22 replies to this topic

[Mike Dooley]

I just recently moved to Fredericton & was looking for some hot spots for ice fishing this year. Any suggestions.

Thanks Mike

[Scatter Gun]

I believe that alot of people fish pickeral in the grand lake area. Not to sure the exact locations but likely around sand point road. Not to sure what else they catch but it think they have good luck there.
Hope this helps

[ipop]

as scatter gun said, a lot of people fish the grand lake - french lake area for pickerel in ice season. there are a bunch of tournies there each winter that are a lot of fun. most as scatter gun said take place at the end of sand point rd.
besides pickerel we catch some nice yellow perch there, some catch white/silver perch there too. there can be bass, both smallies and stripers although i have not heard of either getting caught ice fishing. and of course smelts (again fairly rare in those lakes while the rive can be full of them all winter)
in the river most go for smelts and there is also lots of tommy cod.

if you check out ther ice fishing rules it includes a list of lakes you can fish in the area by county, either without a license (tidal) or with a license (province designated lakes for ice fishing)

[Joe Branscombe]

Grand Lake is good spot .We get smelt,burbot,perch,whitefish and lots of others. Around Goat Island is one of the better spots.

[mark_laviii]

You can look at going up buy Canterbury and Forterville.
For Lake Trout, Landlock Salmon, Bass, Pickerel.
You need a License

[pond jumper]

Grand lake area is a great spot, a ton of different areas to fish, you can hit smelt, burbot whitefish pickerel ect in Grand, French and Indian are known for their great pickerel fishing, and sometimes great can be an understatement, ive run out of bait more than one occasion, and Maquapit is a rarely fished lake that can be a spectsacular perch and pickerel lake, not so much in numbers but in size, especially on the main lake, although there are only a few places to acess the lake, the hunter ferry on rt 690 is the best an easiest place to fish if you dont know the lake, park by the road and walk down to the water just fish the pond side and stay away from the tunnel, ive seen it be only 6 inches thick there when the rest of the pond had 2 feet......if anyone is new to the area and wants to get out i go a lot during the winter, usually atleast 2 -3 times a week, just shoot me a pm , might be able to show ya a few places to get started and maybe get some fish aty the same time

[Sako]

Going fishing on Wauklehegan Lake in McAdam, on Saturday, Jan.29. Pickerel, white perch and cusk(burbot) Anybody wants to go, let me know. 20 minute walk to the best fishing.

[I Fish]

sako,how did you do on Saturday at McAdam?

[Sako]

Just waiting for my lunch to arrive and then I'm gone. Sat my bait on the step Friday evening and fed every stray cat for miles around. Just got some more bait and I'm going to try again. Should have some pictures when I get back.

[ipop]

lol Sako!!! i haven`t done that in years! lol! i hope you land a mess of them today.

i just finished a sunday brunch of potatoes, eggs and yellow perch - yummy!

[Sako]

Had a fair afternoon on the lake. Caught 2 pickeral but lost a lot of fish. I have new tip ups and I'm not sure if it's them or the fish weren't hitting that well. 1/ Flags up, run across the ice, see the line going out, set the hook, start bringing in the fish, and then it's gone. May have been too big a piece of bait. I cut down the bait, set it down where it should be and reset the tip up. Get back and sit down and..... see 1/.....

[I Fish]

No white perch yet sako?

[ipop]

it`s sort of funny, but i don`t think pickerel have read how circle hooks are supposed to work...lol! when they did stay hooked up this weekend only 1 in 4 was hooked in the corner of the mouth, all the rest were taken down deep.( the jumbo perch i caught did have it in the corner of the mouth.) they may have been getting used to scrapping the hook off on the bottom, one of the fish my buddy landed had a face full of mud.
i lost 3 at the hole, getting stuck on it, and a bunch like you did, getting off while bringing them in. still, for a little while i was leading in the tourney but i finished out of the money. you couldn`t have asked for a nicer day for an ice fishing tourney, it was the best conditions i have ever seen for a pickerel tourney. thanks and a tip of the hat to all involved

[Sako]

The fish I lost in 17 to 20 feet of water hit like white perch. I've also caught pickeral in the same spots but white perch pull differently than pickeral, so I'm guessing some of the fish I lost were white perch. Usually the best white perch fishing starts the second week of February, and in the morning, the earlier the better. When the perch are hitting it's quite easy to get them in rapid succession. They are a schooling fish and tend to run in toward the island and then back out. They seem to circle but it's rare to catch them in less than 15 feet of water. I didn't get to the fishing spot until after noon which isn't the best time to fish there. Early in the morning, just after sunup and late in the afternoon seem to be the best. I've known of some guys that leave their lines out overnight, trying to catch perch. But these are the same guys that have way more holes than is legal and also use live bait. I'm not that hungry, I guess. I've used circle hooks for years and you're right about pickeral, Ipop, guess they didn't read the manual,or watch that episode on circle hooks on In-Fishermen, cause it's pretty rare to catch them in the corner of the mouth. I've hooked in the guts, through the end of their snout, and even in the eye, with the line in through a gill plate. Still the best hook for ice fishing.

[ipop]

i haven`t ice fished for white perch...yet! most places i catch them in soft water aren`t legal for ice fishing, but i can think of one that`s a good drive that is open. i like to get a feed or two a year of them, a lot of work for some small sweet fish fingers but they do also fight over there weight size. i like catching them on small mouth gear. i caught a pair that would tie with my biggest ever this year...and then some how lost both pic`s from my new camera i didn`t keep either of them, so maybe they will pose for me again...i hope! lol!

[Sako]

Ipop, it's hard to believe but we catch white perch , through the ice, that are quite large. Most are over a foot, some get much bigger. Usually, when they are hitting we get several in the 12 to 16 inch size plus a couple of real dandies. My best was just a touch over 18 in., my brother-in-law thought it was a smallmouth. I fish the same areas in the summer and you can fill a boat with 10 inch white perch but nothing over a foot. Not sure why this is but who cares, gives you something to fish for. I've got pictures of some nice white perch taken from Wauklehegan in late May. Most of the residents don't know about this spot, and I'm not telling them either.LOL

[Sako]

Here's a link to my photobucket pictures. There are perch in the album somewhere.They should be on the first page.


http://s1206.photobu...!cpZZ4QQtppZZ16

[Stroover]

Sako, on 30 January 2012 - 07:58 PM, said:

Here's a link to my photobucket pictures. There are perch in the album somewhere.They should be on the first page.


http://s1206.photobu...!cpZZ4QQtppZZ16

Holy smokes!!! I didn't know they can get THAT big!!!

[ipop]

that`s a nice sink full of fish supper sako! yup, those are the size i was talking about....and then i couldn`t find them or get them to hook up again. now imagine flyakfisher that i had taken pictures of 2 that size from the kayak...and lost the pictures! ahhhhh!!! lol, that`s fishing. lol. the fight is very similar to a smallie.

[I Fish]

Some great photos on yout site Sako.Not just the perch either.Liked the deer,moose and turkey shots too.