Here is a short movie of young brook trout before they were stocked on Kensico Reservoir last year. I know we always hear of brown and lake trout being caught on Kensico but given time we may have another species to target. I understand from a DEP connection that he's seen approx. 6-8" brook trout in the area they have been released the last few years. So they seem to have a chance to grow.

I just found out from one of our forum regulars about a petition to help support the DEP Police in trying to get equal benefits on their job. Frankly I was surprised that they don't have the same coverage for health insurance as other police officers. Please click the link to check it out. Signing the petition is up to you.

DEP Police Benefits Petition

Got out today despite the wind and cold on a local Westchester reservoir. I'll have more info in my forum report. Suffice it say we did fine and survived the weather. Here's my nice 4lb 8oz largemouth and Arthur's 3lb 6oz smallmouth.

Well for those of us who prefer the warmer weather, the ice has started melting away on most of the NYC reservoirs in our area. There's still spots with ice but the hope is that the rain and warmer days may clear things up by April 1st. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't get one of those late winter storms.

Now's the time to finish up all those off-season projects of organizing and maintaining your gear. Each year I think I'm getting better at formulating a plan and reorganizing my gear. As usual. I may revert to old habits a few weeks into the season but for now I'm much more organized.

Best to all as the new season gets closer. Be safe, have fun, let us know how you do out there.  Vinny

Here's a great link to the DEC page about ice fishing. There's also links and info about the regulations for each body of water.

Just uploaded a bunch of images from my last few years on the reservoirs. Enjoy them and let me know if something doesn't work with my new setup. The link is on the left side menu.

   Finally got a chance to sneak out and go fishing with my good buddy Dominic (Unionbass on the forums). Since we expected wind we decided on hitting Bog Brook. Some reservoirs, like Cross River, are just brutal when it's windy. It helps to share boats or have boats on different reservoirs to have that option.

   The temperature was in the high 60s with the water temps about the same. The water was calm with just a hint of fog at 7:00am. when we first launched we noticed a lot of baitfish breaking the surface and cast into those areas with crankbaits, small swimbaits, and topwater lures with no luck.

   Of course wherever we rowed the big fish breaking the surface were in the distance. I did see a wonderful site as a brown trout (I'm pretty sure) broke the surface and jumped fully out of the water. That would have made my day even if we didn't catch any fish.

   We did end up with a few nice largemouth bass in some of our regular spots. Dom was successful with his crawdad type jig and I did fine with my topwater Sammy. We got off of the water about 2:00pm when it started to drizzle so the weatherman was right for once and we got in a nice morning of fishing. Here's Dom and me with a couple of 2lbers...