Mark Latti
Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
mark.latti@maine.gov
207-287-6008
pager 818-9617
fax 207-287-6395
284 State Street
41 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
For Immediate Release
February 6, 2006
February 6, 2006 Ice Fishing Report
Region A- Southwestern Maine
Angler activity on lakes and ponds in southern Maine has remained
relatively
low for most of the season due to the unusual weather patterns and poor
ice
conditions. This week and weekend, anglers were hit with yet another
winter
thaw and two heavy rain events. Travel conditions on the ice were very
difficult over the weekend, particularly for those on foot. The solid
ice
had 1-2 inches of water on top of it followed by a skim coat of ice
that
would break with each step. On a more positive note, we did not lose
too
much base ice, and the loss of snow cover followed by the prediction of
a
cold week should firm things up. Hopefully, we'll even gain some ice
in the
upcoming weeks!
Better ice conditions would certainly be welcome news for many of
southern
Maine's ice fishing derbies. Two of the largest down this way, are the
Little Ossipee Lake Derby (2/19) and the Sebago Lake Rotary Derby Fest
(2/24-2/26). The Sebago Derby is scheduled to go statewide if Sebago
does
not have sufficient ice, see their website www.icefishingderby.com for
more
details. Speaking of derbies, Greg Massey of Poland took first place
at the
ice fishing derby at the Range Ponds in Poland with a 9 pound lake
trout,
while another angler took second with a seven pounder. Other than
these
lake trout, there were few reports of browns and rainbows being landed
during the derby.
Although ice conditions haven't been the greatest down this way, the
lighter
use and lower catches should equate to better fishing later in the
season
than anglers would normally expect. In the last two weeks, we have
noticed
a substantial improvement in the fishing and we have recently seen and
heard
of some decent fish. On Thursday and Saturday, I saw two anglers that
had
each managed to land a beautiful rainbow trout on Kennebunk Pond in
Lyman.
These fish were each 20 inches long and weighed 2 3/4 to 3 pounds.
I'll say
it again, if you want to catch a rainbow, I would highly recommend the
use
of worms and/or salmon eggs over live bait, and jigging can be deadly.
One
of these same anglers had also lost a big trout a few days earlier that
he
has affectionately named "Walter." He claims that particular fish will
keep
him coming back despite the slower days here and there! This big fish
was
probably a large brown trout. Although fishing for them can be very
slow,
large browns are not uncommon in southern Maine ponds. Region A Staff
sampled a half dozen or so brown trout waters this past summer and
every
pond yielded some quality size browns in the 3 to 6 pound class! In
fact,
Linden Rogers of Baldwin recently landed an 8.6 pound brown at an
undisclosed pond in Oxford County. If you put your time in, there is a
good
chance you could land one of these wall hangers, too. Good luck and
stay
safe.
-Jim Pellerin, Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist
Region B - Central Maine
In the course of my career as a fishery biologist, observations are
made that make one realize that sometimes very little has changed.
Often
that makes you pause, and you think that a new observation is unique.
This
year's weather pattern that is giving us poor and questionable ice
conditions really is not so much different from other years.
We commonly keep reliable scientific records on weather conditions in
the
various lake files we have at all the regional fisheries offices.
Nowadays,
many of these records are being coded for computer files, but the hard
copy
records are there for anyone who wants to see what was observed by
investigators in the "old days". And some of those old days go back to
the
1930's. Once in a while, these old files are reviewed by regional staff
or
others seeking information. Here's an example.
Twenty-five years ago, we received from the local warden a report of a
fish
kill on Dresden Bog on February 28, 1981. You're asking what does that
have
to do with the weather? And what does a 1981 fish kill do to explain
some
of the weather observations we are seeing this winter? That winter was
very
mild, and conditions allowed me to take a canoe and paddle into Dresden
Bog
in late February 1981 to have a look at the fish that had succumbed
from
lack of oxygen in the water. That year, records showed, had warm
conditions
in January and February, with little ice thickness on area waters. So,
ice
out on Dresden Bog was early that year, although there was an early
ice-in
the previous fall in November of 1980.
Back in1980, the winter previous to the story above, my brothers came
up
from Connecticut to visit. We, along with our sons, took off for
Moosehead
Lake for a fishing trip during February school vacation. That winter
was so
different from the one that followed. We drove a two-wheel drive
station
wagon over the Lazy Tom to Spencer Pond Road, then right onto Cowan
Cove. We
caught many salmon and trout.
So, every winter is different, depending on weather patterns. I am not
saying the rest of this winter season will not turn around and give us
some
cold weather. Like many of my fellow scientists, I will try to collect
data
and maintain records that will allow those that come after me to see
what
happened on specific waters during a given year. Those efforts allow us
to
tell whether a phenomena being observed is unique or not.
On hearing that anglers have been scarce on many waters, a bait dealer
lamented this: "When someone hears that the Kennebec River ice is out
that
means all area waters are out"!
I have been checking Long Pond in the Belgrades all winter, and the
last
weekend in January there were the most anglers observed since the
beginning
of the season. No big catches have been recorded but those fishing have
hooked some big fish, and landed a few.
My perpetual calendar has this ditty by Norman Jeffries:
"I don't want to ketch no tarpon that weighs half a ton.
And feeding clams to sheepshead isn't just what I call fun.
Of salmon when it's boiled or baked I'll say that I am fond-----
But when I'm after sport I fish for pik'rel in a pond.
-Bill Woodward, Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist
Region C - Downeast
News flash!!! Blaze orange fish causes stir in small town!
An unlikely colored fish trapped in a tiny local pond by an area bait
dealer
made many people stop to ponder about the wonders of nature after
seeing
this unique specimen. Little Beatle Bait owner Kevin Pinkham reported
the
fish to regional biologists after having noticed it in one of his traps
in
Lily Pond in East Machias.
The fish was identified by biologists as a young golden shiner, and it
almost glowed in amongst other minnows it was so bright. Golden
shiners are
normally brown to gold in color but as in any fish or mammal
population,
color abnormalities do occur. Normally, a fish of this color and size
would
not survive in the wild long because its color makes it easy to spot
for
predators. Biologists believe that the variation in color was caused
by a
recessive gene that came to the surface after its two parents, both
carrying
the gene, spawned, resulting in a small percentage of their progeny
hatching
with the blaze orange color. This rare find has some town's people
offering
to buy the tiny fish to put on display in their fish tanks. As for Mr.
Pinkham's plans for the fish, he jokes about making millions from the
breeding rights but admits he will probably just pamper the fish in his
children's fish tank. But what a bait it would make if he only had
more of
them to sell. For a glimpse of this rare shiner, please open the
attached
On a more somber note, this past Friday's and Sunday's 45 degree days
with
torrential down-pours may have sealed the fates of lakes and ponds in
Downeast's immediate coastal areas - there may not be any safe ice to
come.
As it stands now, there are no lakes and ponds on Mount Desert Island
with
safe ice. The story is the same for many coastal community lakes and
ponds
from Surry to Calais. Even the larger interior lakes and ponds are
treacherous. Wardens tell us that lakes such as West Grand, Mopang,
Cathance, Beech Hill, Spring River and Alligator all have dangerously
thin
ice locations as well as open water. With colder nights forecasted for
later in the week, this will help some small coastal ponds to possibly
have
safe ice by the weekend, but caution is still the word for the rest of
the
winter.
An angler's best bets are interior small ponds that are less than 200
acres. Still, even on these ponds, fishermen should be mindful of
dangerous
conditions around inlets, outlet and points. Biologists were out over
the
weekend surveying angler success rates on many of these smaller waters
and
found 6 to 9 inches of ice.
Here are some of the best bet smaller waters to try: Jellison Hill
Pond -
Amherst, Rainbow Pond - T 10 SD, Tilden Pond - T 10 SD, Hancock Pond -
Bucksport, Fitts Pond - Clifton, Lower Springy Pond - Otis, Jacob-Buck
Pond
- Bucksport, Fields Pond - Orrington, Giles Pond - Aurora, Georges Pond
-
Franklin, Second & Third Old Stream Lakes - T 37 MD, Hosea Pug Lake - T
26
MD, Seavey Lake - Wesley, James Pond - Charlotte, and Goulding Lake -
Robbinston.
Congratulations to angler Bill Strout who a week and a half ago found
safe
ice conditions at Beech Hill Pond and caught a beautiful 17-inch brook
trout. This winter, anglers are reporting nice catches of togue and
salmon
at this 1,200 water located in Otis, with most fish full of smelts.
This
shows the success that biologists can have with stocking smelt eggs to
boast
forage populations.
Be well and be safe, and enjoy the gift of the outdoors!
-Greg Burr, Fisheries Biologist Specialist
Region D - Western Mountains
The weather went crazy again last weekend. I'm beginning to wonder if a
real
Maine winter is going to happen this year. The weather on Saturday was
nice
and traveling conditions on the ice were good, but a steady rain on
Sunday
has made condition better for ice-skating than ice fishing. A few
people
were out fishing and at least one person had tremendous success. Frank
Braley of Anson reports seeing a 37-inch, 19-pound lake trout taken
from
Spring Lake in T3 R4 BKP WKR (Somerset County). That is a nice fish by
any
standard. The lucky unidentified angler should remember that fish for a
long
time.
The deeper waters in southern Franklin County have remained slow
with
lake trout up to 22 inches and salmon averaging around 16 inches in
length.
The occasional brook trout is also taken with a wide length range
between 6
and 18 inches. Anglers fishing Webb Lake in Weld continue to catch a
few
brown trout ranging from 12 to 19 inches. Some large pickerel, over 20
inches, are also being caught there as well.
Anglers might try fishing late in the afternoon for some fast
action.
With the days getting longer there is more opportunity to fish in the
afternoon and reports of fish becoming active just before sunset are
common.
This seems to be the case with most fish species, but especially true
with
white perch. This is also an excellent time of year to target cusks
after
the sun has set.
-Dave Howat, Fisheries Biologist Specialist
Region E - Moosehead Region
Moosehead Lake Region anglers were plagued by another weekend of rainy
weather. What little snow was covering lakes and ponds soaked up
Friday's
downpours like a sponge and made for slushy ice conditions. On
Saturday, the
2 - 3 inches of slush on Chesuncook and Moosehead Lakes made for slow
traveling for regional staff and anglers alike. Super Bowl Sunday's
rain
left Albert Hall and Eric Rudolph conducting creel censuses from their
truck. They visited access sites in Lily Bay and Rockwood on Moosehead
Lake
and no anglers were observed fishing. One party was seen fishing in
Greenville Junction. Tim Obrey reports that Sebec Lake was a washout
this
past weekend. The bathtub ring of water around the shoreline of Sebec
Lake
has deterred anglers from venturing onto the lake.
A year ago, Chesuncook and Lobster Lakes where designated as "Classic
Landlocked Salmon Waters" due to a statewide program kick-started by
SAM FIC
(Sportsman's Alliance of Maine Fishing Initiative Committee). This
initiative is an attempt to create a handful of fisheries statewide
that
would be managed exclusively for trophy landlocked salmon. The
objective of
the program is to give anglers the opportunity to catch larger than
average
landlocked salmon, in the 3-5 pound class. Currently, regulations on
Chesuncook Lake include a daily bag limit of 3 landlocked salmon with a
minimum length limit of 14 inches and only one may be larger than 18
inches.
This liberal regulation is designed to encourage anglers to harvest 14-
17
inches salmon to reduce the number of smaller individuals from the
population, which are very abundant. By reducing the numbers of
smaller
salmon, we should see the smelt population increase and hopefully
increase
the size of the salmon.
In my travels to Chesuncook Lake this winter, I have seen only a
handful of
anglers fishing each weekend. Only a few of these anglers were aware
that
this program was initiated by SAM FIC. With the lakes and ponds in the
southern part of the state experiencing some dicey ice condition this
winter, I would encourage anglers to visit the Moosehead Lake Region
and
fish Chesuncook Lake and take your limit of 14- 17 inch salmon home.
Due to
the lack of fishing pressure on Chesuncook Lake, it may be a long time
before we are able to reach our objectives of larger, more robust
landlocked
salmon. Also, anglers that fish the river above and below Chesuncook
Lake
during the open water season will benefit from the removal of these
smaller
salmon.
This week, Jeff Bagley and I conducted our first analysis this winter
of
stomachs taken from angler-harvested lake trout, landlocked salmon, and
brook trout. Lake trout stomachs from Moosehead Lake were showing good
numbers of smelts lake-wide. As you would assume the stomachs
collected
from landlocked salmon from Chesuncook Lake showed very few smelts.
-Stephen Seeback, Fisheries Biologist Specialist
Region F, Penobscot Region
This past weekend, it seemed that most of the conversation on the ice
with
anglers was about the ice conditions. On Pushaw this past Sunday, I
would
say the conditions were highly variable. Some anglers were reporting
14" and
another had found only 3". Open water could be seen around the inlets
and
the outlet as well as around some of the points. The heavy rains caused
the
ice fishing holes to melt out from 6" holes on Saturday to 10" ones buy
the
end of the day on Sunday.
I would consider the conditions in the southern part of our region as
very
dangerous. It is apparent that if the weather continues as it has,
conditions will continue to get worse.
The further north you get in our region the better the ice conditions
get,
but regardless, please use extreme caution.
The Pushaw fishing derby was a great success. Large numbers of anglers
were
out on Saturday to enjoy the 40 degree temperatures. Derby participants
caught 5 pike, with the largest weighing over 7 lbs. On Sunday, the
rains
kept many anglers home.
Our creel surveys found very few anglers on the lakes last weekend.
Between
the weather and ice conditions, many anglers are staying home. A few
nice
salmon were observed on Pleasant Lake in Island Falls and some nice
brook
trout were observed on Upper Jo Mary. We have had very good fishing
reports
from an angler on Dolby stating that the white perch are biting. The
angler
said that fishing pressure has been very low this winter. Upper
Sysladobsis
in Lakeville has been producing some nice fat 16" salmon. We are
getting
some great reports from our Kids Only ice fishing ponds in Lincoln at
Little
Round Pond and in Millinocket at Jerry Pond.
Again, if you are venturing out onto the ice, be careful! At this rate,
the
only thing that will prevent record early ice outs is some record cold
weather, and I'm not too sure if that's a good thing.
-Brian Campbell, Fisheries Biologist Specialist
Region G - Aroostook County
Good news from St. Froid Lake. Recent reports are that the fishery at
St.
Froid Lake is showing signs of improvement. Local angler opinion has
changed
in favor of salmon management after many years of lake trout management
and
less than average salmon growth. Lake trout stocking was terminated in
2000.
In addition the lake trout length limit was changed to a 14 inch
minimum and
five fish bag limit. Anglers report that the mostly wild salmon
population
is more robust than they have seen in years. The hook and line smelt
fishery
has also improved over the past few years, another sign that smelt
abundance
has improved.
After being absent from St. Froid Lake for decades, lake whitefish have
recently been stocked as part of newly established whitefish hatchery
program. Lake whitefish eggs taken from the wild have been hatched at
the
Cobb Hatchery in Enfield and stocked as 4 to 6 inch fish in the fall of
the
year. A 16 inch minimum length limit and 3 fish bag limit applies to
whitefish at St. Froid. Anglers at St. Froid are reporting catches of
the
oldest age class of whitefish in the 12 to 14 inch range. In the not
to
distant future whitefish will once again be part of the fish harvest at
St.
Froid Lake.
My creel survey efforts this past weekend were on Clear and the
Musquacook
Lakes. Angler effort continues to be extremely light on these remote
waters.
The 3 anglers that made the three hour trip from Eagle Lake were
rewarded
with a couple of beautiful brook trout, one 17 inches the other 19.
-Derrick Cote, Fisheries Biologist Specialist
From the Maine Warden Service...The Colonel's Tip
Wardens encounter anglers who sometimes catch fish that are undersized
and
kept because they thought the fish would die due to hook being
swallowed,
and the angler didn't want to "waste" the fish by throwing it back
after
injuring it by removing the hook. All you need to do in this situation
is
take a small pair of snippers and cut the line as close to the hook as
possible, leaving the hook in the fish. Research has determined that
this
hook deteriorates very quickly and the fish usually survives to be
caught
another day. A small pair of finger nail clippers works very well.
Don't
forget extra hooks though!
-Colonel Tom Santaguida, Maine Warden Service
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