It was a “bucket list” dream for Luke Howard to catch a big striper through the ice.
He’d caught some northern pike to 21 pounds through the ice. But brackish water striper spots near his Rhode Island home rarely freeze.
“I love ice fishing and never thought I’d have a chance at catching a heavy striper until this cold winter year,” Howard told Wired2Fish. “I have some old friends who found a spot where there are stripers and they’d caught a couple nice fish through the ice in the two weeks before I caught mine.”
A Slow Start
Howard finally got his chance at a heavy lineside fish on Feb. 16. It was President’s Day, so he had the day off from his quality-manager job in a machine shop. He and four buddies headed to a striper-rich tidal area near the Rhode Island coast that Howard vows to keep secret.
“We got there early and placed tip-ups around the nine-inch-thick ice using sonar to show the place was loaded with good stripers,” said the 50-year old angler from Chepachet, R.I. “I had a live four-inch shiner on a 3/0 Gamakatsu circle hook barbed through the back. We were in 30 feet of water, but the fish were just below the ice suspended near the surface.”
It shocked Howard and his pals that there were so many big stripers — and that they were so close to the surface. But the fish were finicky about feeding, as the only fish they caught all day was the one that took Howard’s shiner and ripped heavy braided line off his tip-up reel.
“The tip-up flag went up and I got to it fast,” he said. “Line was ripping off the reel like I’ve never seen before. The first of several runs it made was at least 100 yards. I’d haul on the line to get braid back, then the fish would run again, and again.”
The Day Off Pays Off
After several runs, Howard got the striper near his ice hole, but it took time to get the fish vertical with its nose facing up so a buddy could reach deep down through nine inches of ice to grab it.
“The fish barely fit through the hole, but we got it up, made a few photos, measured it, and then quickly released it back into the water below the ice,” explained the dedicated coastal surf angler with 50-pound stripers to his credit. “We measured it at 38 inches and figured it weighed between 17 and 20 pounds. We didn’t want to keep it out of the water long so we could release it alive properly.”
Howard is considering a replica mount but hasn’t decided yet.
“My whole life I’ve wanted to catch a striper through the ice,” he added. “It’s not easy to do. That’s the only fish we caught all day – for five guys. You got to be dedicated to ice fishing for big stripers if you want to succeed.”
Howard continued: “I guess that’s why I have people wanting to pay me to show them where and how I’m fishing. But that’s not going to happen.”
