With warm weather reaching the province this week it's safe to say that ice fishing is over for the year. However the winter trouting season is still open until April 15th so I changed up tackle, trading ice fishing lines for rod & reel, loaded up Project Foreman and headed out the highway for another day trouting!

I decided to head out near Whitbourne, an area we didn't get to ice fish this year due to poor ice conditions. I was banking on poor winter conditions would mean a lot of open water today especially after a week of warm weather and rain.  

I kept my studded tires on the bike as trails are often very slick this time of year, however I was really surprised at the lack of snow left out here compared to the city.

I was a couple days early for some of the ponds, including the pond by Sooley's Cabin which was well frozen around the edges and still just barely caught over in the middle.

However, with a lot of running water in this area I knew where to find plenty of open water to cast a line. I still had to pick my spots to work around remaining ice but overall it wasn't bad.

A lot of the ponds were literally half frozen. I enjoyed listening to the ripples on the water relentlessly eroding the fragile skim of remaining ice as I cast my line.

Another sure sign of Spring is Ducks in the air, and today there were plenty!

Lunch today was unusually (for me) very simple and uncomplicated. I heated up a tin of stew and had a couple of sandwiches from Monty's in Whitbourne which made for a quick and easy feed.

Although trout were not super plentiful today, I was not skunked and enjoyed another awesome day in the woods.

Cheers, MIKE

Copyright © 2011 Michael Smith