Winter is trying to sneak back into the picture, but very slowly. Another super arctic cold blast is coming this week and into the weekend.
This should make more ice for the pond hockey tournament, but not much snow for the snowmobilers.
The Raquette Lake Fish and Game Club is having an ice fishing tournament this Saturday with registration beginning at 6 a.m. at the firehall on Route 28.
It goes until 3 p.m. for all weigh-ins. Prizes will be awarded to adults and juniors for the biggest down to third place for laketrout, salmon, brooktrout and perch species.
I got out the tip-ups this week for the first time this winter. My fishing partner Al Birchenough and his brother Dan fished with me on Limekiln Lake.
Al and I were all set up by 8 a.m. and his brother was in not far behind us.
The fish were biting but not taking the bait too well.
The day before, Sean Rice and his sons were fishing in the same spot and his son caught a 24-inch splake weighing five pounds on a jig pole.
That must have been a battle. Sean said he went down the hole an arm’s length a few times before pulling out the big fish.
We didn’t do that well but we took seven fish, the biggest being 16 inches.
Al also caught a couple perch so I had a nice splake and perch roe for supper that night. It was a nice day and we caught up on the summer’s fishing and the fall’s hunting tales.
Some fish were bigger than during the summer and some bucks had more points on their antlers than they did in the fall, but that’s what tales are for.
My duck count adventure on Lake Champlain started on Friday, December 17 as I looked for the snowy owl that was in the Westport area.
This bird had been seen around the Magic Triangle, a great birding spot both summer and winter.
Lake Shore Road is on the lake side of the triangle, Clark Road on the east and south and Cross Road on the north.
I went around the triangle once just before 3 p.m., the time when this bird has been mostly seen.
I expanded my search to Whallon’s Bay Road to the north on the second loop and saw a big red-tailed hawk, a herd of deer and a flock of turkeys.
Just before I got to the intersection of Clark, Cross and Whallon’s Bay Roads, there was Mister Owl sitting right in the top of a maple tree in someone’s yard.
I got some great photos, as did a couple from Vermont who pulled up just after I got there.
They said the bird was further down Whallon’s Bay Road and flew up to this perch just ahead of them. This was a new bird for me in Essex County.
Duck count on Saturday (1/18) started at daylight at the Essex Ferry where I met Tom Barber who came across on the ferry.
He said that not too many ducks were seen on the crossing and he wondered if the cold weather had driven them all south. We proved that wrong before the day was over.
We took a quick trip around the Magic Triangle on our way to Westport but didn’t see the owl.
We saw lots of other good birds including bluebirds, cedar waxwings, several robins, red-tailed hawk, juncos, cardinal, tree sparrows and a cock pheasant under a feeder, which was also a new bird for me in Essex County.
On the way to Westport we hit Whallons Bay where we had two bald eagles right off the bat.
They spooked lots of ducks from the water before we got to count them.
Several mallards, common mergansers, horned grebes and common goldeneyes were seen here out on the water.
At the Westport Boat Launch there were quite a few ducks and one lone crackling goose, a smaller form of Canada goose.
That’s the only one we got.
Lots of mallards and common mergansers, one single hooded merganser male (total three), greater scaup (total three) and quite a few buffleheads seen here plus a big flock of seagulls, mostly ring-billed, some herring and just a few greater black-backed.
From there we traveled north via the Northway to Keesville and from there to Port Kent.
The water was calm and from shore—as far as we could see with our scope—were ducks and more ducks.
I guess they hadn’t flown south after all.
We got over 3,000 ducks at this location, mostly common goldeneyes, common mergansers, mallards and more buffleheads.
We glassed the goldeneyes for a Barrow’s goldeneye but never saw one.
Normally with that many goldeneyes you can find a few just outside the big rafts of commons, but not today. We did get a few horned grebes (total 30) to add to our total there and one bald eagle.
On to Willsboro Point. The bay by the boat launch was frozen so no ducks there. Out along the lakeside of the point there were a few ducks but most were just off the ice in the bay. Lots of common goldeneyes, a few common mergansers (total 103), some red- breasted mergansers (total 15) which we normally only get one or two, sometimes none and some black ducks (total 5) and mallards.
Then we hit Noblewood Park just south of Willsboro where we got over 75 buffleheads (total 165) and more common goldeneyes (total 3,867) to add to the total.
Back to the Essex Ferry Dock to count the ducks there, mostly mallards (total 251) but there were a few lesser scaup (total 26) and some ring-necked ducks (total seven) there. Our total ducks for the day was 4,476.
There was a little time before the ferry came for a pick up so I said to Tom that it’s about time for the snowy owl to appear. We took a quick trip up the Whallon’s Bay Road and there was Mister Snowy Owl in a tree right beside the road. It wasn’t 500 feet from where he was the night before so Tom got a snowy owl for Essex County. What a great way to end a great birding day.
Watch the ice under the snow…it’s dangerous, but that’s another story. See ya.