Last trip on Newfound

[Reel Northern Bass]

Got out on Newfound yesterday for my last open water outing of 2018. Whole parking lot and ramp was covered in 1" of ice, so had to go back into town to get a ton of sand to cover the launch, but didn't have a problem loading in/out after that.

Water was a lovely 34-35 degrees. I've never fished this late before, and never in water this cold, so I went in guessing on pretty much everything I was doing. I did get down to the Cape last weekend and caught a few smallies, but the water was 40 degrees there. Used what I learned that day to guide me yesterday. Found a ton of bait fish and some bigger fish in 30-35 feet of water, didn't see anything out deeper or shallower. Checked around my usual go to spots, and a few new spots. Spent about 2 hours total scouring areas as deep as 70 feet too, but only near where we found bait fish. I have no idea if doing that was necessary of even worthwhile, but I was trying to be as thorough as possible. Not sure if we were actually on them and they just didn't want to bite, or if we were just marking trout. Fished for a total of 6 hours, and only had one lake trout to show for our efforts. Don't care one bit though, only the 3rd I've caught so it was fun to catch it.

It was beautiful out there though! Calm, almost no wind all day, and bluebird skies. Air temp was a bit chilly in the mid 20's so running was COLD, but it was fun. Usually calm, sunny days are not good weather for smallies in my experience, but don't know if it has the same negative impact for them this late in the year?

Didn't encounter any ice anywhere we ran. There was some small patches of floaters around the launch when we put in. Came back at noon to get some stuff from the truck and the whole area around the launch and out about 80 feet from it was iced back in, and up over 100 feet out by the time we left at 4:00.

Laker.jpg

EDIT: Ha, meant to post this in the NH forum, didn't mean to post this year after already basically posting the same info in the other thread. My bad.

[MacCTD]

That's pretty cool, looks like any ice will be melted today or tomorrow, hopefully you can get out again soon.

[Reel Northern Bass]

Today is the last day and I'm working, so won't be able to get out. It's a designated lake trout/salmon lake if memory serves correct, I'm pretty sure all 4 of the big lakes in the lakes region are. So you can only fish open water April 1 to December 31, then January 1 to March 31 you can only fish through the ice.

[FTMS]

So pull your boat up to some ice and punch a hole through it and fish.

[Capw]

After reading the first paragraph, my opinion is you went too far.

[Reel Northern Bass]

So pull your boat up to some ice and punch a hole through it and fish.

that would be awesome