Wind whips across the ice on the Oxbow in Northampton. Under a bright, cold sun, shadowy figures
stand against a stark panorama of frozen river, snow-decked mountains, and frosted gray sky. It’s 25 degrees.
Viktor Biley, 17, is rubbing his bare hands together. It’s the first time this winter that he’s come to ice fish on the Oxbow.
“Even when it’s windy,” he says, “it’s not all that bad — as long as you’re catching fish.”
Today, Viktor is one of about a dozen ice fisherman, far apart, each in their own, slow circle around this quiet extension of the Connecticut River. They walk, stop when they’ve found a feel-good spot, drill and drop line.
Viktor adjusts his stance. His boots crunch in the ice. The line from his rod disappears through a six-inch borehole into the dark-green water. It’s been an hour, and he’s still waiting for his first catch.
Fish are less likely to bite on sunny days like this, he says. Even through ice, sunlight pierces the water, driving the fish deeper into the river. Changes in wind and barometric pressure also affect where they swim.
About 10 yards away, his friend, 22-year-old Ilya Okhrimenkl scores a crappie, a member of the sunfish family. Ilya had been waiting for a string of three or four days of subzero temperatures before heading out on the ice. “That’s when you know the ice is thick enough to go out on,” he says. But he got tired of waiting.
He lays the rainbow-streaked fish on the ice next to a small plastic box. The display on it looks like a Texas Instruments scientific calculator. It’s called a fishfinder, Ilya says, pulling up a wet line with a weight, about the size of a Hershey’s Kiss, on the end. The device sends soft, high-pitched clicks through the water. “It’s basically sonar,” he says. But the fishfinder isn’t picking up on much today.
The wind will send the friends packing in an hour or two, Viktor says. “But when it’s really warm out, and you’re just wearing a hoodie, catching fish after fish … that’s when it’s really a lot of fun.”•
On Jan. 31, from sunrise until 2 p.m., the South Hadley Sporting Club will host their annual ice fishing derby at the Oxbow. Cash prizes will be awarded for the heaviest fish in each category: pike, perch, bass, pickerel, calico, and bullhead. For more information, check out the club’s Facebook page.
