Band Of Brothers

What is a band of brothers ?
A family unit made up of genetically similar male offspring ?
A platoon of soldiers heading off to battle together ?

Last weekend I had the chance to meet a band of brothers. Men that travel from far and wide to join Old Wilkie on the ice. I had received an invite and was sure not to be late.

13 Days Deep

A number of fine characters have ventured onto the ice in 2014 battling temps as low as -23F, snow, rain and winds over 40 mph; I've enjoyed them all.  Good days of fishing have outnumbered the slow ones but I continue to remind myself that they're all good days.  Here is your 2014 Pike sampler.

Mark-12lbs

River - Feeding the eagles

Chris - 13.5lbs

Jay -17.5lbs (First Pike)

Silas - 11.5lbs (First Pike) Had a complete leader rig in it's mouth from one of my traps earlier in the season

18.5lbs

Norm - 14lbs (First Pike)

20lbs - 41.5"

All were released.....

Lets hope they keep creeping up as the weeks continue; looking forward to getting on the ice with many of you in the near future.  Keep on slaying!

northerns

i spent a couple days down colorado way,
looking for northern pike.
'northerns,' some call them.

 

when i hooked one, it was exactly like he said it could be.

then right after that, it was not like i thought it was going to be, because i hadn't thought about what it was going to be like.

we fished til dark, til it got cold.

when you've been casting for ten hours straight,

sometimes it's hard to stop.

thanks mark.

Jasper's Cup Runneth Over

January ushers in a new year of exhausting efforts to pin down a few personal bests.  You work all week, you're beat down, Saturday morning you're up at 3 am, Sunday morning you're up at 4 am and Monday you're back to work.  Press replay, it's Saturday again, you haven't caught up on sleep a bit but you dig deep, wet the lines and hate yourself for the first three hours of the day.  It's 2013, I'm 32 and while I may feel it more than I did at 21, I still haven't learned my lesson. 

There is a man from Newburgh, ME that has come down with the Pike fever; whether iced over or stacked up with white caps, he forges forth on Pike waters seeking the toothy beasts.  Saturday has become our day over the past two seasons to break bread on the ice and his numbers are headed in the right direction.

2nd Personal Best of the Season:

18lbs & 41" That'll Do



Each of his personal bests have been by 5 lbs this season.  It all began with a 13lb fish earlier in the season which wiped the floor on an 8lb fish from last season.  Yet here we stand with an 18lb fish, 5 lbs larger yet again.  23lbs next?

When a fish of this magnitude hits the ice, you enjoy an old Maine favorite.

You proceed to bleed profusely (wouldn't stop) from the encounter with the 18lb beast.

Then you ice the cake with a 15.5lb 36" fish

Serious numbers were put up this weekend, with many fish over 11lbs coming to hand.  After a day of guiding yesterday we stand at 227lbs landed and released.  This is an increase of 176lbs over the same amount of days on the ice last season....loving every exhausting minute of it.

It's getting to be about that time

Fly ideas gentlemen?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_E4BUt1z8Y&feature=related

2012 Ice Fishing Recap

I spent 28 days on the ice this past season. Some were partial days but the majority were weekends, snowdays from work, and guiding gigs. The large majority of the outings were spent chasing a record, a record will always inspire a fisherman to carry on.

It was a season of highs and lows, multiple ice shack moves, and an attempt to stay one step ahead of the fish in a warm winter on the ice.

There were several folks who joined me this season who landed their first Pike, and there were personal bests set on more than one occaison in 2012. High fives, fist bumps, breakfast sandwiches, and whiskey were all shared during a season that had it all.

For the first time in a decade we recorded over 300lbs of Northern Pike brought to the ice, with fish ranging from 3 lbs to 23.5 lbs. All were released; the following is a highlight reel recapping the 2012 ice fishing season.

On the Ice Again

Similar to Wilkie and the Breakfast Sandwich, comes the paradox of which came first: booze or ice fishing? All that is really known is that one could not survive with out the other, or at least neither could exist independently at the level the achieve when they are combined. I say this because our presence on the ice this paticular Saturday morning (25Feb2012) was met by 3 handles of Alan's Coffee Brandy, 1 handle of Crown Royal, 1 handle of Jim Bean, 1 handle of Hornitos, 1 handle of Dr. Mcgillicuddy's, and 1 handle of Old Gran Dad. That comes down to a handle a person (granted no all were full handles but you get the picture). Oh yeah, along with 2 full 30 racks and a loose 24 pack thanks to Jasper. It was going to be a good day.

Special thanks to the man in the green plaid jacket: Old Man Ice Water. We simply could not do it with out you.

The last 30 days of fishing in Maine

Mr Wilkie put me on my first pike

I learned to fish for beaver

I fished many rods and multiple flies to no avail

I drove 5.5 hours to fish the Canadian border in -15 degree weather to catch small , freshly stocked salmon

I found a scrap of cloth with chinese characters on it and tied it to my coat, hoping for asian luck...none arrived

Steaming breakfast sandwiches were consumed