Category Archives: Fishing

Near record bullhead caught by local 6 year older

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On Wednesday, February 20, six year old Nathan Luczynski, of Cheshire, was ice fishing on Cheshire Lake with his father Tim.  It was a cold and windy day and around 10 am a tip-up flag went up.  Tim was 80 – 90 yards away from it and Nathan responded to the flag.   Tim watched his young son pulling and pulling line for what seemed like 4 or 5 minutes.  He pulled in approximately 60 or 70 yards of line before he finally pulled the fish out of the hole.  At first, Tim was hoping that it was a big bass.  You can imagine his surprise when he discovered it was either a big bullhead or catfish.

 They brought the fish to the DFW Regional Headquarters in Dalton and two biologists confirmed that it was a brown bullhead.  It measured 23.2 inches long, with a girth of 14.7 inches and weighed 6 lbs 1 oz!  That fish weighed only 3 ounces shy of the Massachusetts state record.  To get an idea as to the rarity of catching a fish this size, an adult fisherman qualifies for a State bronze pin if a bullhead exceeds 2 lbs 0 oz.  In the youth category, the bullhead only has to be 1.0 lbs to get a pin. 

 I think Nathan and his family might be traveling down to the New England Fishing and Outdoor Expo at the DCU Center in Worcester next February to pick up a gold pin and trophy for that fish.  It is doubtful that a larger bullhead will be caught for some time.   Incidentally, the state record brown bullhead, which weighed 6 lbs 4 oz came out of Forest Lake in Methuen in 2008 and was caught by Roger Aziz, Jr. of Methuen. 

 Tim said that if the fish turned out to be a catfish, he was not going to mount it because they grow to good size.  But seeing that it was a potential award winner and very nearly a state record, he is having it mounted by Countryside Taxidermy in Cheshire.  He said that he purchased his shiners from JCB Live Bait also in Cheshire. *****

 According to club vice president Mark Jester, the 29th annual Lenox Sportsmen’s Club Rabbit Hunt was “tough going” this year.  Even though there was plenty of snow cover, it was a very hard crust with temperatures in the single digits early in the day and never getting above freezing.  There was only one cottontail weighed in and that was by 12 yr old club member Nick Puntin of Becket, and it weighed 3 lbs. Nick hunted with his Dad, Chris and Grandfather Bill.

 Seventeen brave hunters participated that day.  One hunter fell through some ice up to his waist crossing a swampy area and called it quits early.  However; he did make it to the club later for a warm and tasty venison goulash dinner.    ****

 The Stockbridge Sportsmen’s Club (SSC) is holding a game dinner this Saturday evening.  Social hour is from 6 to7 pm and dinner at 7.  The cost is $20 for adults and $10 for kids 10 years old and under.  For more information, contact Marc Fadding at (3)441-4249.

 Incidentally, the SSC is a very active club which is rapidly approaching 400 members.Its youth archery program is well underway and there are currently 76 kids signed up, ranging from 4-15 yrs old. Staying with the subject of young hunters, archers and anglers, did you pick up on the fact that   both Nathan Luczynski and Nick Putin shared their experiences with their dads?  I don’t know about you but I get a warm and fuzzy feeling about that.  And if the parents can’t get these kids out, it is nice to know that the local sportsmen‘s clubs are picking up the slack with archery programs, youth rifle leagues, fishing derbies, etc.  If for no other reason, I encourage you to join and/or support them. *****

 

 

Berkshire National Fish Hatchery, making a difference

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So, what’s happening at the Berkshire National Fish Hatchery (BNFH) in Hartsville, Ma these days?   Well, for starters, the hatchery is raising a few fingerling brook trout to be released in local waters and for its fishing derbies….. some 50,000 of them!   

It recently received 10,000 lake trout eggs of the Lake Champlain strain.  They will grow here in the Hatchery for a couple of years and then be transferred to the White River Hatchery in Vermont.  The date of transfer depends on when they can re-open that hatchery which, as you may recall, was devastated by Hurricane Irene.  There, they will be used as broodstock to produce eggs for all Vermont waters and will be used as a back-up egg source for the Great Lakes.

 In 2010, the Genoa National Fish Hatchery in Wisconsin shipped a batch of Klondike strain lake trout.  Now, approximately 20 inches in length, they will be kept for here for broodstock.  Later this year the BNFH is planning to receive another lot. It is necessary to vary the ages of  the lakers in order to have better genetic diversity and healthier fish. They will be maintained here providing eggs for 6 years and then be switched out for newer ones.

 Remember those lakers that were grown here and then sent to the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery in PA a couple of years ago?  Well, this year that hatchery produced approximately two million eggs from them.  Once hatched, the new fish will be kept there for about 1 1/2 years and then will be released into Lake Erie and Lake Ontario to restore populations.  The reason they spent a few years here in the BNFH was because lake trout require 6 years to produce eggs and the Allegheny hatchery was closed in 2007 due to disease issues and to do new construction.

So why are all of these lakers brought here in the Berkshires?  It’s because of the water.   It has been estimated that the hatchery aquifer goes a mile below the earth’s surface and the waters that come out of the ground have an average year round temperature of 46-47 degrees.  Brookies and lakers thrive in that cold water.

The USFWS has discontinued raising salmon for the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon restoration program and consequently the last group of salmon will be stocked from the hatchery this spring (More to come on this subject in a later column).   Henry Bouchard, USFWS Project Leader for the BNFH and Manager of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Fish Hatchery in Chittenden, VT, reported at the last Berkshire Hatchery Foundation meeting that the BNFH has been funded in the same amount as last year. This was possible partly because its excellent water, its involvement in the Great Lakes Initiative and because of the Berkshire Hatchery Foundation, a unique organization entirely supported by volunteers.

 The Foundation, made up of volunteers, is also busy these days.  Its Board is working on the 2013 trout stocking program which in 2012 provided fish for 25 public fishing events.  It is also excited about establishing a scholarship fund for aquaculture and environmental students in the Monument Mountain and/or Mount Everett High Schools. They are planning to present a scholarship to students graduating this June.  The size of the scholarship(s) will depend on how much the Foundation is able to raise. Donations to this fund can be sent to the Berkshire Hatchery, P.O. Box 84, Monterey, MA 01240, c/o George Emmons.

 So, as you can see, our little hatchery and the Foundation are making a difference,  in terms of propagating those lakers, providing trout for our young anglers and supporting students who may one day make a difference in the environmental or aquaculture field.   Certainly these are reasons for us to be proud of them. *****

 

 

She thought she caught an alligator

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Recently, six-year old Grace Ungewitter of Pittsfield was wrapping up a day of ice fishing with her dad Erick on Pontoosuc Lake.  As they were picking up their tip-ups, Erick noticed that one of them had spooled out and was shaking, but the flag had not gone up.    He asked Grace to pull it in.  When she tried, she noticed something heavy on the line and thought it was tangled up in the weeds.   The line was wiggling and Erick knew that there must have been a fish on the other end.  After a lengthy battle, Grace brought the fish near the hole where Erick could see that it was a large fish as it passed by. 

She pulled the fish up to the hole a second time and this time Erick grabbed the fish through the gill plate and pulled it out of the hole.  In doing so, a tooth must have caught him and he got a nasty cut.    Young Grace went running around shouting, “I caught an alligator!  I caught an alligator!”

The fish measured 34 ½ inches with a 16 inch girth and according to the Crea’s Bait Shop certified scales, it weighed 11 lbs 8 oz.   That is large enough to qualify Grace for a State bronze pin in the children’s category

 Erick said that, some ice fishermen came rushing over to them to see the big fish while others checked out his cut.  Later on that day, he tried to get into the hospital ER but it was full of people with bad colds and symptoms of the flu.  He went home and had his mother, who is a nurse, tend to it.

 Erick will have the fish mounted by friend Matt Ranzoni, of Lee.  It will be attached to a piece of driftwood and when the bronze pin arrives from the State, it also will be attached.    

 He fishes all the time with his girls.  His eight year old daughter, Leena, also has a nice fish to her credit, an 8 lb tiger muskie. *****

 In his last report to the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen, DFW Western District Manager Andrew Madden reported that the Division received 350 broodstock salmon ranging in size from 3 to 11 lbs from the Nashua National Fish Hatchery in Nashua, NH.   Our district’s allocation of 70 was stocked on January 30 into Windsor Pond and Laurel Lake. *****

 Gary Soucie, of Williamstown, internationally renowned flyfishing author and outstanding fly tyer will be the guest speaker at the Taconic Chapter Trout Unlimited monthly meeting at Zucco’s Family Restaurant, 451 Dalton Avenue, Pittsfield, this Thursday evening.  His presentation, which will be about emergers, will begin at 6:15pm and be followed by an Italian Buffet dinner around 7pm.  

 Some books written by Soucie include:  Hook, Line, & Sinker: The Complete Angler’s Guide to Terminal Tackle, Soucie’s Field Guide of Fishing Facts, Home Waters: A Fly-Fishing Anthology, Traveling With Fly Rod and Reel, Woolly Wisdom: Tying and Fishing Woolly Worms, Woolly Buggers, and Their Fish-Catching Kin.  He was also former editor or Assistant Editor for several fly fishing magazines. *****