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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.
That original post sure brings back memories. I used to love going to Bushey's Sporting Goods in St. A with my Dad! He had everything you could ever need in there .... from guns and ammo right down to bikes and toys. We icefished St.Albans Bay a lot back then, and never had problems finding perch. I wasn't very good at pulling in handlines without getting the line all knotted up, so when I got a bite I'd throw the jig stick onto my shoulder and run until the fish popped out of the hole! Drew a line on the snow so I knew how far to run. Great times.I remember Dad and I meeting my uncle and cousins on Shelburne bay to go smelt fishing. My uncle had a shanty in the shanty-town there in the early 70's. My cousins and I had a blast pulling them in one after another. There were coathangers nailed to the walls that the line was tied to. Just watch the tip of the coathanger for signs of a bite. And I still have my father-in-laws metal minnow bucket and we used his old "one armed bandit" Jiffy auger up until last year. Still have several wooden jig sticks, but don't use them very often anymore. Probably should get them out this weekend.
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 !!!!!
Bumping this up from the archives, was fun re-reading figured some new folks here might like to add to it as well
Awesome thread. St Albans bay covered with shanties, couldn't drive a straight line from one end to the other if your life depended on it. I making a couple new wooden jig sticks right now. Anyone know where I can get a couple flat shiney metal "flashers" or "skooters" as we used to call them?
Nice work Lav, I love threads like this. Our kids are building these memories today, but won't realize how important they are until they're our age.
They sell them at Lakeshore Ace on Malletts Bay. They sell old fashioned braided line too- not that I still use the stuff or anything.
My lovely wife, Francena, was born in Ticonderoga in 1951. Her uncle Robert Breen, an RPI graduate and sportsman, who was born in Port Henry, introduced me and my children to smelt fishing in the lake off of Port Henry in the early 80's using handlines.We used to stay at an old firetrap of an inn, called the King's Ransom, if I recall correctly, in Port Henry. The outfitter was Fred Rowe, who died of a stroke years ago. He was quite a character, always driving us out to our assigned shanty with his door open. His language was colorful but his character was pure.We caught smelt, yellow perch and I once caught a whitefish, always jigging. We fished for a few years before other activities overtook us.Francie, Bob and Fred have unfortunately all passed away but my boys, now in their thirties, have organized a trip for this February in Missisquoi Bay in Vermont for yellow perch , maybe whites and pike.It won't be the same but it will be something.Thanks for reminding me about what used to be.
One time we were on the ice and got buzzed by a fighter jet from the Air Force base and saw him fly under the bridge, was in the paper the next day.
We had a camp on stone point Thats between Benson landing and singing cedars The camp was only a feet away from the water. We bought it in the early 70's and sold it a few years back. The walleye fishing was incredible in the 70's so i got to see the fishery change over 40 years on the southern End of the lake. The big old Tugboats pushing the Barges up and down the Lake. How the clay water would churn and it would pull the water out of the swamps. When we duck hunted our decoys would go out with the current then come back in after the Tug went past. For the rest of my post i will stay on the Walleye. I see in other post it's been mention about the Ice shanties and tip ups or some times called Champlain Jacks. They were hundreds of them including ours. Looking back i see what was one of the Walleyes DEMISE. For an example i will use my uncle and his friends for what was a common practice in the 70's. My uncle and friends worked road construction and had all winter off so they ice fished all winter their big shanty was in whites cove not far from singing cedars. In the shanty was a 55 Gallon Drum of antifreeze i'm not sure if it was ethanol or not but you could buy it by the gallon at bait shops it was blue and it keep your hole from freezing. They like many others had as many as 60 tip ups out. They would bring back home walleyes in big army duffel bags full. i can't remember what the limit was back then maybe someone of you will remember? Anyway many of the fish were 5 to 10 Lbs Big old Females full of Eggs. This was all legal not ethical but legal.i believe the limit was 10 per day. liked your comments on the barges and your decoys.I think about this a lot if i only new maybe i could have dune something. THANKS FOR READING AND GIVE ME FEED BACK ON YOUR THOUGHTS.
I've seen planes fly under the bridge on two occasions while ice fishing, got a picture of one of them.I miss jigging smelt at the bridge.
