Good Morning - and what a morning it is!

Just beautiful here, blue sky and 36 degrees on the cold side of the house, and about 10 degrees warmer out of the sun on the sunny side. We're expecting a string of nice days until about Sunday.

Kevin Johnson just gave me an ice update - he and his kids, Conner and Kyle, went ice fishing yesterday and he said they measured the ice at 24" and 26" - depending on where they bored the holes. They caught a bundle of perch - he said they've been biting really well for the past week. That explains those fishermen we've seen daily near the big island. He says he uses an electric fillet knife so they end up boneless and they eat them fresh right away or freeze them in a freezer bag with water so they don't get freezer burn. Good tip, Kevin. Thanks.

Based on this late ice report from Kevin, we've lost around a foot of ice in a little over a week. This week of warm weather will take it down a few more inches, for sure. We aren't so sure what it will mean for our muddy roads, though.

Kevin also reported that a few years back he caught a 27" northern pike when ice fishing at the northeast end of Joe's Pond. Here's what he said:

I called Len Gerardi who is the Vt. fish & wildlife biologist to find out if the state was aware that Joe's had a northern pike population, he said no and wanted me to keep the fish so they could confirm that it was indeed a pike. He called me back a few weeks later and told me that I was correct - it was a pike. How it got here is anyone's guess but as a trout fisherman, it's not good news to me. They look just like a chain pickerel but grow much larger. They are a very aggressive warm water fish that can grow up to 20 lbs. and consume many smaller fish (up to 16" in length) including trout. I spoke with Len again to see if the state would consider stalking bigger rainbow and browns because of the presence of northern pike (I thought the pike may gorge themselves on many of the 8 to 10 inch trout that the state stocks each spring) but he didn't feel it was necessary. He said he didn't feel they would have much of an impact because they typically hang out in shallow water near weed beds. I have heard of other pike being caught in Joe's, so Len would like to know about any other pike that are caught so they can document them and determine how big the pike population actually is. Maybe I can get some information from the state that shows the differences between pike and pickerel so that it could be passed out at one of the meetings.

We hope everyone will be on the lookout for these and report to Kevin at his office, 748-3541, his home, 563-3187, or to Len Gerardi at Vt. Fish & Wildlife in St. Johnsbury, 751-0100.

See below for description of the northern pike.
Northern Pike

Here's a photo of a Chain Pickerel for comparison.

Chain Pickerel