How to Catch Ice-Out Trout on Lakes and Ponds

A lovely wild Adirondack brook trout caught by Mike Valla while trolling along the shoreline. Photo: Mike Valla.

The end of winter is always an exciting time for fly fishers. It’s time to start dusting off the rods and prep for the early part of the season. It also happens to be a time when trout in lakes and ponds get very aggressive, leading to some fun opportunities.

Remote Waters

The Adirondack Mountains of New York feature many remote ponds that are locked up in ice all winter. When the water opens up, Mike Valla loves to hike into these ponds, and his motto is “The more remote the better.” He and his friends put all their camping and fishing gear in a pack, put their lightweight Hornbeck canoes on top and hike in 6 to 8 miles for a couple of days of fishing and camping. He notes that it can sometimes be a bit of a crapshoot; they have arrived to find that the pond or lake they intended to fish was still completely covered in ice. However, when they do find open water, the trout are hungry and willing to grab flies.

Valla uses a traditional Northeastern technique: trolling flies. While it is not for everyone, trolling from a canoe is a very effective way to cover water. Mike uses a 9-foot, 6-weight rod with a floating line and a sinking leader to keep the fly at the right level. Just 4 feet of 3X or 4X tippet does the trick for a leader. His preferred patterns are bucktail streamers like the Shushan Postmaster and the Southern Redbelly Dace in sizes 4 to 10, but the trout are usually none too fussy about fly choice. While trolling, Mike likes to maneuver his canoe in S curves along the edges of the lake or pond, which provides a speed up/slow down movement to the fly that is very enticing to fish. He focuses his attention on structure, such as rocks or deadfalls. Valla also likes to treat himself to a wild trout or two for dinner while camping. The remote ponds that he fishes see almost no pressure, and the occasional brookie for dinner won’t negatively impact the population.

Rowan Lytle cradles a reservoir brown trout that fell for a Muddler Minnow. Photo: Rowan Lytle

Another avid remote-pond angler is George Rogers, though he believes that it’s necessary to get to his favorite stillwaters right as the ice is disappearing. He finds that the trout stay in the shallows until the water temperature hits about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. George reserves trolling for “windy, sucky days,” preferring to cast to cover in the littoral zone of lakes and ponds using a 4- or 5-weight rod and an intermediate line. He casts small streamers, such as a Mickey Finn, Woolly Buggers, Muddler Minnows, or “anything with a cone head, really.” He likes to point out “wild brook trout in remote ponds are very accommodating.”

Reservoir Dogs

In his native Connecticut, guide Rowan Lytle focuses his attention on reservoirs that do not allow watercraft because they are sources of drinking water. He walks along the edge and looks for coves on the northern side of the lake, where the water will warm up faster. Timing is critical and there is a two- or three-week window of good fishing before the water warms, and the fish head to deeper parts of the reservoir. While making a back cast can be tricky for a walking angler, the drawdown that often happens in late winter often creates an open area for casting. Single-hand Spey casts also come in handy. Rowan uses a 5- or 6-weight rod with a floating line and unweighted flies. His fly box is filled with traditional streamers: Blacknose Dace, Edson Tigers, Magog Smelt and Muddler Minnows—all  in sizes 6 to 10—are his go-to fly choices.

Rowan looks for surface activity to tell him where to fish. Dimples, rises, wakes, and rolls reveal a fish’s location. He gets the fly out to them quickly because trout don’t linger long. Because these fish are less active this time of year, he uses slow and steady retrieves—a figure 8 or hand twist—to work the streamer in.

Rowan also has a unique technique that can elicit explosive takes from trout near ice edges: he casts a mouse pattern! He drops a Master Splinter onto the ice, skitters it to the edge, and then hops it into the water. He makes the fly go “plop, plop, plop” through the water with 2-inch strips. Sometimes the fish will gently sip the mouse in, but other times, they will create a hellacious splash as they torpedo the rodent. You have to land the fly gently on the ice because a hard landing can cause the fly to hook the ice itself. Rowan has caught brookies, browns, and rainbows with mice, but tiger trout seem to love it the most. It’s certainly not the most effective way to catch trout in the early season, but it is the most fun!

Safety First

A note of caution: Early-season fly fishing in ponds and lakes can be very productive, but it is also a dangerous time of year to be on the water because the water temperatures are dangerously low. Please use caution, pay close attention to the weather and water conditions, let someone know your plan, and always wear a personal flotation device.

Drew Price runs Master Class Angling, a guide service in northwestern Vermont, where he takes clients fishing for everything from smallmouth bass and pike to bowfin and carp. But he also loves chasing big trout and landlocked salmon in the rivers that flow into his beloved Lake Champlain.