Spring Ice Fishing

Some days it's not just about the fishing, it's about the experience. At least that's what you tell yourself on days when you're not catching anything. Here in Nova Scotia there's a select few lakes open for a winter ice fishing season, most of these being stocked trout ponds or lakes open for pickerel and perch. This year has unfortunately given us the winter that will never end, which has resulted in good ice across the province and most lakes and rivers opening April 1st for all species, This left me with countless options for fishing on Good Friday, except for the issue of snow depth. 3 to 5 feet of snow still covers most of Central Nova Scotia, making it extremely difficult if not impossible to access any water not on a major road. A decision had to be made, lug gear a long way in to some decent trout lakes, hit some of my usual spots for pickerel, or try something completely different and hope for the best. I chose the last option, heading out to a lake I'd never fished before, hoping to find some native brook trout or some of the landlocked salmon rumoured to be roaming this lake. Getting into the lake was near impossible, the roadway was lined on both sides by 5 to 6 foot walls of snow. I ended up driving right past the access point I was looking for because I couldn't see it. I eventually found it by searching an address using Google maps on my phone, then following my phone back to the access point. Luckily, the 6 foot deep snow was solid enough to walk on, otherwise I was turning around and heading home. I hit the lake and decided to fish a range of depths right off the shoreline rather than hiking too far in the snow. I drilled a line of holes hitting 20, 40, 60, and 80 feet deep, the auger just barely punching through the snow pack and ice, that's 36" thick if anyone's counting. Jumping holes for a while I struggled to find any activity at any depth. I spent hours jigging baits off bottom, when finally a big mark came through at 20 feet over 40 feet of water. I brought my jigging rap up to the fish, and missed the first hit. Luckily he hit it again, but I set the hook like I was holding a spaghetti noodle, and eventually lost the fish before I could bring it out of the hole. 4 hours of fishing, finally get one hit, and I lose it, I wasn't pleased. I continued to hop holes, and was eventually rewarded with a fish in 20 feet of water, it too was suspended, this time at 14 feet. The fight from this fish was lame, but it made it easy to land my first ever landlocked salmon through the ice. This was my only fish on the day, but if you're going to work that hard for one fish it might as well be a species very few anglers get a shot at through the ice. It was safely released to hopefully make another angler's day when this ice finally melts. April 3rd in Nova Scotia: Deep snow, thick ice, sunshine and landlocked salmon. For just a little while I copletely forgot how much I hate this extra long winter.