ice fishing in NY need some help?
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my friends and i are big on fishing during the summer time. there is a resivoir right behind our houses so during the summer, we go fishing alot. the biggest fish i have seen get pulled out of there was about 2 feet bass. there are also a lot of carp. we want to try ice fishing. these are the fish that we catch in the summer, we go over to a big cove were there are many big and small fish
-carp
-bass
-pirch
-sunny’s
-and occasionaly pumpkinseeds
those are the fish that we catch in the summer. what one of these fish survives through the winter and during the winter do they move into deeper waters? or can we still catch them in the coves? our current set up for winter fishing is a sinker rig, with 1 hook about 1 foot above the sinking weight. on the hook we used tightly compressed bread balls to try and catch somthing. we didnt get anything yet. any tips on how to ice fish? and how is a fish’s living habitat changed during the cold months? thanks for all the help!
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Hey Greg,
Sounds like you’re headed out to have some fun. Let’s see if I can help.
I have never fished in New York, but I fish a ton in my home state of Idaho. Plenty of ice fishing opportunities here.
Are there any trout in the reservoir you fish? If so, you should try to catch them in winter instead of the other fish you mentioned cause they are better adapted for cold water. If not, your next best bet would be to try and catch the perch. However, I wouldn’t use bread balls like you mentioned. Instead try using a small jig tipped with a meal worm or part of an earthworm.
I’m not super familiar with carp, but I know the bass, sunfish, and pumpkinseeds will be difficult to catch in the winter. There’s a lake I fish around here that has trout, bass, crappie, and sunfish in it. You’ll catch a lot of bass, crappie, and sunfish during the summer, but in the winter you very rarely catch any of those. They are better adapted to warmer waters so in winter they get super sluggish and don’t feed actively.
Obviously they still have to eat occasionally to survive, but they won’t be active like trout will be in the winter. In general, cold water will make fish feed less and less aggressively. All those species of fish will survive over the winter as long as the lake is deep enough to keep from freezing solid or getting depleted of oxygen.
You’ll have to experiment fishing both deep and shallow areas of the lake until you can find the fish. Also, don’t always fish on the bottom. As winter wears on, the bottom layers in a lake get depleted of oxygen. Thus, the fish have to move up higher in the water column. Sometimes you’ll catch them just a foot or so beneath the ice.
So to summarize, I would focus on catching perch. I would also use a jig and meal worm combination instead of bread balls. A jig and meal worm will also work for bass and sunfish although I wouldn’t expect to catch too many of those over the winter.
Hope that helps!
try using some wax worms, or some minnows. in the winter, the fish lay low somewhat. they still have to eat, but they are not gorging like in the summer. that’s why “finesse” tactics work well!