Nerdy Angler: Deep Freeze Is Great For Ice Fishing

White Perch from Scargo Lake

The extremely cold temperatures that hit the eastern parts of the country helped to kick off what is shaping up to be one of the best ice fishing seasons in years. Southern New England ponds that haven’t had fishable ice since the winter of 2015 locked up solid with 6-10 inches of black ice. So I decided to postpone my northerly excursions and fish a few local ponds.

January 1- 3 Spectacle Pond Sandwich, MA

Spectacle is one of my favorite Cape Cod trout ponds. It also has a steep and deeply rutted access road to the public landing. Access in the winter can be a problem after a big snow storm. That’s the main reason I made this pond my first stop for ice fishing.

Fished three days straight. Caught over 50 yellow perch. Kept a few over 13 inches to eat. The abundance of perch made trout fishing more difficult, but I still managed to catch one Rainbow Trout. Another obstacle was the fact that the local bait shops had not yet stocked up on shiners. Plus, thanks to the cold snap, my minnow traps in the salt marshes were empty. Had to rely on worms from the composter and store bought nightcrawlers. The crawly critters are good for Rainbows, but shiners would have been better for trying to catch a big holdover Brown Trout.

Rainbow Trout a Yellow Perch from Spectacle Pond

January 8 Long Pond Lakeville, MA

Lakeville in Bristol County is home to fishing buddy and fellow Canal Rat, John Morgan. John lives on the shore of Long Pond and has been catching warm water gamefish there for many years. While fishing for Striped bass in the Cape Cod Canal we’ve talked about trying some ice fishing on his lake. Until now a lack of safe ice has prevented us from doing so.

I arrived at John’s place a little after 8am. We would be joined by two others, Amanda, daughter of one of Johns friends and her boyfriend Zack. John drove us to his favorite spot. We fished 10 holes. The ice was over at least eight inches thick. After a few hours everyone had pulled in at least one Largemouth Bass. A couple pickerel and a yellow perch rounded out the catch. All fish were released after taking pictures.

John puts a Largemouth Bass on the ice

John holds up his Largemouth

Amanda with a nice Largemouth Bass

Another Long Pond Largemouth

Zack's Chain Pickerel was the biggest fish of the day.

The wind started to pick up so we decided to quit early. Hopefully the ice will remain safe through February and we’ll be able to participate in an upcoming tournament that takes place on Long Pond.

January 9 Scargo Lake and Mid-Cape Brookies

Fishable ice is a rarity on Cape Cod so I decided to hit two Cape Cod ponds in one day. The first spot was Scargo Lake in Dennis. This lake’s claim to fame lies in it’s shape which resembles a fish or whale. It’s also the setting for a local Native American legend/love story which also involves a couple of fish. This fishy pond is well stocked with Trout and Smallmouth Bass. It was really the Smallmouths that I was targeting.

Scargo Lake viewed from atop of Scargo Tower

The ice was thick and very clear. It was also sunny and the beginning of a warm spell with temps in the mid 30s. I waited over an hour before the first flag went up. Something grabbed the bait, swam away with it and dropped it. This happened two more times. Then finally I hooked one and pulled in a 14 inch White Perch, which is large for this species. I stayed for another 40 minutes until noon and decided to get moving while there was still time to fish another pond.

There’s a few ponds on Cape Cod that are stocked with Brook Trout only. I won’t mention the name of this pond. This small, beautiful gem of a pond would be spoiled if it were to get too crowded.

I arrived at the pond early in the afternoon. Set out two tip ups with shiners and three with worms. Small yellow perch started nibbling on the worms before I was finished setting up. Very soon after after setting up, something hit a shiner. It was the first Brook Trout. One hole in just five feet of kept producing perch. I pulled the tip up and started jigging and up came Brook Trout number two. After jigging up a third Brookie I decided to call it a day.

Brook Trout from a Cape Cod Pond

Note - 1/16/18 -The warm spell continued along with some rain. The ice on the Cape’s ponds have melted somewhat. Another thaw this weekend could mean a return to open water. It might be time for trip up North.