CTFishTalk.com: Bantam Lake 02/02 - Connecticut Ice Fishing Reports ( CT Ice Fishing Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

I drove out to Bantam Lake just to check on the ice. I stopped by the Morris town boat launch ramp and, yeap, the "Residents Only" sign is still there:

The ice looked pretty good from the ramp. There was just a little bit of open water, and some cribbing between the shore and the ice, but it didn't look like the cribbing was even necessary:

I drove over to the canoe shed on the Camp Columbia State Park land in the southwest corner of the cove and got on the ice at 11:45 am. It looked like the edges had melted and broken, but refroze:

The ice was hard, dry and clear. While it was up to 5-1/2 inches thick in the shade of the south shore, it dropped to four inches as I headed north along the west shore to where water flows into the cove from No Mans Land Swam through a culvert under Bantam Lake Road. I set five traps along the shore in only four to 4-1/2 feet of water;

A guy in a passing car stopped to ask me about the ice. He said that he was surprised to see me on it, because the lake has open water further north. I drilled some holes toward the center of the cove and jigged my way out. The ice dropped to under four inches about 25 yards from the shore. I was jigging up the water column in about six feet of water when a 10 inch yellow perch rose up to check out my waxie baited Hali jig about two feet down. It gently grabbed the waxie off of the jig and slowly swam away. Crying or Very sad

There were two guys already on the ice when I arrived:

They had set their traps near the center of the south shore toward the Morris town beach. I walked over to talk with them. they had been on the ice since 8:00 am and told me that we were standing on only 2-1/2 to three inches of ice. Shocked

It was clear black ice but, yes, I got a little worried when they told me that! They said that they had been there a couple of weeks earlier on a similar thickness of ice. They missed a couple of flags, but got three small northern pike, I think. They said that big dead smelt sitting on the bottom seemed to be working the best.

Today, the air temperature was in the mid to upper 30s and the sky was totally overcast, but by the time that I got off of the ice at 2:15 pm, it had started to soften on top. The weather forecast for the next two days is for temperatures up to 41 degrees and full sun. I don't think that I'd want to be on it after today.
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SeaDog1 · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 2629

Hi Phil,

Very good report on ice thickness.

Yup! I concur with you -> with 2 upcoming days of sunshine and day temps hovering at 40 F what ice is now there will be a lot thinner.

SeaDog1

x182dan · Joined: 19 Mar 2009 Posts: 329 Location: Seymour, CT

Nice report on the ice, I would worry on 2.5 too. Does anyone fish winchester for pike since bantam is probably out of the question. Is it worth the ride there?

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Lake Winchester is worth the drive if you catch a big northern pike. They're in there. While kayak fishing there one day last Summer, I caught two that were each about 36 inches long. I got one topwater with a big buzzbait and one with a trolled crankbait. That was fun. I'd bet that the ice will be good there this weekend.
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Zjoe95 · Joined: 17 Jan 2014 Posts: 2

do u know how much ice is there now

SeaDog1 · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 2629