Saturday, February 27, 2010

Primos Sonic Dome Triple Turkey Call Review

It’s a sure sign of spring fever when you buy a new turkey call in the middle of a winter storm. However, that’s just what I did this past week. I had a $10 gift card, and I used it to buy a new turkey mouth call. I guess I’m not the only one already looking forward to the spring turkey season because the sporting goods store has their full array of turkey hunting equipment on display.


I ended up buying picking out a Primos call called the Sonic Dome Triple. This is a triple reed call with a plastic dome on the top surface. The plastic dome helps the call to consistently fit in the roof of the mouth.

If you’ve ever tried a turkey mouth call before, you know that the triple reed design can be more difficult to use than other configurations. The trade off is that the triple reed is able to create a larger variety of sounds. The Primos Sonic Dome Triple is one of the easiest-to-use triple reed calls I’ve tried. The plastic feature works as advertised. It positions the call in your mouth, and is quite comfortable. With the call consistently positioned, it becomes easier to master the triple reed call.

The Primos Sonic Dome Triple can be purchased for under $10.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Bantam Lake Ice Fishing Derby -- February 14, 2010

Here is some information on an upcoming ice fishing derby.  I have attended this derby for the past few years.

Where: Bantam Lake, South Bay, Morris, CT
When: February 14, 2010
Time: 7:30 AM to 1 PM
How Much: $20 entry fee

Event to be held rain or shine.

Registration begins at 6:30 AM at the Morris Town Beach
Parking at state boat launch and Morris Town Beach
Route 109 to East Shore Road, Morris, CT

What could be a more romantic way to spend your Valentine's Day than ice fishing????

Monday, February 1, 2010

Ice Fishinig Hogsback Dam -- Hartland, CT

As I came to find out, Hogsback Dam on the Colebrook-Hartland line is also known as Goodwin Dam.  The back side of the dam is off Hogback Road in Hartland.  In past trips I've made to the dam, I've accessed if from Hogback Road and drove across the dam to the parking area.  This is not possible right now as the gate is locked preventing vehicle access to the dam.  For the purposes of ice fishing, it is better to park on the other side of the dam (Eno Hill Road to Durst Road).  This side has a parking area and better access to the ice, as I found out the hard way.  Because I was not sure how to get to this parking area, I ended up parking on the Hogback Road side, and having to walk across the dam.
There was about 8 inches of ice in the cove area just to the left of the Durst Road parking area.  Conditions were cold with a slight wind, but not uncomfortable with a bright winter sun out.  Further to the North there was actually open water.  I was surprised that there was not more ice, but 8 inches was more than enough.
Unfortunately, on this day the fishing was not very productive.  With 30 holes in the ice, our group managed to pull in only one fish.  It was a medium sized brown trout.  We were using medium minnows.  We spoke to another group and they did not have a single tip all day.  We moved to this location since the spot the group usually ice fishes has also been unproductive this year.  I might think it was something I was doing wrong, but with the whole group (as well as our neighboring group) having a slow day, I'll have to say it was just the conditions, and not the technique.