Pachaug's a little sketchy right meow.

[Jessox80]

A good friend & I hit Pachaug yesterday.  I had scouted the day  before and found between 3 and 4" everywhere I drilled, but stayed within a very confined area (and am quite glad I did).  The fishing was quiet all day (6-3 or so) aside from a spool & drop (had never seen that one before) and a few drag & drops, all from the same hole, which my friend was fishing.
The ice on the other hand was quite noisy...not so much that hearty cracking which signifies deeper freezing as much as that "shattering glass" sound which constantly stimulated my fight or flight response.  My friend, clearly, was not as concerned

The water just beyond his carcass opened as we were there, but had refrozen by the time I left. I am pretty convinced I will not get back to that spot this year, and was hoping that if I stayed as late as possible something good would happen. From 3:15-5:15 I had maybe 5 or 6 drag & drops, some with a ton of line out and some with barely any. All had dropped the bait before I got eyes on the reel. At 5:45 I started to pack up, not at all in any hurry. At about 6 I finally got a chance to see my reflectors in action, as I could clearly see the flag up on my furthest tip up using just my head lamp to flash it.  I was almost spooled by the time I got there, but this time the reel was still flying. I set the hook and got a great battle. This fish just did not want to come in! I was sure it was going to be a good one...

You can see how clearly thrilled I am that it was not a pike.
In all honesty though, it was a great fight. Great enough to fool me into momentarily thinking "trophy class fish," which is more than enough to keep me going. Between the great fight and not falling through, it was a reasonably successful day.  The highs of the next few days, rain forecasted for Friday, and strong current in the channel may well spell trouble for Pachaug this weekend. I hope that everyone does his or her part to stay safe. It's not a bad idea to carry a topo map so you'll know to avoid deeper water and the areas near the current. 

[thndrvlly]

nice whisker!!!  You never know what"s coming thru that hole when that flag goes up, thats why i love ice fishing. Nice post an congrats, im gona try to get out again you an blaine are killing me lol

[lowaccord66]

Great report as always.

[Global Warming in CT]

Nice cat! I've seen a few dead on the bank at Pachaug but never caught one there. Quite the week you're having jessox. On a side note, I was sketched out by the ice on Pachaug this weekend but ended up getting a 40 inch 15.7 pound northern at a less popular pond in the area. Personal best for me by a long shot. Neither place will be safe this weekend though...

[FLAG UP!]

Nice Cat!  That thing is huge!

[Jessox80]

Nice cat! I've seen a few dead on the bank at Pachaug but never caught one there. Quite the week you're having jessox. On a side note, I was sketched out by the ice on Pachaug this weekend but ended up getting a 40 inch 15.7 pound northern at a less popular pond in the area. Personal best for me by a long shot. Neither place will be safe this weekend though...

Thanks and congrats! 40" and 15.7 is an interesting shaped pike! Was it mostly head by chance? If so it was likely a big male, which is a rare catch indeed. I'd love to see a pic. Congrats regardless, but I tend to agree that the pond may well thaw. 

[pikemanEd]

Males don't get to 40in mabey 30in but deff not 40in it was a female he got no dout about it

[Global Warming in CT]

If I can figure out how to post pics I will.  Unfortunately the fish was guthooked, bled like a mother, and ended up dying.  Even tried tying it off to a stringer and putting it back in the water for a few hours, but it was belly up under the ice.  Took it home and took a bunch of pics with my little kids, who are much smaller than the fish, and then dropped it off at the taxidermist. I hate killing fish (especially big ones) unless I'm going to eat them though.

[icemansect]

managed to get out today until disaster hit but we are all ok got some nice cats and a 3lb pickeral and a 8lb pike and perch i may take a gander inside a cove that is still locked up if anyone wants to go let me know

[captstevepc]

nice catfish...nothing wrong with catching a big cat!!!!

[Jessox80]

Nothing at all wrong with that fight anyway! A small percentage of male pike can get over 40"-I believe I have seen one. It was tadpole shaped, basically an alligator head on a shrunken body. It looked like a caricature of itself, or like someone had turned on big head mode in NBA Jam. I have a crappy cell pic somewhere...
 There are tutorials on here for pic posting but the short version is put it on photobucket, copy the image code & paste it into a post.

I also met a local legend pike guru on Glen lake in the Central Falls area who had caught a few big males in his time, evidently some in the mid 40's. A 41" female would almost certainly be over 20lb unless malnourished or ill.

I would love to hear details of the disaster iceman. I am glad everyone is safe and am always looking for what not to do.

[Jessox80]

[ESOX FIX]

like pikeman ed said, males don't get over 30". pike are eye to eye while spawing and if the males were the same size as the females the sperm would not meet the eggs at the right moment. A 40" pike is with out doubt a female.

[captstevepc]

We caught a pike last year on lake Champlain that was 39 inches and only weighed 15 lbs.. it had a huge head like described above but not a lot of girth.. I will post a pic.

[Jessox80]

http://www.wildernessisland.com/WalleyePikeAgeSize.php#.UO6lM46DMlI

This claims that a very small percentage of males (1%) can get well into the 40" range. Why else would a 40" fish weigh so little unless severely summer-stressed?  I have also seen it said that males do not get above 30", but think there may be exceptions to that rule.

[Global Warming in CT]

Struggling with this picture posting concept but I will figure it out this weekend and post a pic. I weighed the fish on two scales so the weight was accurate. Another guy I know got a 43 incher out of pachaug on sunday that was just over 19 pounds. I'm thinking that maybe you've been getting some really fat pike this winter... heading to Bomoseen next weekend to get some VT monsters.

[Jessox80]

I hope I didn't give you the impression that I did not believe you, it was simply interest in the topic of maximum length of (possibly) male pike. I started a thread of that very topic on the pikefishing page and have a few people saying they've caught big males, always skinny with oversized heads. 43 and 19 could be a female on the slimmer side though... or an anomalously gluttonous male?  I'm having trouble finding much literature on the topic aside from that page I posted earlier, which gives no attention the the weight difference (if any) by gender. If only 1% of males get that big I suppose it it tougher to do research on them.
Good luck at Bomo! I've been to the area a few times...awesome ice fishing culture up there.

[Global Warming in CT]

icefishing 2013 026

Probably didn't post the pic right...

[mhunter]

Just got a chance to post these Pics, 21.4 lb Pike caught 4 January on Pachaug. Did not get a length, wanted to get back in the hole as soon as possible. Weighed on Berkley Gripper scale, prob between 42-45 inches.

[Jessox80]

Hey, I remember you! I got a few pics of that slob as well, but yours came out better. When you guys were getting off the ice I had what felt like a very good one on, but the wind started whipping my line around and some got tangled around my boot. The fish made one good run and popped the leader. Here's a link to a post from that day:

http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=237914.0

[Sargesshanty]

Is there some good ice on Pachaugs? I am heading to Maine for a pike tourney this weekend and running one with a friend the following weekend but would love to get out on some connecticut ice. What is the trap limit here? Thank you and good luck...

[jss111678]

by next weekend the ice should be fine just about anywhere, 6 tip-ups or 5 and a jigging pole for CT use

[mhunter]

How big was that catfish? Did you catch it in same cove? I have been fishing Pachaug for a long time and have never seen a catfish that big come out of there, nice fish. You think we will have ice by Monday, cold weather is coming.

[Jessox80]

That big kitty came from a different spot. My trusty scale was visibly frozen, and hence not so trusty. It had the fish at about 7, but I suspect it was heavier than that. It was a good reminder to keep it in an inside pocket on those especialy cold days.
On a sad note, everywhere I looked today was barely covered or wide open, and waaayyyyy lower than when I'd been there last. My ice bridge is now about 8' from the moat around paper-thin grey slop. Let's hope the ice comes back soon, but these low water levels are even more concerning. Why the drawdown so late in the season?

[mhunter]

My guess on the drawdown is they wanted the level to be down for awhile so homeowners can clean up their beaches & retaining walls, plus kill some weeds, and the level came back quicker then they thought so the probably lowered again. That does suck & propose problems for fishing. When are you going out again? State record white catfish is 12.4 lbs