Deep Water Ice Fishing
Nick Mattei’s first largemouth came from 15 or 20 feet of water, not very deep, but definitely not shallow. We did get one very deep on this outing, though, and have had them deep on other occasions, also.
Usually We Catch at Least Some Pickerel
No pickerel got caught on this outing among the three of us, when catching some is usual while ice fishing most New Jersey lakes. Pickerel do exist in numbers here at Round Valley Pond, but we caught largemouth bass, and one little yellow perch, instead. Oliver Round set some of his Jaw Jackers over very deep water of about 40 feet. I had mine in close from eight to 16 or 17 feet or so, but some of Nick’s tip-ups set over about 20 feet of water called on bass not pickerel. He ended up catching two bass and missing the hit from another fish he thinks was the same bass he ended up catching on a tip-up that sprang twice within 20 minutes or so.
Bass can be caught consistently here in depths as great as 25 feet—possibly deeper on a consistent basis, I don’t know—but I don’t believe that’s true for all lakes that have such depths. That largemouths can only sometimes be caught through the ice 40 feet down is substantiated by such depths getting fished regularly by Lake Hopatcong walleye fishermen who use shiner-baited tip-ups and Rapala Ice Jigs. I’ve never heard of a single largemouth getting caught by them, and the lake is full of bass. I haven’t seen anything online that suggests it happens, either.
A yellow perch from the depths.
We pulled our sleds all the way to the head of Round Valley Pond. Other guys fished the back end, which is nearest to the parking lot, and they caught both pickerel and bass, though few of them. I believe a perch also got caught up there. Oliver Round caught a perch on a Jaw Jacker where the shiner swam at bottom about 40 feet down. Catching nothing but bass and perch was welcome, but it felt a little odd, and it even made me appreciate pickerel more in their absence, though speaking for myself, I didn’t catch anything at all on this Tuesday outing.
According to a topographic map I’ve studied, depths reach 45 feet deep in Round Valley Pond. It took forever for Oliver’s shiner to reach the bottom about 40 feet under the ice, where the bass I photographed him with struck.
The Depths
Oliver had to leave a little earlier than Nick and I, but before he began gathering his Jaw Jackers, one of them sprang over very deep water of about 40 feet. I was glad Oliver set devices out there, because in any event, that gave me more evidence as I try to better understand largemouths and the depths during winter.
I’ve ice fished those 45- and 50-foot depths of Lake Hopatcong, but then I thought only of the walleye, and possibly hybrid stripers and musky. I never once considered largemouth bass. For all I really know, it’s possible largemouths don’t hole up in Lake Hopatcong because those other species force them out. Maybe the forage isn’t right. I’ve never believed largemouths to be big on eating alewife herring, and I bet that during winter, alewives swim too fast for largemouths to take chase.
On this recent outing, I hadn’t set any of my tip-ups deep, but it’s only because I’m a knucklehead. If anything, I had temporarily forgotten the pressing urgency of my quest to see if bass come from really deep and had simply put the tip-ups where I felt I had the best chance. I told Nick a week ago, when I caught a couple of pickerel, that I hoped we would catch bass on this next outing, as I need to know more about the bass for an article I want to write next year. The outing paid off in spades!
Four years ago, Oliver and I came here, and I got to try to set the hook on a fish that upset one of his Jaw Jackers over 25 feet of water. I felt the fish before it came off, good-sized, but of course, since I didn’t see it, I couldn’t rule out a catfish. The chances are almost certain, though—especially in light of these recent catches—that it was a bass.
I had the same article in mind. Four years is a short span of time.
And last year, Oliver and I ice fished here for one fish. A bass that Oliver reeled in from about 25 feet of water. The tendency is always to fish relative shallows, but we’re getting bass 20 feet down and deeper.
I don’t know how many bass hole up in 40 feet of water. Possibly Oliver’s bass from about that deep was a fluke, pun very much intended. After all, it’s another species you can catch in very shallow water as well as deep. And by the way, no one’s caught a pickerel ice fishing 40 feet deep that I’ve heard about.
Oliver Round and Nick Mattei talk about the nice one Nick jigged.
The nice bass that Nick Mattei jigged using the smallest size Rapala Ice Jig.
Deep Weedline Edge
I felt fascinated in the spot where Nick jigged, because he reeled in some weeds. I know of many lakes where the deep edge of the weedline is at least 20 feet, but I didn’t know that seems to be the case here at the Pond. The reservoir has clearer water, and weeds might grow deeper than 20 feet there, but the water here seems to be clear enough for weeds in depth of at least that much.
When he first came in contact with weeds, Nick said there might be some fish along the edge, and I took mental note of it. I think sometimes we take note of things and we think we’re doing that only prosaically, like, “Yeah, fish hang near weeds,” but we don’t believe anything will happen, or maybe we think we believe nothing will happen, while on a deeper level we’re part of the same environment the weeds—and the fish—inhabit, and we’ve been clued in.
Nick jigs with ultra-light rods about four-and-a-half feet each. Some fifteen minutes after he spoke of the evidence—the weeds—his rod was doubled over and he fought a nice fish. I did not want him to lose it, and I hunkered over the hole ready to—carefully—give whatever help I could. As it turned out, Nick lipped the bass with his thumb and forefinger. What a catch!