2016 Ice wrap up
 

Fasteddie and I sat in our cars in disbelief today watching the wind rip into what little ice was left by the beach at Budd lake. I tried to get on the ice but the shorlines had 10' of open water from the rain and there was only about 2" of honeycomb ice off the docks. I set a tipup off the dock and we watched for about a half hour trying to decide what the hell we are going to do the rest of February and March. It's hard to believe we were fishing 2' of ice this time last year. This was one of the shortest ice seasons I can remember. There was no safe ice in Jersey until the first day I got on Budd, January 6th, and now it's almost gone. The fish definitely liked the warm weather though. I had my best year ever catching 13 muskie and at least 20 pike, 6 fish over 40".
After first ice at Budd I went up to CT for pike. My first day out I caught a 37" pike and my buddy got a 42" 20lb fish. 2 days later we caught over a dozen pike, including a 35" fish that sucked my buddy's dead stick down the hole with a $700 Van Stall reel on it. After about an hour of drilling/looking down holes we found the rod and jigged it up with the pike still attached. It was one of the sickest things I've seen on the ice.
When I came back to Jersey I started hitting a few muskie lakes in NJ. My first ski trip of the year was unbelievable, definitely the best day on the ice I've had. I caught 4 muskie, 43,41,41,37. I had never caught 2 40" fish in a day, let alone 3! My next trip I got a 44, and a week later I got my heaviest ski yet at 44" and over 28lbs. After all those muskie I decided to hit Budd again and what did I catch? Another muskie! I've heard rumors about Budd tigers for years and the rumors are true, I caught a scrawny 30" tiger.
After the Budd tiger I fished a few more pike and muskie lakes and caught a some decent fish but no monsters. Even though this was a short season, it was one of the most memorable ones for me. Fun times with friends and some giant fish. Short but sweet season for sure, can't wait until next year!


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Re: 2016 Ice wrap up
 

Awesome year matt! That tiger from budd is sweet. Congrats on this monsters as well. I only got out for skies twice and you know how the first day went. Last week I had a fish take me into a tree stump before I got to the flag. Talk about a bummer, 13 days on that lake watching other guys catch them finally get one and is tangled up before I got to him. Drilled holes 2ft apart for 50-60 ft at least and used a scoop to grab the line out each hole till I got over top. No luck but with a camera we found the stump and my rig with the ski long gone so at least she wasnt stuck there

Re: 2016 Ice wrap up
 

That's a bummer Lou. I fish a lake up in CT with stumps and downed trees everywhere. It sucks to wait that long for a flag just to find out you're stumped.

Re: 2016 Ice wrap up
 

Oh well that's why we do it because it's a challenge. Next year Crack the whip and get me out more so I can break through this funk I am in.

I got an up coming lake that should be prime in a couple years over in PA. Had buddies catch a dozen tigers between 25-35" last Saturday. Once they get a little bigger it's game on

Re: 2016 Ice wrap up
 

First time I've ever seen that done but at least we found it with the camera haha.

Matt you sure as hell made the best out of this crap short season! Nicely done!

I did what I could, got my first ice musky, biggest ice pike and had a 72 fish day jigging. My musky can fit in your big one's stomach but I'll add to the end of ice collage!

Re: 2016 Ice wrap up
 

Awesome job on the pike and the muskies, Matt! Simply incredible!

Re: 2016 Ice wrap up
 

Great fish and pics to go with em. Been good to see u again on the ice. Yer spud bar inspired me to make myself a new one. Good luck on the open water and be safe.

Re: 2016 Ice wrap up
 

Thats one hell of a season especially in this short one! Congrats !!

Re: 2016 Ice wrap up
 

dead sticking a van staal on the ice, that's definitely a new one.

Re: 2016 Ice wrap up
 

Congrats man. That is one hell of a season.