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Ice Fishing in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom - It’s More than about Catching Fish

By Scott Wheeler

In the early days of the fishing season when there are only a few inches of ice, most fishermen rely on hand-powered augers to drill through the ice, but later in the season ice is known to drop to more than three feet thick. Many modern day ice fishermen turn to their trusty, gas powered augers. Readers should note that the mountains in the background (above photo) are in Quebec.
While some people who call Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom home try everything possible to stay out of the arctic weather, there are others among us who face the region’s sometimes-brutal weather head on. Ice fishermen are some of the hardiest breed of people. For most of them, ice fishing is more than about catching fish, it’s a bond that ties friends and families - a tradition passed down from one generation to another, many who have ties to the region’s early Native Americans who also used the bounty of the waters to survive the long, cold winters.

Ice Fishing in Vermont’s Northeast KingdomPhoto right - There is nothing like a fresh catch of lake perch to feed one’s hunger   

Ice Fishing in Vermont’s Northeast KingdomEach year, ice fishermen begin taking to the ice soon after the first cold snap puts a thin layer of ice over the region’s lakes and ponds (although it’s best to wait until there is several inches of ice before heading out). They go in search of anything from tiny, silvery smelt to 20-plus pound lake trout. These men and women laugh in the face of some of the severest winter weather the region can dish out. Sometimes faced with high winds and blinding snow, and temperatures that are known to drop to 40 degrees below zero, fishermen have their own strategies to stay warm,
strategies that they happily share with people new to the pastime.

Photo left - Dressed for winter survival, Scott Wheeler of Derby, Vermont, enjoys a fishing trip on Lake Memphremagog.
The lake stretches about 30 miles from Newport, Vermont to Magog, Quebec. Not every day is brutal on the ice. There is nothing like walking a mile or more onto a frozen body of water in the hours before the first rays of sun light peak up over the rolling Green Mountains. At daybreak on a crisp, clear morning, fishermen are treated to sunrises like nowhere else in the Kingdom. No number of fish is more valuable than those first early morning rays. The author of the article, Scott Wheeler of Derby, Vermont, is the author of Rumrunners and Revenuers: Prohibition in Vermont. He is also the publisher of Vermont’s Northland Journal. In addition, he has spent his entire life fishing the lakes and streams of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.