ICE FISHING GETS HOT IN VERMONT
Feb 15, 2004
WATERBURY, VT – Vermont’s ice fishing is heating up.
It’s that time of year – the days are getting longer
and warmer – and the fish are biting better than ever!
Where is the action? Lake Champlain along the state’s
western border at over 100 miles long is ranked highly because
of the quality and variety of fish you can catch including landlocked
salmon, lake trout, brown trout, northern pike, yellow perch,
white perch, walleye, crappie, and smelt. Nearly the entire lake
is now frozen over and accessible to anglers due to extreme cold
weather and minimal snowfall in January.
Northern pike hotspots include Lake Champlain’s
Kelley Bay, Missisquoi Bay, Dillenbeck Bay, Carry Bay, Keeler
Bay, St. Albans Bay, and the main lake south of the Champlain
Bridge from Addison to Ticonderoga, New York.
Landlocked salmon, yellow perch and smelt are likely
to be caught north of the Sandbar Causeway between Milton and
South Hero, while the shallow flats south of the causeway are
producing northern pike.
Lake trout fishing is in full swing off the west
shore of Grand Isle and also in Converse Bay and Button Bay south
to the Champlain Bridge.
Yellow perch are being caught throughout Lake Champlain
in any of the bays and in the shallows as well as on most other
Vermont waters. Shelburne Bay and the St. Albans area of the Inland
Sea are among the notable hotspots.
While walleyes can show up anywhere in Lake Champlain,
the most consistent winter action can be found in the southern
end of the lake off Benson and Orwell.
Some of the other Vermont lakes that produce great
ice fishing action are Lake Carmi, Lake Memphremagog, Salem Lake,
Lake Willoughby, Echo Lake, Caspian Lake, Lake Bomoseen, Lake
Hortonia, and Lake St. Catherine.
Lake trout hotspots include Lake Willoughby, Caspian
Lake and Seymour Lake.
For more information, contact the Vermont Fish &
Wildlife Department, 103 South Main Street, Waterbury, VT 05671-0501.
Telephone 802-241-3700 and
email: fwinformation@anr.state.vt.us.
Ask for a Digest of Hunting, Fishing & Trapping Laws and a
Fishing Guide Map.
To locate places to stay, buy bait and rent ice
fishing shanties, go to the Vermont Outdoor Guides Association
website (www.voga.org)
and click on “ice fishing.”
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