Ice fishing eagles

ORRINGTON – Never! The children in the Fields Pond Audubon Center’s school vacation camp had never been ice fishing before. Many had never been out on a frozen lake before, and none had ever tried to drill a hole through ice before.

One other fisherman was out on Fields Pond the day we went, and he had left his fish out on the ice. Three eagles soared overhead and swooped down low over the fish. We all got a great look at two adult bald eagles (with white head and tail) and one juvenile (brown and white mottled).

It’s a gusher

Without an ice fishing shack to keep us warm, the adults and children had to get in the lee of the Fields Pond island and out of the northwest wind. We slipped and slid our way across the ice; then made our first hole.

The children took turns with a hand auger working to drill through 10 inches of ice. The hole progressed slowly. Every couple of inches, all students got involved and scooped out the ice shavings. We finally hit water, but hadn’t completely broken through.

Water bubbled up into the 8-inch hole amidst cries of “Water! We’ve hit water!” “It’s a gusher!” Once the hole was complete, one student was in charge of measuring the thickness of the ice, while another scooped the hole clean of ice chips and slush.

Flag!

Biologist Gordon Russell showed the students how to lower a sounder to the bottom to determine the depth of the water, and he baited the hook with a shiner. He explained that a predator fish such as a pickerel or a perch may grab the shiner and swim away with it but may not be hooked yet.

The students learned that they needed to be patient and watch as the line pulled out. As we finished baiting our fourth hole and were headed to the island for lunch, the first flag went up.

“Flag!” all 10 children chorused and ran to the hole to see if the line was going out.

The first two forays out to flags resulted in stolen bait, but eventually a nice fat yellow perch was pulled out of the dark hole. The children were thrilled! After posing for pictures with the children, the lucky perch was returned to Fields Pond where it would swim another day.

A pickerel was also caught, identified, photographed, and returned to the water. It was a great introduction to ice fishing for this group of curious, nature-loving children.

Send sightings, comments, or questions to fieldspond@maineaudubon.org