Ice Fishing, Snowmobiling Take Center Stage This Month
The red-hot January issue of The Maine Sportsman is in mailboxes and on newsstands – just the thing to warm up the ice fishing shack or snowmobile club house.
Controversy abounds in two columns found deep in the issue. First is Ethan Emerson’s true story about having a municipal New Hampshire policeman draw a handgun on him, for the “crime” of legally hunting coyotes – and that’s just one of several dangerous situations Ethan faced that day!
And second, our “Big Game” columnist Joe Saltalamachia assumes the role of rabble-rouser, suggesting major changes in deer season dates and rules, which he recommends as a way to increase the Maine whitetail population to the level he’s witnessed first-hand in other states.
The icy base layer in on the ground, and snowmobiles are zipping along groomed trails and in the deep woods. Cathy Genthner covers off-trail riding in her piece, titled “Boldly Riding Where No Snowmobiler Has Gone Before.” JP Falzone investigates the steps snowmobile clubs are taking to attract and retain new and younger members.
Ron Joseph weighs in with often-humorous memories of using his snowmobile for work in extreme northern Maine while in the employ of IF&W. And in “Danger in the Outdoors,” David Van Wie describes the use of “rescue sleds,” and provides several tales of the challenges of evacuating injured sledders from remote Maine locations.
Fisheries biologist Wes Ashe reveals the role played by water temperatures in the success, or lack thereof, experienced by ice fishermen. Ashe states that whereas 33-degree water just under the ice will make lunkers sluggish, relatively “balmy” 39-degree water in the deep holes will contain active, hungry leviathans.
Guest “Young Maine Sportsman” columnist Alyssa Sansoucy provides insight into her ice fishing strategy, and Tom Seymour in “Midcoast” describes where to catch fish through the ice in Dutton Pond, Megunticook Lake, Swan Lake and Sennebec Lake.
More hard-water where-to information is provided by Tom Roth (Sebago to Auburn), Shawn Simpson (Webber Pond in Vassalboro), Jim Lemieux (Greater Penobscot Bay region), Bill Graves (The County) and William Sheldon (Katahdin and Jackman regions).
As always, we encourage you to support our advertisers and distribution outlets, and if you like something in the issue (or even if you don’t), let us hear from you.
