Big Largemouth From NY Through the Ice-Found Old Picture

[primetime]

I was cleaning an old computer when I found an old picture of a Big NY Upstate Winter Bass through the Ice. My Brother and I used to fish a lake near his house which was pretty big and if you fished it in the spring through fall, you would each catch Stunted bass on almost every cast. We used to assume that all the fish were stunted in the lake with an occasional 2lber but my brother discovered that targeting them through the Ice in the part of the lake choked out with Hydrilla so thick that you really couldn't fish most of it (This is before Braid & b4 we knew about Hollow frogs etc.)

 

I forget how much this fish weighed, we used to call everything over 21-22" 5-6lbs and I kind of think this fish was 23" since that was a really good quality bass in upstate NY and in this lake, you could literally catch 5-6 Bass over 21" in a solid day of Ice Fishing. This Fish barely fit through the hole and I believe it was caught on a small Road Runner or small Jigging Spoon (We used to use a Hopkins spoon) We only caught the big fish in the deep areas over 15' in the areas that you could not fish during the year.

 

I guess the lesson of my story is if weeds are too thick they can cause bass to be stunted which I have seen in ponds, but if you have a lake where you only catch small bass, try fishing it through the ice. Live Minnows will also speed up the process & it makes the cold not seem so bad.

 

Here is the picture of my brother with one of the biggest through the Ice and this was Mid Winter with thick ice. Bass eat in the cold, especially the bigger ones, you rarely would catch the dinks in winter which still seems strange to me.

 

 

[jr231]

Score one for the Yanks ! 

[soflabasser]

Nice bass thank you for posting it.Hard to tell from a picture,but it looks to be in the high 6/low 7 pound range,which makes it a lunker anywhere you fish.

[fishballer06]

It's shocking to see a bass through the ice be that dark in color. Normally they turn white during the icy winter months.

 

Very nice fish!

[A-Jay]

Nice Bass ~

And Ball Cap & Shirt Sleeves on the ice ~

Good Times.

A-Jay

[J Francho]

What lake is it?  Nice fish!

[Paul Roberts]

This is not an uncommon story. Big bass "findable" during the coldwater season. And... big bass and stunts together.