Western Mountains Fishing Report: January 24, 2008

Ice conditions were good on most waters last weekend. Most of previous week’s water and slush on the ice had frozen to create safer conditions and easier traveling. The ice thicknesses on the smaller waters in the northwestern corner of the state have six to eight inches. The larger waters still are a problem, so ice travelers need to use some caution. Slushy conditions likely will return after a few more snow events.

Overall, this year’s winter fishing season is off to a great start. The first couple of weeks in the year produced some fast action. Here are some of the regional highlights.

Pleasant Pond, Caratunk: We have so far interviewed 185 anglers. They’ve caught 140 legal lake trout and a 15-inch brook trout. Two of the togue were over 30 inches long and weighed more than 10 pounds.

Porter Lake, New Vineyard: We have interviewed 141 anglers that caught 97 salmon up to 18 inches in length. Seventeen lake trout also were caught with the largest being 22¾ inches long.

Clearwater Pond, Industry: 15 salmon have been sampled that average 17.3 inches in length and 1 pound, 13 ounces in weight. The largest salmon was over 19 inches long.

Oaks Pond, Skowhegan: In two days of fishing the 32 anglers we interviewed caught a 17½-inch rainbow trout and 34 splake, averaging 15.6 inches in length.

Wentworth Pond, Solon: 75 anglers that were interviewed caught 37 legal splake and 16 brook trout. Average lengths are 13.7 inches for splake and 13.0 inches for brook trout. The largest fish were a 16¾-inch splake and a 14¾-inch brookie.

We also have received good fishing reports for brook trout and brown trout at Wesserunsett Lake in Madison. Wyman Lake in Moscow is producing good numbers of salmon, splake, and brook trout. Also, Tibbetts Pond in Concord, which is open to kids only, is yielding some fine brook trout to these young anglers.