February 27, 2007 Ice Fishing Report

Region A- Southwestern Maine

The big event in Southern Maine this weekend was Sebago Lake Rotary Club’s Derby Fest.   Two of the most popular events in connection with the Derby Fest are also the one of greatest interest to Region A’s fishery division, namely the kids only derby held at the outlet of Thomas Pond this past Friday and the Sebago Togue Tourney held over the weekend.  The kids only derby was a huge success with an estimated six to seven hundred kids participating.  The Rotary club gave away 500 traps and volunteers from all over were on hand to coach the kids in their use.  The participants caught a number of stocked brook trout as well as a number of warmwater fish. The event was such a success that many kids and their families were still fishing Thomas Pond outlet two days later.  Thanks to the Rotary Club for doing such a great job getting kids hooked on fishing!

        Weekend creel census indicated that anglers were still targeting many of the small to medium trout ponds in the northern portion of the region.  The anglers I spoke with simply preferred a quiet day on the ice to the city life that was Sebago Lake this weekend.  While a good portion of anglers interviewed this weekend reported slow fishing, I did speak to a guy that limited out around noon with a pair of 15-16 inch brookies on Keoka Lake in Waterford.   Also reported was a limit of 12-14 inch brook trout on Thomas Pond in Raymond.

        Having reported on all the fun fishing over the weekend, I now have to report a bit of bad news.  This past Friday I confirmed two northern pike from No Name Pond in Lewiston.  This confirmation was a result of an alert angler calling Operation Game Thief (1-800-alert-us, thanks Nathan!) and resulted in the observation of what appeared to be two different age classes of pike.   Because we are unfamiliar with the nature of the outlet of No Name Pond it is unclear if the introduction was the result of upstream migration from the Sabattus River or the result of a direct illegal introduction.   

        Best of luck in the last month of hardwater fishing!
 
-Brian Lewis, Fisheries Biologist Specialist

Region B - Central Maine

        Over the past week, winter seems to have settled down a little in comparison to what it’s been like over the past month.  With this moderation, there appears to be a surge in ice angling.  It seems that there is at least one vehicle parked at many of the access sites I’ve passed by.  This statement holds for true for many of the smaller, less frequented waters too.  Now that the days are getting longer and temperatures hover around freezing, it’s the perfect time to get one’s daily dose vitamin D from the sun and maybe latch on to a few fish in the process.

        This winter I’ve had several opportunities to get out on the ice with groups of kids.  Not only is this a break for me from computers, phones and meetings, I also consider it to be a very important component of my job.  Plus, the kids always seem able to put a smile on my face.  That part never fails.

These kids are the future and will inherit what we leave them.  One of the huge challenges for our educational system is to prepare them for what is now a pretty complex world.  How they look at and understand environmental issues is high on that complexity scale, and it won’t get any less so with time.  Not only that, but they are tomorrow’s outdoorsmen and women.

This could, I suppose, be approached from a strictly ‘lessons in the classroom’ way, with potentially acceptable results.  However, some educators are using the resources ‘outside’ of their classrooms and getting a bigger bang for their educational buck.  They take their students outside where the kids seem to learn a week’s worth of lessons in a few hours time.  These educators include not only teachers, but also staff from many lake and environmental associations, sporting clubs, and non-profit groups.  To an individual, everyone I have worked with on educational programs has and is doing a commendable job.  However, this education shouldn’t stop at school and doesn’t have to.  Take a kid fishing next time you get a chance.  You’ll be teaching them far more than you think.  Who knows, they might pass on a nugget of kid wisdom on to you too…

On my way home from ice fishing with the kids who attended the Friends of Cobbossee Watershed’s Winter Camp last week, I passed by a very familiar vehicle.  Its owner is an old friend and avid angler both on open water and ice, Maine’s own version (retired) of the Mad Angler.  In winter, he is a white perch jigger with few peers.  A native Mainer, he has an opinion on everything, and generally sticks to that outlook, even in the face of overwhelming facts.  So, I had to stop in to see how his luck was holding, knowing that I would be entertained if nothing else.

From a distance, I could see a pile of silver next to the overturned bucket he was sitting on.  He must have been at it for a while.  Despite the fact that I was the only other thing moving out on the lake ice, he didn’t seem to notice me walking towards him. He was that intent on his jigging.  I got to within 20 feet of him and was about to let him know I was there.  But, without taking his gaze off of the hole, he asked me how I was doing.  I said good, and that it looked like he had a good stack of perch working.  “Bout normal”, was his reply, “been here about an hour”.  In an hour, he had 11 white perch 10 inches long or larger on the ice.  “Got the family comin’ down for chowda tomorrow night.  Had to get a mess a whitey’s to feed ‘em”.  When I asked if he’d caught anything else, he said, “Got a 20 inch brown just a little bit ago”.  Looking around, I did not see the fish.  He answered my questioning look by making the motions indicating that he had dropped it back into the hole.  “They don’t make as good a chowda”, he said.

-Robert Van-Riper, Regional Fisheries Biologist

Region C – Downeast

        Salmon fishing at West Grand Lake continues to be good, and fish are in excellent shape, although many reports indicate that catches of lake trout have been down. Creel census clerk Joe Overlock traveled by snowmobile to the extreme northwest corner of the lake recently to interview anglers fishing for lake whitefish in the “whitefish village” of ice shacks in Junior Bay. By the time he finished weighing, measuring, and recording lengths and weights of a few dozen whitefish, his fingers were quite chilly, but that is part of the job. The biggest whitefish was about 3.25 lbs, a very large fish for West Grand. With plenty of snow on the lake, snowmobiles are the best method of travel.

        March fishing can be characterized by many days of above-freezing temperatures, although the wind may blow. March is a good month to try a couple of different types of fishing, described below.

The first method can be called “run and gun” fishing, where anglers set no tipups, choosing instead to cut a hole and jig for 15 minutes, then jump on the snowmobile or ATV to move a ways down the lake and repeat the process all day long. This can be a great way to locate fish without being tied to a set of tip-ups for the day. As March temperatures warm, you can often locate open holes cut by other ice fishermen on previous days and you can jig these holes with little or no cutting of ice before you drop your jig to bottom. I’ve caught togue, salmon, and perch using this practice.

The second type of fishing that you may have overlooked in January and February while you were targeting salmon, trout, and togue, is to target white perch in March. The perch often bite very well, especially if you fish early in the day or late in the day. The action can be so fast that you can’t even tend all your lines before other flags are flying. Perch fishing is a great way to introduce kids to the fun of ice fishing.

 
Soon the boat shows and Sportsmen’s Shows will be starting, which are great ways to see the newest innovations in boats, motors, and fishing gear. And now is a great time to tie up a season’s supply of streamer flies, nymphs, dry flies, and bass bugs in anticipation of the next open water fishing season that will be here before we know it.

-Rick Jordan, Regional Fishery Biologist

Region D - Western Mountains

   In January ice was a problem, there was not enough of it! Then came the cold, and only the hardiest of anglers dared go out. Now we have snow with deep, hard-packed drifts and slush with which to contend. Overall, it’s been a tough year to get out and enjoy winter angling. Despite the conditions, a number of anglers have been experiencing some good fishing.

   During the month of February while conducting our creel survey of Wyman Lake in south-central Somerset County, we interviewed 270 anglers that caught 77 coldwater gamefish, including 47 splake. The splake are larger this year than in past surveys, averaging almost 15 inches and well over a pound. Our survey of Chain of Ponds in northern Franklin County finds anglers catching a higher number of brook trout that usual. Past surveys have shown catch rates of about one trout per every ten anglers, while this year’s catch rate has almost doubled. The current size range is from seven to seventeen inches in length, with an average brook trout measuring 10½ inches.

   March is an excellent month for icefishing. Warmer, longer days can create such comfortable conditions that anglers almost don’t want to be bothered by fish! If bass is your fish then now is the time to get out. The last month of the winter fishing season is the best for bass angling and this time of year the quality of fillets is excellent. Our icefishing surveys show the highest percentage of bass is caught in March. Ponds to try for smallmouth bass are Ellis (Roxbury) Pond in Roxbury, Clearwater Pond in Industry, and Wentworth (Ironbound) Pond in Solon. For largemouth bass try Crowell Pond in New Sharon and Wesserunsett Lake in Madison.

-Dave Howatt, Fisheries Biologist Specialist

Region E - Moosehead Region

Those hardy souls that braved yet another weekend of cold and wind on Moosehead Lake enjoyed some very good fishing.  In fact, catch rates for salmon, lake trout, and brook trout have been quite good this winter on the big lake. We encourage anglers to come up and take advantage of the good fishing and be sure to leave with your limit of lake trout.

The ice-fishing season on Lobster Lake and Allagash Lake will come to a close this Wednesday.  Fisheries staff from the Greenville Office checked Lobster Lake one weekend day per week for the month of February in an effort to monitor the fishery.  Last year, we had many reports of small salmon, which gave us cause for concern.  As Lobster Lake anglers know, the lake is notorious for slow fishing but when you catch one it’s a good one.  According to data we collected this winter, all is well at Lobster Lake.  The fishing was slow and anglers were reporting some large, fat salmon and togue.

As fisheries managers, it is our job to inform the public when there are significant changes to fisheries programs. Rep. Theodore Koffman of Bar Harbor, on behalf of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) has introduced a bill into the legislature, LD 285, An Act To Designate Additional Wild Trout Waters for Recognition and Protection.  In summary this proposed bill states: The use and possession of live fish as bait will be prohibited on waters containing brook trout that have not been stocked in the last 20 years and these waters may not be stocked with any fish.

As currently written, this legislation would eliminate roughly 100 current stocking programs statewide and several hundred additional waters would have a no live fish as bait regulation.

In the Moosehead Lake Region, we anticipate 11 waters will no longer be stocked with any species of fish if this legislation is passed.  These waters (towns and current stocking programs) include:

Attean Lake (Jackman) -salmon
Bear Pond (Bowerbank) - splake
Brassua Lake (Rockwood) - salmon
Holbrook Pond (Rainbow Twp)- splake
Indian Pond (Sapling, Indian Stream Twp) - salmon
Long Pond (T7 R9 NWP) – lake trout
Nahmakanta Lake (T1 R11 WELS) – lake trout
Ragged Lake (T3 R13 WELS) – splake
Sebec Lake (Dover-Foxcroft, Willimantic) – lake trout
Thissell Pond (T5 R11 WELS) – splake
Wilson Pond (Greenville) – salmon

No date has been set for the legislative hearing, which will take place in Augusta.

-Tim Obrey, Regional Fisheries Biologist

Region F, Penobscot Region

Region F, the Penobscot Region, is as the name implies, located mostly in the Penobscot River basin although it also includes the upper portion of the St.Croix river drainage.  The upper portion of the West Branch of the Penobscot River extends into Region E west of Baxter State Park.  The topography of the region varies greatly from the high terrain of Baxter State Park and Mt. Katahdin to the river plains of the lower Penobscot.  Region F is the second largest region in the state and is tied with regions E and G for the lowest population density.  The region contains 368 great ponds with an area of 196,020 acres.  Of these 245 are surveyed plus an additional 24 waters under 10 acres in size for a total of 269 surveyed waters comprising 189,486 acres.  Of the 4,770 miles of rivers and streams in the region 3,578, 75 percent, support self-sustaining populations of brook trout or other salmonids.

The fisheries are just as varied as the topography across the region.  Both coldwater and warmwater fisheries, wild and stocked, in lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams, are dispersed throughout the region.  There are 111 self-sustaining populations of salmonids in Region F lakes and ponds.  The majority of these, 96, are brook trout waters mostly located in Baxter State Park and the hilly terrain of eastern Piscataquis County although there are wild trout ponds scattered throughout the region.  Currently about 50 waters are being stocked with 42,000 brook trout.  These waters include five streams that are targeted mostly for youth fishing and three ponds where there are hooked on fishing programs.

Salmon are found in 56 waters, 131,609 acres, of which 24 waters, 103,341, are being stocked with about 50,000 salmon.  Salmon were historically found only in the St. Croix drainage within the region and were introduced into all other waters.  Four salmon waters consistently produce larger than average fish.  The existing self-sustaining principal fishery salmon waters, 4 in number comprising 3616 acres, are all the result of the discontinuation of salmon stocking.  Stockings were discontinued in lakes that were too small to sustain a viable fishery or to reduce competition with other native salmonids, principally brook trout.  There are 20 waters containing lake trout and of these 17 are self sustaining populations and 3 are stocked.  Prior to 1980, 7 lakes in the region were stocked with lake trout.  Lake trout stocking was discontinued in the region after 1980 to determine if natural reproduction would be sufficient to maintain lake trout populations in these lakes.  Eventually stocking was found to be necessary in only 3 of these lakes and in 2 of these waters management plans are being developed that will result in the establishment of spawning lake trout populations.

There are no Rainbow trout and only 1 brown trout water in the region because of concerns expressed by the Atlantic salmon restoration agencies with possible competition between these species and Atlantic salmon.

Smallmouth bass are found in 68 waters, 119,018 acres, in the region but are classified as a principal fishery in 59 of these waters comprising 105,557 acres.  Largemouth bass, a newcomer to the region, are currently found in only 4 waters but are steadily increasing their presence in the region and have found there way into the Penobscot River where they will have access to many more waters. White perch are a very popular fish in the region and there are 80 principal fishery white perch waters with a total of 119,929 acres.

The region provides a diverse and highly successful fishing experience to anglers in east central Maine.

-Mike Smith, Regional Fisheries Biologist

Region G – Aroostook County

Northern Maine fishery biologists are currently surveying ten waters open to ice fishing.  Three of these are in the Fish River Chain of Lakes, six are located in the Allagash drainage, and one is in the Aroostook drainage.

We have seen a definite shift in fishing pressure from the popular, early-season waters - Long and Eagle Lakes - to Square and Madawaska Lakes that are more difficult to access (Square) and open at a later date in the season (Madawaska Lake opens February 15th).  These two waters have been very good late-season destinations.  At Square Lake most parties are limiting out on salmon that are mostly on the small side; brook trout are also very active with many parties having at least one trout.  At Madawaska Lake the recently stocked fall yearling trout that are mostly 12-14 inches are biting well.  Our survey clerk checking Madawaska reports that deep slush conditions still exist, particularly on the Little Lake side.  Although pressure has dropped considerably at Long Lake, this lake is still a good choice for anglers seeking a chance at a large fish.  We measured one salmon just under five pounds over the weekend.  With longer days and better weather in the forecast, we expect to see more anglers in the Allagash region during the remaining five weeks of ice fishing.

-Frank Frost, Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist