61 replies to this topic

[I Fish]

Be appreciated if those living near ice fishing waters would post when there is safe ice. French/Maquapit/Indian/McAdam/North Lakes etc.. Saint John River,Kennebecasis. Thanks

[Stroover]

I doubt we'll be ice fishing before mid-January at the earliest, to be honest. It ain't lookin' too good!

[ipop]

we need some calm cold nights to build up some ice. we actually had a little a month ago, but it only lasted 2 days. i checked renforth wharf yesterday and there wasn`t even ice along the shore. i`ve actually been out ice fishing (!), er, a, smelt fishing to be more accurate (lol!!) from my kayak a couple times but nothing hitting so far. i had planned to try again today but the rain has me on the net...so far!

[pond jumper]

Im not worried, ive yet to not go fishing on the first day Jan1st) somewhere on the grand lake system, hen again im comfortable on ice that a lot of ppl wouldnt be caught dead even thinking about it.its usually mauqapit or Indian, they seem to freeeze the hardest first, and i know them both liuke tha back of my hand french is usually forzen also but i dont trust it as it has a lot of current and iffy areas that early . Last year was a close one, im expecting it to be the same this year, it only takes one good calm night to put that first layer on, once we get the first 2 inches we are set, ive seen maquapit freeze over enough to fish on in as little as 4-5 days, and the first week is always phenomenal..last year my brother and i fished new years day on maquapit on 4 inches of clear ice, what a day, i remember leaving because we had run out of minnows. Friend and i fished Indian one year on the 1st on 2.75-3 inches, water was coming out of the holes when we went for flags, that was slo a great day a lot of big pickerel

[A2F]

NO ICE YET !

[Joe Branscombe]

The upper end of Grand Lake was frozen yester day, not sure what it's like after today, but sounds good for ice on the weekend

[Stroover]

Hey ipop, I thought about doing that, but I doubt the smelt are running yet.

[I Fish]

looks like a solid week of good temperatures coming starting saturday.i think the lakes might be good by jan1 if we dont get rain again.

[ipop]

yup flyakfisher, no ice yet so we may as well kayak. it`s sort of fun using an icefishing rod in the yak. when the rod wasn`t in my hand i eventualy ended up with laying it over the paddle to allow the most flex in the rod (and best detect a bite). i`ll take my rod holder next time. i even used an anchor to keep me stable and in place for a while, which is a rare thing for me. i would have been out more often but the wind has been so bad there was no point. i tried a drift along the whole front of millidgeville but no luck. as you say, they weren`t here yet - maybe tommorrow?!

like pond jumper, i`m normally one of the first ones out. i have gotten into the habit of doing two things when checking the ice that i didn`t do before.
first, i wear my floater jacket. it acts as a life jacket and a great wind breaker at the same time.
second i have some one else on shore, or at least a long ways behind me.
these i have just been doing lately but i`ve been ice fishing as long as i can remember so there are some things i have always been doing. when ever i`m going across unknown ice or checking fresh ice, i test my way out and have a hatchet or axe besides the auger to check my way out, some times i will check it every 10 feet - better safe than sorry. if you are going across unknown ice without axes etc. carry a good size pole/stick with you - anything long and fairy strong will do. the idea is to carry it cross ways so if you go through you will not drop bellow the ice. this can also be handy if you step into some ones ice fishing hole. (some cold huh poco?!)

[I Fish]

looks like we lost some data so any updates on ice conditions would be appreciated.

[Stroover]

Cameron Rd. in Rothesay had 4" when I checked yesterday, and it had 3" the day before that. I imagine we'll be punching a few holes there and dropping a line or two by the weekend, but I doubt any shacks will be up there until a good two weeks for sure.

[A2F]

May take the ice cube tent out with dad Sat or sunday ! Any prawn around yet ? Usually late getting into stores ..

[pond jumper]

Fished twice thius past week, thursday i fished Maquapit and it had 8-9 inches, caught a few nice pickerel and a great bonus catch, last fish of the day was a 24 inch landlocked salmon, couldnt believe it! Girlfriend and I drove around on Saturday, went down to the sandpoint Rd didnt fish because it looked a bit iffy water showing through the snow but it always seems to be wet down there, went to Indian to look and there were a few guys out but since my gf just had surgery a few weeks ago she couldnt walk all the way out so we went to one of my spots on Maquapit

[BiPed]

An average of 4 to 8 inches of ice at the places I've fished,( Grand/Maquapit Lake thoroughfare, Hart's Lake). Still a lot of open water/wet spots near by. Have not been in more than 4 feet of water under the ice. Best so far 23" pickeral. Had a muskrat visit my hole for a breath of air, pretty cool.

[Nick fenn]

are there any lakes you can ice fish for Pickerel, Bass or trout that you dont need an Ice fishing license ?

[mark_laviii]

Nick fenn, on 10 January 2012 - 07:26 PM, said:

are there any lakes you can ice fish for Pickerel, Bass or trout that you dont need an Ice fishing license ?

Here is the link to DNR fishing http://www2.gnb.ca/c.../IceFishing.pdf

Designated Tidal Waters Open to Ice Fishing
Queens County
Coy Lake
Douglas Lake
Hart’s Lake
ashademoak Lake
rand Lake


Sunbury County
French Lake (Burton Parish)
French Lake (Sheffield Parish)
Indian Lake
Maquapit Lake
Grand Lake

[I Fish]

Hey Biped,what can you catch in the Grand Lake/Maquapit thouroughfare?.do you get to it by going down Scotchtown road?

[A2F]

Hey all , I got message this morning that there is 7 " of ice at dominion park . As of this morning !

[ipop]

nick, i thought you needed the provincial license for sport fishing in hard water season but i was wrong (and had some fun with editing this message, it crashed my computer). you are allowed to go for sport fish according to the latest ice fishing rules in designated tidal lakes. this is a little odd since the federal rules differ to the provincial rules for sport fishing with the exception of salmon. (ie:if you catch a trout in the bay, it counts against your provincial limit, and you have to have the provincial license to keep it) so this is a little odd (which actually isn`t that surprising for the ice fishing regs...lol!)
sorry about any confusion.

[Stroover]

Does anybody have any shacks out yet in Millidgeville or Renforth areas? None yet at Cameron Rd, but I suspect some of the smaller ones will go up by this weekend. There's probalby 6" there now. I'll check to be sure tomorrow after work and measure the thickness at Cameron Rd in Rothesay, weather permitting.