film of my grandfather ice fishing in the 40's an 1950's
in the all wool pants - coats and brandy of the day.

Brandy of the day !!! Remember warming up in the shanty one day, probably about 9yrs. old then, thirsty as hell so I grabbed o ROOT BEER outa the six pack.......whoa haw !!!!!!!!!!  Warmed up nicely...quick ! Ol Bob had snuck his booze outa the house again !!!!!

[sanman]

Remember to use braided line sanboy 

thats right!!! i got one all set up with old tip-up line the other day!

[fishnmachine]

   I remember my Grandfather's brother Gerald would come up from Connecticut to smelt fish. He'd always stay at the farm with my grandparents. It was one of the few times each year I'd be allowed to miss school. We'd get up early. Gram would feed us fishermen a breakfast a lumberjack would have a tough time finishing, then send us on our way with thermoses of hot coffee and hot chocolate, and a picnic basket full of cheese sandwiches wrapped in foil.
   We'd make the hour long drive up 22A, turn left in Vergennes and go past the Simmonds Precision plant. At the farm with the three silos, we'd turn right and park at the end of a dirt road as far as we could go. We'd walk down the hill, around to the left and onto the ice where we'd walk out and pick a shanty for the day. We liked to get an eight-holer so we could all use two lines. It was customery then that the last fisherman in the shanty would leave a smelt for the next guys to start with. Light the lantern, spud the holes open, light the old kerosene parlor heater, filet some bait off the starter smelt, and soon enough we'd find them.
   The nails in the corners, and over the benches weren't necessarily for your coats, they were to hang your sticks on. After finding your sound, you'd always drop right back to the same depth. We used chalk line, heavy metal flashers, and size 4 Piquah's tied to the flasher and line. We always caught smelt.
   Around 10:00 o'clock in the morning, Mr. Barrows would come around to refill the kerosene heaters and collect the $15.00 rent for the shanty for the day.
   At lunch time we'd place the foil wrapped sandwiches on the heater for a couple of minutes on each side and we'd have grilled cheese. Leaving was always more work than coming because we had to carry the buckets of smelt up the hill to the car.
   Gramp is gone now, and Uncle Gerald is one of two remaining of thirteen brothers and sisters. I saw him last summer, and we talked about those days, smelt fishing at Barrow's.

[fishingidjit]

Us kids used to hitch a ride behind the car when there was good ice and no snow . My father would tie our metal runner sleds to the car and tow us out to the fishing spots. Used a spud to cut a hole,the hole started out about 18' across and when you broke through it was about 2''. Always had wood jig sticks and never even saw a tip-up back then (early 60's). Some folks had bobs for fishing but we just jigged,used to catch some huge slabbers !

[webster2]

I have cherished film of my grandfather ice fishing in the 40's an 1950's
in the all wool pants - coats and brandy of the day.

I'll bet that is interesting to watch.  I am reading a book about ice fishing that was printed in the 70's and have been amazed at the changes in equipment since then.  This is only my second year ice fishing.

[mempfree]

I remember years ago, when I was fishing for Pike off of the Sand bar, during the Island Tournament.  I had my old 1983 4WD Ford Ranger, and it was probley 20 below zero with the Wind chill factor.  When I came back to the truck to get something out of it,  I said to my self, I should probley start it up, to make sure that it would start!  Well, i couldn't press down the gas pedal.  It had froze up.  Thank you lord, I had a can of good ole WD40.  I sprayed that around the Carburetor, and went back to Ice Fishing another couple hours, then came back, and sure enough, I got it started.  Keep a can in your Vehicle.

[campfindit2]

"Keep a can in the car" What for aint no such thing as a carb on a car these days. Hahaha

[mempfree]

I use the WD40, when my Tipups, screws and nuts rust up. 

[tench]

Might have an old carbed 460 going in my bronco this summer

[campfindit2]

Might have an old carbed 460 going in my bronco this summer

Tench herd that last year. Seen her picture just not on the ice. Fire that girl up allready.

[tench]

My job fell through for the school year so I can't afford to get the parking permit or to feed her    Instead I had to fork out $600 for books last semester...

[iceman55]

Hand carved wood jig rods that you wrapped your chalk line around, Ounce and a half double ended sinkers with a snelled hook looped through one end. Jigging with perch eyes?   Galvanized metal minnow pails,  fish decoys that we used to get whitefish near the hole,  Willow whips instead of tip ups for pike  (walleye) fishing up in West Swanton.  Ice chisels instead of power or even hand augers.   First auger I ever saw was at Busheys Sporting Goods in St. Albans and it was a spoon auger.  Then they came out with a Fin-bore auger in the mid 60's.  Couldn't afford that so we kept chiseling!!! 
Ice fishing was an adventure then. No one had 4WD so getting into the snow on the lake with Dad's dodge dart could get you stuck and in trouble in a hurry.   Snowmobiles were for rich people and 4 wheelers didn't exist.  Our mode was transortation was by foot and lugging your stuff in your arms was the only way there was to get it there.   I can remember when a big advance in technology was the invention of the plastic pail!!!  Sheetrock buckets were next generation.     

I often wonder what my Dad would think if he could come back and see the mobile tub sleds and portable shanties, 4 wheelers, modern jig rods with reels and the wide variety of jigs and baits available to us now.  Not to mention what he'd think of a modern flasher units that will show you the fish and your jig! 

We may have the gear but they had the fish.  His shanty was in St Albans bay when he was young and he had a camp on Lapan Bay.
He used to tell me of the "Bran" sacks of perch they used to catch.  Almost all big slabbers.   My Grandfather owned the 3rd camp past Black Bridge on the way to Hathaway's Point. 

I grew up hearing stories of how Liquor was run into the bay from Canada during prohibition.  The guy who owned the camp next door had a boat that had a big ford motor.  They'd run it into the bay out in front of the camp and scuttle it next to shore, then unloaded the liquor the next day.  Pull the boat up the next day and get the motor cleaned out and running again for another booze run to Phillipsburg. 

I've got lots of great memories of ice fishing on Lake Champlain, some with my Dad but many more with our neighbor "Bud" Irish. 
Bud was a Carpenter that didn't have much work in the winter and so he fished and dragged me along.  We caught a ton of perch, shot a lot of Bull and every weekend Bud used to give me a "Shaefer" from his 6 pack!!  For a teenager, that was living!!  Those guys are long gone now but I'd sure like to have the opportunity to show them how the sport has changed and see their expression on their faces when they got to walk into something like a Cabelas or Bass Pro Shop! 

Things change as we grow older and I'm sure they'll keep changing for the forseeable future.  I can only wonder on what advances there will be in the sports of hunting and fishing after I'm gone.  Hopefully I'll be around to see a bunch more improvements but quite frankly, I don't see how it can get much better than it already is.     

I'm 56 and remember some of the things your talking about. we used to catch lots of walleyes south of the Champlain bridge when I was young, remember looking at that big bridge while I was hauling in them walleyes

[fishhooker]

Great thread.

[Lavman]

Bumping this up from the archives, was fun re-reading figured some new folks here might like to add to it as well 

[Hess]

Learned to tip-up fish on Champlain in the mid 60s with my dad and uncles at our family camp in the Orwell area -- hand chiseled all of our holes no matter how thick the ice -- used the homemade wooden tip-ups with the sliding arm, painted white at one end and red at the other -- they were all handmade by my uncles & dad -- still have a bucket full of them (probably close to 50 years old) that I still use at least once a year -- you would often hear the tip-up go up before ever seeing it...!  We would set them up in 3 straight rows of 10 - 12, evenly spaced, all facing the same direction -- that way, if a tip-up was set off, it would be easier to see because it was immediately out of alignment!  We would catch many nice perch, pike, pickerel, walleye and an occasional sauger -- it was always exciting when a school of jack perch would come through and 4-5 tip-ups would all go up within a few seconds of each other -- those were the days...!!

[spot]

Hand carved wood jig rods that you wrapped your chalk line around, Ounce and a half double ended sinkers with a snelled hook looped through one end. Jigging with perch eyes?   

A lot of the time, this is exactly how I fish! I don't drive on the ice, even though my truck is 4X4, but I did upgrade from the shallow plastic sleds we used to use and now have both a home-built sled and a jet-sled and I have a 3-person portable that's about the best invention ever.

Otherwise I have two hand-crank augers and am easily able to remove perch eyes without those new-fangled tools... a tool that takes out fish eyes? That's about the craziest thing I've ever heard! 

**

Born in the late 60s and growing up in the 70s, we used to cross Shelburne Road and walk down to Red Rocks to ice fish in the winter, after school or on weekends, that's what a lot of kids did. If none of us had an auger or chisel, we'd look for old holes and break them open again, or some fisherman would take pity and let us borrow their auger. Sometimes we'd go a little further out to where the fishing shanties always were- hundreds of them! and we'd go inside of one that wasn't being used, look under the seat and find a frozen smelt and we'd fish, always replacing the frozen smelt we "borrowed" and leaving things as we found them when we were done.

Imagine nowadays, several elemenentary school kids basically disappear for half the day, go out (some carrying knives ) and talk to strangers, sometimes even fish with strangers, sometimes go into a structure owned by a stranger and stay there for hours!

It'd be on CNN as the shocking story of the day and the FBI would definitely be involved if it happened today.

[dickbaker]

    Keep it up! at 74 I love to hear about the OLD TIMES
Dick

[jbrown]

To heck with them old days. I still remember the cupped auger. I don,t think it cut a hole but rather burned a hole with friction. Makes my shoulder hurt thinking about it. I still carry one old wood stick for times in shallow water when you hit it right.