[612071]

I smell it gettiing closer...

Oh wait, thats my waders..

hehehehehehe

With the recent cold spell, I think Ice season is right around the corner.

Lets rehash some Ice Safety tips.

Never just walk out on ice, check first and check often.

3" for a fisherman
6" for a light car/truck or snowmobile
12" for a full sized truck

Always have a spare set of clothing and boots in the truck.

Always have a 100' rope with you.

If ya do go through, get to the edge and roll on your side out.

Lets hear some more!!

 

[Brown Trout]

Skim ice forming!!!

With all the driving around this weekend, I noticed skim ice forming on some of the back arms of Amawalk and Muscoot.

Good tips Crash. I also try to stick with a buddy or at least w/in sight of someone else.

Don't forget about sunscreen on any exposed areas of skin. It'll get ya quick, especially if theres snow on the ice.

Hopefully it won't be long...I'd love to jig up a batch of fishsicles.

Anyone have any favorite species (trout, gills, perch, crappie, smelt, pike)? baits (moussys, shiners, waxies, mealies)? tactics (jigs, spoons, tip-ups, day, night)? they want to share...

 

[shadrap]

ice is comin

Well sat. I was out on Muscoot lookin for those yellow perch. Water temp was 41 on the surface. My partner and I got some yellows,pickerel,bass,crappie,a small brown,and a shiner!! Yellows were small. In past years the big ones were in already!! Bring on the hard water. Usually behind King lumber first spot to get out. Will be in touch. Start gettin the flasher ready,auger,rods,etc.

 

[Brown Trout]

Nice job Shad rap. I've had good luck with the jumbo yellows right under the Rt. 35 bridge this time of year. I was using slip bobbers with small marabou jigs tipped with pin minnows to nail them last year.

I really want to get out there again when the ice forms. Last year when I was bringing in a small perch, what I suspect was a tiger muskie or large brown mauled it just before I got it in.
Good luck, maybe I'll see you out there.

 

[CraigC]

Ice

If we get some calm nights we might get a real early season this year. A couple of years ago we had some real cold nights but lots of wind and no ice; then we had calm nights with temperatures in the twenties and boom, we were covered. White perch on Croton Falls and smelt on West Branch (at night of course); I can't wait.

 

[bonzo]

White perch through the Ice

I take plenty of yellows, crappie, and sunfish in Muscoot through the ice, but can't seem to locate whites. Anyone have advice for spots and techniques for white perch in Muscoot or elsewhere in the area?

 

[CraigC]

White Perch

For White Perch try the east basin of Croton Falls Reservoir; Lower Mine Road or Reservoir Road is good access. I fish in deep water on the flats; you should see a few guys out there. The water can vary but can be 40 feet deep or more.

 

[bonzo]

More on white perch

Thanks for the Croton Falls lead. If I could ask another question--what are the best jigs and grubs for whites? And how big do they run in Croton Falls?

 

[Brown Trout]

white perch

Bonzo,

I've had only sporadic success w/ whites in muscoot. Near the rt. 35 bridge on the Pepsi side theres a drop off along the shoreline where I've had them take shiners on tip ups.

Cross River res. has some whites w/ shoulders, up to 2 #, but again for me they have always been an incidental catch while I was targeting others.

Only once on Amawalk did I hit a good school of whites and caught a few dozen before they moved off and I couldn't find them. These were all small fish in the 8-12" range. Lots of fun to catch but the cleaning was a pain. I was using a small silver swedish pimple tipped w/ spikes. I was fishing in the middle of the channel along 118. Like Craigc said there was no structure, flat bottom in open water.

 

[shadrap]

Whites

Brown trout your right on the money. I was casting cleos from the boat near the islands on Cross River 2 weeks ago, and banged into a few BIG whites in 25 feet of water, then its over . Up on Croton Falls though in past years you could get on a bucket load in deep water. Jigging rapala in the smaller sizes tipped with maggies. Some of them were real nice size. My Cousin tells me he walked on Lake Carmel today. Were gettin close Boys !!

 

[Brown Trout]

Lake Carmel

Hey shadrap,

walkable ice on Carmel? Is it frozen all the way over? That's usually one of the first lakes I hit. Lots of nice fish in there. Did your cousin give any indication how thick the ice was? thanks.

P.S. Whole arms of AMawalk and Muscoot have ice since yesterday. VERY CLOSE!!!

 

[CraigC]

White Perch

I like to use small size swedish pimples (silver/chartreuse) with mousies. I like the weight of these to get it back down quickly. The fish are chunky with occasional "nice" ones. The year before last I was jigging and took a white, a crappie, two small mouth bass and a bluegill out of the same hole within about 10 minutes. The one bass was about 3-1/2 lbs. I figure that a school of sawbellies must have been worked over by these fish. The reservoirs are very good for ice fishing. I caught a 15-3/4" crappie in Lake Gleneida two years ago that didn't even place in the fishing contest! I use a Vexilar unit now; I did not have the opportunity to use it in the reservoirs last year and I suspect it will be a big help on the whites. If you just jig like I do, I would strongly recommend a flasher unit. I'll be out somewhere this weekend.....

 

[624465]

Saturday Ice Fishing in Westchester

Spent the afternoon looking for ice in Westchester. Of course, most water was open or skim as the lakes just haven't given up their heat yet. Hiked in to King Lumber spot at Muscoot. Three guys had just gone out and right away had action but my friend and I didn't like the slushy 2 inches that covered most of the cove. One inch frozen snow slush, a half inch of water inbetween, and another inch of true ice.
Went instead to a small northern Westchester pond that I'm not at liberty to reveal. It doesn't have great fishing but it does have the first ice every year. Had 4" ice but was almost totally dead until about 3:45 when it came to life. We caught about 40 bluegill and 4 bass, but the crappies never turned on. Kept hitting until 5:20 in full darkness. Great to be on the ice again.

 

[CraigC]

Ice Fishing

I fished a couple of places today. White Pond in Putnam and a pond in Blue Mountain Preserve in Westchester. The ice at White Pond was marginal; with the snow cover I just didn't venture very far. The pond at Blue Mountain was fine. I caught four bass and 20 or so bluegills. Most of the action was late in the afternoon. It was a good warm up for hopefully a good season on the reservoirs. This pond has decent crappie fishing though it has been a few years since I fished here. I didn't see any today.

 

[618372]

muscoot

Fished the Muscoot yesterday. Started about 12:30 and fished until 5:00. I had 25 blue gills, 1 crappie, and 1 pickeral(20 inches),all on wax worms and ice jigs. Did not do that well on the tip ups, 1 perch. Does anyone have any suggestions on what size hooks to use on the tip ups? I never do very well with them.This is my third season on the ice. Also the ice was about 7 inches thick. tight lines Bill

 

[bonzo]

Tip Ups

Roostertail,

Forget hook sizes for tip ups, just throw the tip ups away. Setting them up and tending them just wastes precious jigging time and cuts down on your catch instead of supplementing it.

 

[Brown Trout]

Muscoot

roostertail,

Hook size on your tipups depends on what your targeting. If it's yellow and white perch or crappies I use size 6-8 baitholders or octopus depending on the size of the shiners. Trout and pickerel 4-6 octopus. Lakers and pike, 4-6 trebles in a 6" sucker. Sometimes the tipups don't work out as well as jigging b/c once that minnow is down there it sits stone still. I make it a point to go to each tipup and give a jerk on the lines every 20-30 min. to make sure the minnow is still alive and also to make sure nothing is on the line and just hasn't tripped the flag. It's happened to me numerous times especially w/ yellows. Good luck. I will definitely be out this weekend looking for something to jig up. I'll keep everyone posted BT.

 

[DandJfish]

Icefishing has started, thank god.I will try to hit rout 100,(north of bobs bait shop) on sunday.I usually do pretty good there with big yellow perch,pickeral and crappies.But once we have safe ice on monhansic i will be fishing there almost every week for crappies.The crappie fishing there is fantastic once you learn the lake.

 

[DandJfish]

If its white perch you want theres no better place to fish than behind the hospital on croton falls. On most morings i finish up there fishing by 11:00 am with at least 40-60 nice white perch. Use a swedish pimple with a smaller dropper jig tied about 6-8inches above the swedish pimple. Bait both with spikes, fish about 1-1 1/2 reel turns off of the bottom.

 

[624800]

Wildwood Lake(Long Island)today. 3 1/2 inches. Two guys,three hours,one brown trout,14 inches,released. Checked Ronkonkoma earlier in the day, too thin for me,2-1/2 inches. Cold north wind. Who's fishing Long Islang this year?