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A 25-Pound Striper Through the Ice on Martha’s Vineyard

A 25-Pound Striper Through the Ice on Martha’s Vineyard
striper through the ice on Martha's Vineyard
Matt Strem admires his prized catch—a 25-pound striper through the ice on Martha’s Vineyard. (Photo by Seamus McKeon)

Saturday, January 25th, was a windy, overcast, and mild day on Martha’s Vineyard—at least by this winter’s frigid standards. Conditions were prime for ice fishing on one of the island’s many freshwater ponds, so Matt Strem—joined by his two buddies Seamus and Cameron—hit the hard water in pursuit of pickerel, panfish, and bass. Strem, who has seen 26-inch pickerel and some quality largemouth come through the ice on this pond, certainly did not anticipate hooking a bass of the seven-striped variety.

Matt Strem’s ice fishing career started 5 or 6 years ago, but he never enjoyed using standard traps for fish like walleye, pike, and lake trout. “I’d much rather fight a fish on rod and reel than by hand-lining,” said Strem, who ventures off-island to pursue the aforementioned game fish. Instead of traps, he builds his own rods which are set on tip-ups so he can sense every thrash and head shake of his quarry. “The tip-up is designed so when a fish takes the bait, the flag pops up and line on the spinning reel goes out,” he continued. And boy, did the line go out when his live, 3-inch shiner was taken by this feisty striper.

striper through the ice on Martha's Vineyard
Although it was built to handle bass and pickerel, Matt Strem’s custom ice fishing rod was able to subdue a 25-pound striped bass.

“The flag went up and we saw the rod bouncing violently—the fish took maybe 100 yards of 10-pound braid off the Shimano Nexave before we put the brakes on her,” Strem said. “To be honest, I thought for sure we had hooked an otter.” That’s when he felt the unmistakable head shakes of a striped bass pulsing through his custom rod. Strem added that stripers are known to winter over on the Vineyard, and though it’s a rare occurrence, they’ll follow schools of baitfish into this freshwater zone. Needless to say, he felt slightly undergunned for the task. Luckily, the 20-pound-test fluorocarbon leader was able to withstand this fish’s pulling strength.

“We hooked her around 3:58 p.m. and the fight lasted around 12 minutes. By 4:11 p.m. we had her on the ice,” Strem said. But landing this fish was not a simple one-man job. As it approached the hole, the trio got a glimpse of her size. “There was about 3 1/2-inches of pure, clear black ice, so it was like looking through a glass window,” he said. “She had a thin back and was lacking the shoulders you see on larger stripers, so we didn’t think the fish was very big until she turned broad side and revealed her girth. Then we started to worry that she wouldn’t fit through the 8- to 9-inch hole.” Acting fast, his friend Cameron got a good hold on the bass while Strem fumbled for his fish grips. To their surprise, she slid through the hole and onto the ice with relative ease.

Strem’s adrenaline was running high, but keeping the fish in good condition for a healthy release was paramount. “We held her in the water for about 5 minutes so she could regain her strength, then we pulled her out for 15 to 20 seconds for measurements, returned her to the water for a few more minutes, and took her out again to snap a few quick pictures,” he continued. Like a good omen from the fishing gods, the clouds—which had blanketed the winter sky all day—disappeared as the setting sun peeked over the horizon, providing just enough light for a spectacular photo op.

While Strem handled the fish and kept her in the water, Cameron and Seamus augered a few slightly larger holes in the ice. “We wanted to make sure we had a big enough hole to release her without getting ice and snow in her gills or mouth,” Strem said. For almost 5 minutes, he sat and revived the fish to ensure she had all her strength back. “She tried to shake free once or twice, but I waited for her to kick off strong because I would have been devastated watching her go belly up under the ice. We really took our time.”

With a whack of her broom tail, the 25-pound and nearly-40-inch striper took off, leaving Strem with a grin that I could still sense on his face as he recounted the catch on our phone call four days later. “I don’t really smile in pictures,” Strem chuckled, “so you can tell from the photos Seamus took that this fish was a big deal to me.”

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Source: https://onthewater.com/a-25-pound-striper-through-the-ice-on-marthas-vineyard

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