Lessons learned during an excellent season for largemouth bass under ice

I't really wasn't my fish. My friend. and New York master guide, John Wainwright, picked the spot, set the tip-up (at least I drilled the hole) and when the flag popped, he noticed it first.

However, I was closer so he waved me over. I was happy to take control of the spinning spindle. The line was slanted hard to the side, sure sign that a fish had snatched the shiner and was moving off.

After lifting the tip-up I let the taut line run over my fingers, feeling the lively fish with my fingertips.

"How's it feel?" Wainwright asked.

"Not that big," I replied, letting the braided line slip through my fingers. I've watched many an ice-angler overreact as the line zips away. They try to stop the fish with a tighter grip, and the fish drops the bait. If a fish is running with a shiner, let it run.

Wainwright and I had been catching 2-pound largemouth in the 100-acre lake, and I was pretty sure this was more of the same. Bass don't dash nonstop like rainbow trout, and I waited for this fish to put on its own brakes. Then I took control, pulling the line in, slowly guiding the fish back towards the hole.

I was still thinking it wasn't that big when the head appeared under the rim of the ice hole, I hop scotched a step. It had to be 4 pounds, at least, and it looked to be well-hooked.

The largemouth took off. Once more I let line slip through my fingers, only this time maintaining some tension. When the fish stopped again, I again pulled in line. It was quite a fight, and there were a couple of anxious moments at the end when I couldn't get the big bass centered under the hole in the ice, a necessary position for lift-off.

When I finally got the fish turned around, Wainwright reached in and pulled it out with the speed of a heron spearing a bluegill. Turned out to be a 5-pounder,

the biggest largemouth I’d caught or seen caught all ice season—a season that had been excellent for largemouth bass in ponds and mid-size lakes.