Ice Fishing Mega Post 2022 [Not NJ]

[NickM221]

The 2022 Ice Season is a wrap for us. For as warm as the winter was, we had a great ice fishing season, including catching a potential state record.

For a long time, I've had the goal of catching a 40"+ pike and decided to dedicate most of my ice season to catching one. When I squeezed the first pike below through the hole, I was so excited that as soon as Luke ran over and snapped the pictures, I immediately went to release the fish back down the hole and she kicked off hard. I turned around for a high five and Luke was staring at me - "You didn't want to measure it?" Oops - I totally forgot about taping it with the adrenaline pumping, but it was longer than the 39" rod I was using. Close enough haha.

The second one is another nice pike caught on rod and reel.



While pike fishing, Luke was resetting one of his tip ups when the flag pops at his feet. He started fighting the fish and I hear him shout "Brown Trout, Brown Trout, Brown Trout!" I ran over and we popped the fish through the hole. The brown ate a 6" sucker on 50lb fluoro. Chris will not let Luke forget about the dance he did after landing it



Another goal we had for this year was to catch our first bowfin through the ice. We had done a lot of research and were both able to land our first at a lake that Luke found. On our third trip to the lake, I got a flag, set the hook, and line started peeling through my hands and off of the tip up spool. A few short minutes later, a 32" bowfin launched itself through the hole and onto the ice. The fish was fat since it was pre-spawn and was over an inch longer than the current NY State record.

These fish are really under appreciated. They're some of the hardest fighting fresh water fish we've caught.



Both Chris and Fonz made the drive up to hit the hardwater with us. Despite Chris having some bad luck between Luke poisoning him with a bad Subway sandwich to changing weather shutting off the bite, he was always able to find some nice bass, including two 6lbers. Fonz and Chris were also able to jig some pike that identified as walleyes.