Archive for January, 2007
Posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Now that winter has become more ‘normal’ temperature-wise, opportunities for ice fishing have followed suit. Last week’s cold snap has certainly hardened up area lakes and ponds. Still, even though the cold has allowed ice to build, there are still a wide variety of conditions out there. Ice has thickened more slowly on lakes that had snow cover than those that were open water, since the snow acts as an insulating cover. I’ve heard of as much as a foot of ice on waters in the northern part of the region and as little as four inches in the central and southern areas. But I’ve also talked with anglers fishing on different parts of the same lake who’ve observed a wide range of ice thicknesses. Any where there is running water, such as inlets or outlets, will have far less ice than adjacent areas. These may transition from safe to unsafe conditions quickly, sometimes in as little as two or three feet in distance. Narrows and thoughfares remain unstable as far as ice conditions go, and will be that way all winter. So a continued word of caution to all: check ice conditions before you venture out on a water and keep on checking them as you move about on the ice.
This office has been pretty busy lately. The fact that ice fishing got off to a slow start has not affected other facets of the fish biology business. We have been hard at it; analyzing data collected last summer and fall, reviewing and editing regulations for the upcoming year, planning field evaluations for the upcoming summer, developing regulation changes for 2008 and filling out bait permits for a short list. We spend a lot of time responding to questions, comments and requests from you all. Then there are what seem to be the constant meetings, reports and memos. There seems to never be a dull moment.
Now that sleds are on the trails and shacks are appearing where substantial ice has formed, we are busy completing creel surveys on a number of waters throughout the region. By the looks of many of the waters I’ve been by lately, it appears that people are just starting to settle in for a winter of fishing. This fall, the region stocked over 51,000 fish in area waters. These fish are out there waiting for the skillful or lucky angler. To find out how many fish were planted and where, go to the Department’s website at www.maine.gov/ifw/pdf/fishstockingreport2006.pdf to plan your next trip.
Tags: Central Maine Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
The typical ice fishing season in Maine begins in earnest on New Year’s Day when the height of both angler use and fish catch are usually observed. Typically, angling for trout and salmon through the ice slows down by the end of January as the density of available fish declines and folks devote less of their time to fishing as the action slows. This is not a typical year! Because of delayed ice formation in southern Maine the fish density should still be very high for this time of year and we are hoping the end result will be an extension of good fishing for salmonids through February.
The first day of high angler use in southern Maine was a bright and sunny Sunday, January 28th. I visited Thomas Pond in Raymond, Keoka Lake in Waterford, and Hobbs Pond in Norway, and while the use on some of these ponds wouldn’t rival that of a typical January first, I did observe a good deal of angler activity. On Keoka Lake and Hobbs Pond I also observed better trout fishing than I would have expected for this time of year. Almost every party had trout on these ponds and some had great fish stories of broken leaders and big fish seen cruising past the hole. During one interview I had to tell one lucky guy on Hobbs about a flag that had popped up behind his back, a quick run and jerk on his part and he had a fat 13.5-inch brookie to complete his limit! Thomas Pond has yet to give up any salmon brood and has produced only a few brookies so I am hoping to see a couple great fishing days in the near future. Fisheries biologist Francis Brautigam visited Sand Pond in Baldwin, and the Clemmons Ponds in Hiram this past Saturday only to find few anglers and few brook trout.
One thing Francis and I found in common was observing thicker ice than we had anticipated. Even some of the smaller bays of Sebago Lake have buttoned up, for a while at least. The Big Bay of Sebago is still open and blustery winds threaten to break up what ice has formed. While the cold weather is slowly thickening the ice, folks are still over estimating the safety of southern Maine’s hard water and some are breaking through with larger machinery than augers. Test the ice wherever you go and if safety is in doubt, don’t chance it. Best of luck!
Tags: Southwestern Maine Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Friday, January 26th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Ice conditions around northern Maine lakes have improved in the last week with the return to normal winter weather. Up to 10 inches was measured at Long Lake on Friday, January 19. However, ice thickness is still highly variable with some areas on Long Lake as thin as 3 inches. Relatively thin ice and the additional weight of new snow has created slush conditions on all regional lakes from the Allagash Waterway to the Fish River Chain of lakes. Recent snow has greatly improved access trails particularly those passing through wood cover. Even though we are now experiencing cold weather, a thin layer of snow on the ice is an effective insulator so that formation of new ice will be slow. Extreme caution will be necessary for the remainder of the season.
Fishing was very good during the first week on the Fish River Chain. Opening day on Square, Cross, Long and Eagle Lakes is January 15th. Many 3.5-5.5 pound salmon were seen during the first week and on the first Saturday at Long Lake, we missed measuring a salmon that tipped the scale at 8 pounds 11 ounces; we’ve noticed that anglers catching large fish like this one leave the lake almost immediately to weigh their catch on a certified scale and call their taxidermist. Brook trout catches on regional lakes have been very good as well; we’ve measured many trout 2-3 pounds and observed one on Sunday that missed 4 pounds by a few ounces. Angler activity in the Allagash Region was lower than expected during the past weekend; the winter storm on Friday that ended up along Eastern Maine and the cold, blowing conditions on Saturday and Sunday kept anglers from heading into the backcountry.
Tags: Aroostook County Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Friday, January 26th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Ice fishing in the region is still significantly restricted by poor ice conditions. The average temperature in the Bangor area has been 7° above normal thru Jan 22 despite the recent cold spell when the nighttime temperature dropped to – 18° F on 2 consecutive nights. The snowstorm that dropped 5 to 8 inches of snow in the region occurred before the cold spell and served to help reduce ice formation during the cold spell that followed.
Pleasant Pond in Island Falls has had decent ice conditions and has supported a good, consistent fishery for nice salmon and trout. The large basin of Cold Stream Pond has some very thin ice a short distance from shore and angling activity is restricted to the upper basin and areas close to shore. Ice conditions on East Grand Lake are very poor with anglers fishing in only a few, carefully chosen locations. Many of the smaller lakes have sufficient ice but even on those lakes anglers must use extreme caution.
Ice fishing derbies have been postponed on two area lakes. The Cold Stream Pond derby scheduled for the weekend of January 13 has been rescheduled to February 9, 10, and 11 and the East grand Lake derby scheduled for the weekend of January 27 has been rescheduled to February 24 and 25. The Schoodic Lake derby scheduled for the weekend of February 17 has not been changed at this time. A few Northern pike have been caught from the illegal introduction in Pushaw Lake and Mud Pond in Old Town. Anglers who catch Northern pike are encouraged to keep the fish and report the catch to Department personnel working on the lake or to the IFW offices in Bangor or Enfield. Kids only ice fishing ponds; Jerry Pond in Millinocket, Little Round Pond in Lincoln and Pickerel Pond in T32MD (near Milford) have been very popular with young anglers and have produced many fine brook trout.
Tags: Penobscot Valley Fishing Report • Categories: General
Posted on Friday, January 26th, 2007 by Maine Sportsman
Ice conditions are improving, but not as fast as we would like. With last week’s cold weather ice thickness on our smaller ponds is likely over eight inches with as much as a foot in places. Despite last weeks cold temperatures anglers heading out onto larger lakes such as Sebec, Chamberlain, and Moosehead should still use caution.
In an attempt to get out and check anglers on Moosehead Lake this past weekend, I did venture out onto the southern part of the lake on Sunday. I only encountered 3 parties fishing and the folks I spoke to are still a bit reluctant to venture too far out onto the ice. In and around Greenville and Greenville Junction, the folks I spoke with said they had ice thickness ranging from 5 to 14 inches. The thickest ice is in East Cove inside of Mile Light, which has been buttoned up for about a month. At the Public Landing in Rockwood I spoke to a couple of parties that were fishing approximately 100 yards off shore and they had 4 to 8 inches of ice. One good thing is that this latest snowstorm didn’t drop the large amount of snow that was earlier forecasted and the strong northwest wind we had on Saturday and Sunday swept a lot of the snow to shore, so there isn’t a thick blanket of snow to insulate what ice we have. Lets hope for continued cold temperatures to help increase ice cover on these larger lakes.
We have been checking Chamberlain Lake, Telos Lake, and Round Pond this winter and have been finding that the few parties that we have interviewed were experiencing some nice catches of lake trout and brook trout. Traveling on and around the lake has slowly improved so that the guys were able to get around the lake safely. However, anglers going there for the first time still should use caution. In conducting our creel census work at Chamberlain, there has been a report of one of our radio tagged brook trout being caught. Upon catching the trout the angler noticed the external antenna and we are grateful to report that this fish was released and will continue to provide us with some very valuable information about brook trout in this system. We would continue to encourage anglers to release any tagged trout that they may encounter within the Chamberlain Lake System.
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Tags: Moosehead Region Fishing Report • Categories: General
