By Mike Roche

Last Saturday my brother Chris joined me and a bunch of other folks fishing on White Pond in South Athol, where my wife and I own property. The pond community is close and one of the pond residents has undertaken to put together a day of ice fishing by invitation for the past several years.

Last year was my first time participating and this year Chris and I were ‘all in.’ We thought we were early, but there was a crowd already fishing when we arrived and registered. It was also a chance for me to use the ice fishing shelter purchased two years ago and used once. After doing some research, my choice had been an Eskimo Fatfish, an insulated hut that measures 94” X 94” (just less than 8’ by 8’) and is very easy to put up and take down. With a small propane heater, it makes life on the ice on a cold day a pleasure!

We teamed up to drill holes and set tackles and had a flag before we had rigged all 10 (ice fishing allows five hooks/tackles per fisherman) and Chris had the honors. He followed the book and let the fish take out line, stop, and start again before setting the hook. It was obvious it was a nice fish and after a short battle Chris got the big largemouth up through the hole. We knew that when we registered there was already a 19-inch bass recorded (everyone usually practices ‘catch and release’) and my brother showed speed as he depended on his boot creepers to keep him upright as he sped to the check-in.

The fish measured 19 ¼ inches and put him atop the leader board for the moment with a lot of fishing ahead until the 3 p.m. close of the competition. What followed was a really enjoyable day on the ice. Chris caught a couple more nice bass, and my catch was varied. A few perch were taken on the Hali jig ‘sweetened’ by spikes (AKA maggots) and a bass and a pickerel on tip-ups. Then, there was a surprise catch late in the afternoon when a nice horn pout took a shiner on the tip-up. It was over 14 inches long and my inquiry on whether there was a pout category resulted in the fish being entered as the leader in the “other” species category as the leader.

Lo and behold, at the end of fishing, the Roche brothers were both winners! Frosting on the cake of an excellent day of ice fishing and camaraderie.

That was followed by a spur of the moment trip Wednesday when a friend called at mid-day and said he was fishing. This column had just been started but “first things first” and we dropped everything and grabbed the ice fishing gear and headed out. In my haste, the Vexilar flasher and spikes were left behind and that is my excuse for not catching any fish jigging. However, one nice bass did grab a shiner and was landed and there was a perch on one tip-up when it was time to pick up. Great fun in the sun nevertheless and with spring looming, it was worth the effort as that season will soon pass.

What will taking the place of ice fishing will be turkey hunting and toms are now beginning to display as they are reacting to the longer length of day. The hens are still flocked up with the young born last spring, but by April things will be getting into full swing. Upon returning from my ice fishing adventure a check of my emails showed one from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. As mentioned previously, a significant decline in the number of wild turkeys in Kansas led to a decision to reduce harvest. The fall hunt was canceled and spring permits were reduced by requiring non-residents, like yours truly, to apply for a limited number of spring gobbler permits.

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The email informed me that I was not chosen! What a bummer! After almost 20 years of traveling each April to Kansas to visit my sister during turkey season, there would be no turkey permit for me. It honestly has not sunk in yet. A lot to wrap my head around. There might be the possibility of driving an hour to neighboring Missouri but that will take some research to see if there is public land to hunt there. Most states are not like New England, where you can hunt anywhere that is not posted. Getting on private land is a challenge and most private land is already leased or reserved by other hunters.

On a positive note, reports of woodcock are filtering in from parts of New England and the migration will continue until April. That is great training on wild birds for my French Brittanys and we all look forward to that fun but brief season. Dog work for this trainer stops as soon as there is any sign of nesting activity by the woodcock. There will still be the great option of working the dogs on chukkars at Hedgerow Hunt Club and also other training and trial events with the Central New England Brittany Club. The girls will hopefully be busy!

My obsession with bluebirds continues and feeders and hopefully nest boxes will soon be up and enticing the birds to take up residence at my locations. If cardinals and orioles also show up it will be a trifecta of color and song.

Don’t forget the Mahar Fish’N Game Club Game supper March 9. You can still donate meat or get tickets by contacting high school club advisor Evelyn Cunha at (413) 221-5297 / ecunha@rcmahar.org or Billy Devine at (508) 667-0966 / wdevine@rcmahar.org. See you there!

Mike Roche is a retired teacher who has been involved in conservation and wildlife issues his entire life. He has written the Sportsman’s Corner since 1984 and has served as advisor to the MaharFish’N Game Club, counselor and director of the Massachusetts Conservation Camp, former Connecticut Valley District representative on the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board, has been a Massachusetts Hunter Education Instructor and is a licensed New York hunting guide. He can be reached at mikeroche3@msn.com.