Late Ice Whites
Usually when I wake up in the morning and begin gathering my ice fishing gear, I try not to set my expectations too high, but today was different. The instant that I heard the click of the doorknob as my Dad opened my bedroom door, my eyes shot open and I jumped out of bed. Today we were heading to St. Albans Bay, the white perch capital of Vermont. As we backed the truck out of the driveway and accelerated towards our destination, I began thinking about all the stories of people walking off the ice with buckets full of perch just the day before. I was excited, to say the least, and after a stop at Bay Side for some bait and insider info, I couldn’t wait to hit the ice! It was a toasty 8 degrees when we set foot on the ice. We could see the aftermath of the sloppy travels that anglers had made the day before, but now the snow was crusted over nicely, making for excellent walking conditions.
When we arrived at the point, there were probably around 18 or so other anglers already set up. After standing around for a minute or two, panning over the crowd, we found a group of guys on the edge of the pack, consistently catching fish. After punching a couple holes just outside of them, I grabbed my rod and began getting rigged up. I threaded my 6 pound test fluoro through the tiny eye of my Orange 1/16th ounce tungsten and secured it with an improved clinch and finished the rig off with one of my favorite Maki Plastics. With a fairly light jig, I knew that it wasn’t going to be the fastest presentation to fish, but it would catch even the pickiest of perch.
As I stripped the line off of my reel and sent it down the hole, I couldn’t help but to think that there was going to be a fish awaiting my jig’s arrival at the bottom. My line went slack, I clicked my bail over, made a couple swift cranks and began jigging. I could imagine exactly what my jig looked like with every rod stroke. The heavy head was kicking all around with the tiny tails of the soft plastic undulating in the water. It was a tasty looking morsel, too convenient for a ten inch white to pass up. As my rod tip jerked downward, I set the hook. The tug of a fish on an ultralight rod NEVER gets old!!
I caught 3 more white perch out of this hole, before I was plagued by a school of dink yellows. On a slow day, I would’ve savored catching every one of those little guys, but when you’re fishing 300 yards from hathaways point, late ice, in the spring... they turn into, well, pests. I guess that’s one of the hazards of using a tiny tungsten. I began popping holes in every direction, trying to find the WP, but the fish were spread thin, and biting extremely lightly. You couldn’t tell the difference between a 9 inch white and a 4 inch yellow until you set the hook.
As the day progressed, more and more people kept showing up. At around 9:30ish, the school showed up right under us, and heavy! After about 5 minutes of my Dad and I and a couple other guys around us pulling up fish after fish, and most of them 9+ inches, we started to attract a lot of attention. Before we knew it, there was a full blown migration of anglers swarming into the area. Everyone was catching them really good until someone pulled up and decided to fire up his Eskimo 40 yards from the pack. It’s amazing how just a little commotion 15 feet above the school can cause the bite to go from 60 to 0 in a matter of seconds. A minute or two later and the fish turned back on again. The next time that guy tried to fire up his gas auger, the other anglers in the pack quickly offered to lend him their hand augers. Fishing for white perch has a completely different atmosphere among anglers than any other kind of fishing. Everyone is packed into a tight knit circle, not 45 yards in diameter, and there is a constant drone of peaceful conversation. Spirits are high and everyone is enjoying the beautiful day on the ice. I probably caught 3/4 of a pail in that hour long stretch from 10 to 11, before the school decided to disperse.
We followed a school that was headed towards shore, but with only a dozen or so fish in 45 minutes of fishing, we decided to move. With the perch thinly spread over the entire point it was nearly impossible to pin down a consistent bite. It wasn’t until I decided to venture towards Lazy Lady that I started catching fish. The bite started with a couple yellows and then quickly began to pick up as a school of whites moved under my hole like a thunderstorm moves in on the open plains. I signaled to my Dad who had been hole hopping about 70 yards away. I needed at least two guys fishing the school in order to keep them from moving. After he drilled a hole right next to me and began jigging, the fish began coming one right after the other. Just as fast as I could get down to them, I would be reeling up another one. My hole was on fire!
Unfortunately, that bite began to slow around 2:30, with only the small whites wanting to play. We searched for the school for another half hour, before packing it in for the day. The total tally ended up being 100 pounds of fish with 3 pails filled nearly to the brim. It was a wicked fun day of fishing on St. Albans Bay and talk about great weather! There’s nothing I would rather do for my B-Day than pound whities.
