Southwestern Maine Fishing Report: January 24, 2008

This ice-fishing season I have been assigned to do my weekly creel census rounds on Keoka Lake in Waterford, Keewaydin Lake in Stoneham and Bear Pond in Waterford.

Keoka Lake has consistently produced good catches of 12- to 15-inch stocked brook trout with the occasional brood stock in the mix. Some angling parties have caught as many as 20 of these fish in a morning and a large party on Sunday, Jan. 13, managed 13. All I can say about these hatchery products is WOW! The anglers I have spoken to can’t get over the colors and depth of these brookies, and rumor has it that some of these are going to be mounted. I also happy to report that the 120 fall yearling (12- to 14-inch) salmon stocked in Keoka Lake in the fall of 2006 have grown to 16– to 18-inch fish of fair condition. Those fish were the beginning of an annual salmon-stocking program at Keoka and I hope the initial good results continue in the future.

Keewaydin Lake is a favorite salmon hole for some and early results were good. Most parties in the first week of the season managed a salmon or two though, predictably, catch rates have declined in the second week of fishing. Those few folks targeting brook trout over salmon at Keewaydin have generally been successful. One family of three had a stringer of stocked brook trout I will never forget. Five trout were on that stringer and not one was under a pound. A party I spoke with this past Sunday (Jan. 13) caught four 13- to 14-inch brook trout in less than half an hour jigging small lures with a small bit of bait on the hook. Angler use on both of these ponds is much lighter than I expected considering the number of large brook trout stocked.

Angler use of Bear Pond in Waterford, however, has been surprisingly higher than last year. A lot of these folks are targeting smelt due to last year’s success but early reports are of very light harvest. Those targeting trout and salmon have been generally successful with splake and brook trout being the most commonly caught fish. Salmon also are caught occasionally though their condition is highly variable.

Prior to the first of the year I spent some time interviewing anglers on the Otter Ponds in Standish before handing that job off to a seasonal creel census clerk. Brook trout fishing there started off with a bang and has been steady ever since. The most recent reports from our seasonal clerk Steve Lurvey indicate anglers still are catching 9- to 11-inch brook trout at a rate of about one fish per angler. To increase your catch rate it’s best to use very small shiners or worms on your traps with No. 6 hooks or smaller. Your best success will be had while jigging with something small and shiny with a bit of worm on a small hook. Try jigging holes where you are getting flags and stolen bait.
Best of luck