Hey George. I attached a couple of pictures from the Berkshires on Monday. Still 20 inches of ice. Should be safe for a while. I managed to get a nice 34 inch, 10 pounder on one of the 8 inch dead shiners from my freezer. A new personal best for me. So it was a great day. Talk to ya later. –Steve

It seems the big pike bite turned on this weekend, some giant pike were caught. Unfortunately I missed out on that bite again. I still had some fun though, I got out on the ice with little Ian and Ray. I guess little Ian had so much fun with the perch last time he was anxious for more ice fishing. Kids going to grow up and be a fishing animal. Anyway me and Ray took him to another near by lake plug pond. Action was slow but we all managed to land some crappie. We got about 5 crappie total. Ian had fun icing his first crappie, I did too pulling one up on the jigging rod. We fished during a derby there were a million guys out on this heavily stocked pond and not a single salmon or trout was caught. The largest fish of the derby was a 4 pound plus Largemouth. Pretty sad results but still a fun day. Take a kid fishing!

Ok, here’s my first ever non fishing report (sort of) but figured some folks might enjoy reading it. Saturday I decided to give up a ice fishing road trip for pike and instead headed down to the Bears Den fly fishing show in Taunton MA. I did so for two reasons one to pick up some new flies for the upcoming season and the second and primary reason to meet the legend himself Larry Dahlberg. Before the popular cable shows “Hooked” or “River Monsters” Mr. Dahlberg had already been there and done that. Host and TV personality of my favorite fishing program “THE HUNT FOR BIG FISH”. From musky to peacock bass, tarpon and everything in-between. He’s traveled the globe and done it all and in my opinion is the ultimate big fish hunter & multi-species angler on television. I’m a big fan of the show and it is one of very few fishing programs I find entertaining or get into. The show targets big fish you’ve heard of, to exotic and strange fish most have never even seen or heard of. Which I find separates itself from the others shows. I’m just a local weekend angler and don’t mean to ruffle any feathers here, but I find most of the other fishing television hosts to be a bit tired and boring, week after week catching the same old tired species of fish or worse an infomercial masked as a fishing show. Understandably they all need a few sponsors to exist and pay some bills but then there is just plain selling out. You know the ones with all those patches on their shirts, making a big deal of catching 1 pound bass and every other word coming out of their mouth seems to be a product promotion. Those type of shows I find myself ignoring. Which I guess is why I’m such a fan of Mr. Dahlberg’s program because it’s different and refreshing. You never know what he will be chasing or what angling method he will be using during his pursuits. In my past I have ignored opportunities to meet other TV fishing personalities, simply because I’d rather be on the hard water than attend a show or my lack of interest. But in this case I made an exception and was glad I made the drive to meet Mr. Dahlberg. I’m not sure if my first impression on him came off a bit quirky or not but when I met him he was friendly, gracious, entertaining and a bit funny. I got to learn how to tie his classic fly the “Dahlberg Diver” by the man himself and during that demonstration he had mentioned that he had never written an article on how to tie his classic fly but that he had found and read articles on how his own fly should be tied, he then pointed out that they were all incorrectly written and the crowd, including myself got a chuckle out of it. It was a good time. Scott and the guys over at Bears Den did a great job organizing this free show. I also picked up some fly’s I look forward to testing out this spring on my favorite local waters. Next Saturday I hope to spend it outdoors though on the hard water, if it doesn’t melt with all the rain we have been getting lately that is. Tight Lines! 

CJ found our website and was kind enough to send us some pictures. He went for a walk down a Cape Cod pond and got into this beautiful and colorful winter brook trout. He’s also shared with us some great pictures of some of the landlocked salmon he has taken in seasons past. Great fish!

I went out to Lee again. The ice was 16 inches thick. Winter in the Berkshires is great. I did a little better than the last time. I managed to catch a 30 inch 6lbs 10oz Pike on a freshly killed 9 inch shiner. I am starting to become a believer in dead bait for Pike. Hopefully I will see some Pike in the teens or bigger this season. There is still time. Talk to ya later. -Steve

Well I finally got back out on the ice again. Saturday I originally wanted to target big pike in CT. A good friend of mine Ray though wanted to join me ice fishing but also take 6 year old Ian with us (his future step son). Ray wanted to stay a bit more local, near his fiancés house so he could take Ian and drop him off when he got to cold or bored. As anyone knows who’s ever fished for pike it can be real slow fishing, flagless days are not uncommon, especially when fishing large baits. It was little Ian's first time ice fishing and we wanted to take him somewhere were we had a shot at some numbers of fish, regardless of species. I couldn’t say no, so I postponed my pike hunt for another time. Kids get bored so easy and don’t care what kind of fish they catch. So me and Ray settled on a nearby lake that also happened to be stocked back in the fall with some brood stock salmon. So there was still a small chance at something big being caught. Little Ian was a trooper and stuck it out most of the day and kept busy scooping out holes and keeping them ice free, playing with the shiners and chasing yellow perch flags. The yellow perch kept us busy between all of us I lost count how many we caught. I had a couple of runs that took out some line but nobody home when I when for the hook sets. Ray had what was undoubtedly a salmon on that had the spool screaming but when he set the hook it came unbuttoned, better luck next time buddy. The spot we wanted to set up on was already taken when we got there and it gave up two salmon for one of the guys in that group. A 5 and 6 pounder, those guys seemed nice and were fun talking too. The spot where Ray had his screaming run was the spot closest to where they were set up. The salmon may not have co-operated for us but the yellow perch action was allot of fun and it was also a blast introducing the little guy to ice fishing. Tight Lines and Take a kid fishing! 

Happy New Year everyone. It's hard  to believe as I write this entry into this digital journal that it's 2010 already, time sure does fly by. This is my 3rd year sharing pics, stories, misspellings and improper grammar......LOL!  Well it was my first time out this new year ice fishing and a great beginning of another season. I wanted to target something big, so I debated between going after pike or (broodstock) Atlantic Salmon. I decided to chase the salmon and boy I’m glad I did. My friend Bill and Bert joined me. I set my 5 tip ups along with Bert's 5 tip ups. I rigged all the tilts with medium shiners, 3 feet under the ice. Some say these brood Atlantic's are not line shy but I believe sometimes they will drop the bait if they feel a steel leader attached to their morsel of food. Not wanting to take a risk and knowing big salmon are far and few. I spent the night before tying on some 10 lbmonofilament line leaders and experimented with down sizing my hooks to a size 8 (blood red). Without the fish feeling a bulkier hook my theory was it would be less likely to spit out the bait. I hoped that I would get the opportunity to test this very simple theory. After only 2 wind flags in about 3 hours of fishing I was starting to have my doubts. Finally another flag went up in a spot I had felt confident in and this time the spool was screaming line. I had planned on letting Bert take it but I warned him it was a real big salmon and that it would have to be played out carefully or the mono line would break or the hook would come unbuttoned and that he would not just be able to yank it out like the small bass and pickerel he's used to forcing up from the one other ice fishing trip he did years back. After hearing that and being inexperienced with ice fishing herelinquished the tip up back to me again. When I put the breaks on him I knew with certainty it was a good one. I played it for a bit and it made a handful of runs. Each time it got near the hole it would bolt again. Because the fish was making so many runs I had Bert still help out by holding up the trap to help keep the line from getting caught on any of the ice crevices. Bill filmed some of the battle and also helped undo a tangle on the spool right before the fish made another run. The head started to get near the hole again and I did not want to risk lifting the fish straight up and breaking the line so I gaffed the fish to get her out of the hole. These old retired broodstock fish are stocked for put and take and don't hold over for very long. I estimated the fish between 10-12 pounds. A couple hours after landing the fish I got her on a certified scale at a local bait shop and she officially weighed in at 10 lbs 5 ounces. She probably shed some ounces from just the blood alone she lost. She probably would have went 10 and a half pounds had she been weighed immediately after capture. Regardless the fish more than met the weight qualification for a state pin award. A great fish to start the new fishing season with. I hope to get a video up of this catch soon. Thanks again to Bill and Bert, not sure I would have landed it without your help guys. Can't wait to get back on the ice again, Tight Lines All!