DEPARTMENT OF INLAND FISHERIES & WILDLIFE

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January 30, 2007

January 30, 2007 Ice Fishing Report

Region A- Southwestern Maine

The typical ice fishing season in Maine begins in earnest on New Year’s Day when the height of both angler use and    fish catch are usually observed.   Typically, angling for trout and salmon through the ice slows down by the end of January as the density of available fish declines and folks devote less of their time to fishing as the action slows.   This is not a typical year!   Because of delayed ice formation in southern Maine the fish density should still be very high for this time of year and we are hoping the end result will be an extension of good fishing for salmonids through February.

 
The first day of high angler use in southern Maine was a bright and sunny Sunday, January 28^th.  I visited Thomas Pond in Raymond, Keoka Lake in Waterford, and Hobbs Pond in Norway, and while the use on some of these ponds wouldn’t rival that of a typical January first, I did observe a good deal of angler activity.   On Keoka Lake and Hobbs Pond I also observed better trout fishing than I would have expected for this time of year.  Almost every party had trout on these ponds and some had great fish stories of broken leaders and big fish seen cruising past the hole.  During one interview I had to tell one lucky guy on Hobbs about a flag that had popped up behind his back, a quick run and jerk on his part and he had a fat 13.5-inch brookie to complete his limit!  Thomas Pond has yet to give up any salmon brood and has produced only a few brookies so I am hoping to see a couple great fishing days in the near future.  Fisheries biologist Francis Brautigam visited Sand Pond in Baldwin, and the Clemmons Ponds in Hiram this past Saturday only to find few anglers and few brook trout.

One thing Francis and I found in common was observing thicker ice than we had anticipated.  Even some of the smaller bays of Sebago Lake have buttoned up, for a while at least.  The Big Bay of Sebago is still open and blustery winds threaten to break up what ice has formed.  While the cold weather is slowly thickening the ice, folks are still over estimating the safety of southern Maine’s hard water and some are breaking through with larger machinery than augers.  Test the ice wherever you go and if safety is in doubt, don’t chance it.   Best of luck!

-Brian Lewis, Fisheries Biologist Specialist

Region B - Central Maine

Now that winter has become more ‘normal’ temperature-wise, opportunities for ice fishing have followed suit.  Last week’s cold snap has certainly hardened up area lakes and ponds.  Still, even though the cold has allowed ice to build, there are still a wide variety of conditions out there.  Ice has thickened more slowly on lakes that had snow cover than those that were open water, since the snow acts as an insulating cover.  I’ve heard of as much as a foot of ice on waters in the northern part of the region and as little as four inches in the central and southern areas.  But I’ve also talked with anglers fishing on different parts of the same lake who’ve observed a wide range of ice thicknesses.  Any where there is running water, such as inlets or outlets, will have far less ice than adjacent areas.  These may transition from safe to unsafe conditions quickly, sometimes in as little as two or three feet in distance.  Narrows and thoughfares remain unstable as far as ice conditions go, and will be that way all winter.  So a continued word of caution to all: check ice conditions before you venture out on a water and keep on checking them as you move about on the ice.

This office has been pretty busy lately.  The fact that ice fishing got off to a slow start has not affected other facets of the fish biology business.  We have been hard at it; analyzing data collected last summer and fall, reviewing and editing regulations for the upcoming year, planning field evaluations for the upcoming summer, developing regulation changes for 2008 and filling out bait permits for a short list.  We spend a lot of time responding to questions, comments and requests from you all.  Then there are what seem to be the constant meetings, reports and memos.  There seems to never be a dull moment.

Now that sleds are on the trails and shacks are appearing where substantial ice has formed, we are busy completing creel surveys on a number of waters throughout the region.    By the looks of many of the waters I’ve been by lately, it appears that people are just starting to settle in for a winter of fishing.  This fall, the region stocked over 51,000 fish in area waters.  These fish are out there waiting for the skillful or lucky angler.  To find out how many fish were planted and where, go to the Department’s website at www.maine.gov/ifw/pdf/fishstockingreport2006.pdf to plan your next trip. 

-Robert Van-Riper, Regional Fisheries Biologist

Region C – Downeast

After a delay of nearly 4 weeks, winter finally arrived in Maine with long-awaited icy blasts laying down sheets of ice on eastern Maine’s lakes and ponds like a natural Zamboni resurfacing an ice rink. Winter anglers, families, and kids were out in force punching holes through 4-12” of ice with everything from chisels and hand augers to chain saws and power ice auger.

Many anglers were surprised and thrilled to land brook trout in the 15-18” range adding to the action from 7-10” trout at ponds like Indian Lake in Whiting (10-12” of ice), Keene’s Lake in Calais, Montegail Pond in Centerville, and Goulding Lake in Robbinston. Hancock County anglers experienced similar catches at Lower Hadlock Pond in Northeast Harbor, Bubble Pond in Bar Harbor, Jacob Buck Pond in Bucksport, and Craig Pond in Orland. Winter creel survey clerk Joe Overlock reported seeing numerous kids having the time of their lives catching some big brook trout. Some of these fisheries are drawing in anglers from miles away to join in the action.

       
Biologist Greg Burr checked anglers on 3 lakes. At Long Pond in Mount Desert, anglers caught several landlocked salmon while fishing on 4-10” of ice. Most of the salmon had been released to catch again on another day! At Pleasant River Lake in Beddington, anglers fished on 8-10” of ice and caught splake from 12-16” long, along with a few large salmon (>20”) stocked after the fall “egg take” at the Grand Lake Stream Hatchery. And at Hopkins Pond in Mariaville, there was a lot of fishing effort directed at last fall’s stocking of 6,000 7-9” brook trout, while other anglers targeted lake trout in the 20-24” range.

       
Angler checks at Jones Pond in Gouldsboro showed numerous anglers fishing on 8-12” of ice with reports of brown trout in addition to pickerel and perch.

       
Splake were biting at Fitts Pond (8” of ice) in Eddington and biting well at Heart’s Pond (7-9” of ice) in Orland, where some splake over 16” were caught.

       
Craig Pond provided a mixed bag of action, with anglers catching brook trout, salmon, and a togue while fishing on 7-12” of ice.

       
Anglers are cautioned to use great care in where they travel on the lakes. Ice thickness is notably less over deep water than along the shallow coves and near shore.

       
West Grand Lake opens to fishing on February 1. While some of the coves like Farm Cove and Dyer Cove are reported to have areas with 10-12” of ice, a big part of West Grand from Munson Island to the Beartrap Shore was the last section of the lake to freeze, so ice thickness is unknown. Anglers should use extreme caution on selecting areas of West Grand for fishing and travel until more information is available.

-Rick Jordan, Regional Fishery Biologist

Region D - Western Mountains

Ice conditions in western Maine improved dramatically with last week’s subzero temperatures. We measured up to a foot of good ice on several lakes and there were few problems with slush. Winter anglers are therefore finally getting in the groove and it looked liked opening day on some waters. Porter Lake and Wilson Pond were both very busy, and even some of the larger, deeper lakes that froze very late finally saw some activity. Embden Pond and Wyman Lake, for instance, now have enough ice to allow folks to venture out a bit further, and those enjoying last weekend’s gorgeous weather realized it was worth the wait. Several togue in the 3 to 4 range were iced at Embden, and Wyman gave up several nice splake, as well as a few brookies and salmon. Ethan Tracy, our creel survey clerk, also checked several togue from Hancock Pond, one tipping the scales at just over 4 pounds.

February is usually a great month for togue fishing, and we’ve got several great spots to try your luck. Togue lakes in western Maine open to ice fishing include Porter Lake in New Vineyard, Clearwater Pond in Industry, Wilson Pond in Wilton, Embden and Hancock Ponds in Embden, Spring Lake in T3 R4, and Spencer Lake in Hobbstown.

While the ice is in far better shape than just a couple of weeks ago, caution and common sense are still needed, especially on the larger lakes.

-David Boucher, Fisheries Biologist

Region E - Moosehead Region

It is time for Moosehead Lake Region anglers to gear up for the season opener this week at Lobster Lake and Allagash Lake.  Many anglers this winter are still pretty upset that they were unable to get out on the ice to wet a line on the season opener in their favorite fishing holes, since many of the lakes and ponds in the Moosehead Lake Region were still ice free on January 1^st.  The recent cold weather that swept through the region this past week should make it certain that anglers will not be disappointed for the second time this winter.  Moosehead Lake anglers will have another chance to get out and hopefully enjoy some nice weather on opening day. 

On February 1^st, both Lobster Lake and Allagash Lake open to ice fishing for the month of February only.  At Lobster Lake and Allagash Lake the use or possession of live bait is prohibited, you are restricted to two lines per person, and they are open to the taking of cusk in the nighttime with five lines. 

Lobster Lake regulations allow a 1 fish daily limit on salmon, trout, and togue in the aggregate.  The minimum length limit on salmon is 20 inches.  The minimum length limit on togue is 23 inches.  Brook trout fall under the general law length limit of 6 inches.

At Allagash Lake the use of motorized equipment is prohibited.  The daily bag limit on trout is 2 fish with a minimum length limit of 12 inches, and only 1 may exceed 14 inches. Lake trout and lake whitefish fall under the general length and a bag limit, which allows the taking of 2 lake trout with a minimum length limit of 18 inches and you can harvest 3 lake whitefish, with no size restriction.

The Moosehead Lake Regional staff will be interviewing anglers on Lobster Lake this winter.  We will be collecting angler trip data and length and weight information from angler harvested lake trout and salmon.  If my duties on Chamberlain Lake are not going to be compromised, I plan to get into Allagash Lake for a few days during my tours in February.  Our visit to Lobster Lake this winter is well overdue, voluntary records and anecdotal information from anglers suggest that we may be seeing an increase in smaller salmon.  The problems we are seeing down river in Chesuncook Lake, with an abundance of salmon 14 - 16 inches, may be showing signs up river in Lobster Lake.  Since, both Lobster Lake and Chesuncook Lake are separated by only 11 miles of the West Branch of the Penobscot River, with no impasses, little is known about the interaction of salmon between these two bodies of water.  We may conduct a radio tag study between these two lakes in the near future to document landlocked salmon movements.

Last winter during our creel census survey on Chesuncook Lake we collected length, weight, and scale samples on 93 salmon.  The salmon ranged in sizes from 14 -20 inches.  Fifty- five percent of the salmon were larger than 16 inches. Eighteen percent of the salmon were greater than 18 inches and only 3 salmon were greater than 20 inches.  We are still encouraging anglers to harvest salmon in the 14 – 16 inch range.

This last week of fishing in the Moosehead Lake Region resulted in anglers catching some nice brook trout.  Lake whitefish and lake trout catches are also increasing.  This can be contributed to the fact that anglers are finding good thick black ice around the 12 inch mark on many of our larger lakes and ponds. This is enabling anglers to get over deeper water and target these species in water depths greater than 30 feet.

-Stephen Seeback, Fishery Biology Specialist

Region F, Penobscot Region

Ice is finally beginning to set across the region. The stretch of cold weather and little significant snow has increased ice to acceptable depths at Cold Stream Pond, East Grand Lake and Schoodic Lake. Where measured, most anglers are reporting 6 to 10 inches of black ice, although some of the lakes that set earlier have reports of some water seeping up to the surface, creating some slush. The slush will freeze in very quickly now that we're seeing temperatures well below zero.

Anglers are reporting some excellent action for salmon at West Lake, East Musquash lake, Pleasant Lake and Millinocket Lake. Togue anglers are just getting started at Schoodic Lake,  Pemadumcook Lake, and Matagamon Lake. Splake anglers have been reporting good fishing at Seboeis Lake, Endless Lake, Cedar Lake and Lower Togue Pond. Anglers after brook trout are still reporting some action at Cold Stream Pond, Upper Pond, and Little Round Pond for kids under 16.

Now that anglers are moving ice houses out and around their favorite lake, please remember to be considerate of others. When word gets around that the fish are hungry in a particular part of the lake, don't set up right next to another ice house unless you're invited. Give your fellow anglers the enough space so that they don't feel crowded. That also applies to setting up close to shore. Most folks like to enjoy their shore frontage and may like to set up and fish themselves without a shack or group of anglers right smack in front. Either pick a spot somewhere along shore where there aren't any occupied camps if you're smelt fishing, or set off shore a ways for other gamefish.

This weekend will be a very busy one locally. The Pushaw Lake Snowmobile Club is holding a derby on Pushaw Lake in Hudson on Feb. 3-4. Pike are a priority at this year’s derby as fisheries officials encourage folks to catch and kill as many of the illegally introduced species as they can. The Pushaw Lake Snowmobile Club is promoting that goal by offering cash prizes for the heaviest collective catch of pike on both Saturday and Sunday. The hours are from 5 am to 5 pm both days, and they only charge $3.00 to enter. For more information, please call Dale Pineo at 327-2226 or Harold Hopkins at 942-9677.

The Maine Youth Fish and Game Association is holding a Youth Fishing Day at the Pickerel Pond on Saturday the 3rd of February. Ice hole, traps, bait and hot food and drinks will be available to all. Youth 15 years of age and younger are eligible to participate. For more information, please call Travis Roy at 827-4005 or go to: http://www.maineyouthfishandgame.org/

 -Nels Kramer, Regional Fisheries Biologist

Region G – Aroostook County

One of the purposes of our fishing reports is to inform the public of potential changes in sport fishery management.
You might be interested in learning that legislation has been introduced regarding the management of wild brook trout waters, many of which are in the northern part of the state.

LD 285 is an act to designate additional wild trout waters for recognition and protection.  It would adopt by rule a list of secondary brook trout waters composed of lakes and ponds that contain brook trout and that have not been stocked with brook trout in at least 20 years.  The bill includes language that would allow the Commissioner to adopt rules that add and remove waters from the list of secondary brook trout waters.  The bill goes on to state that the Commissioner may not stock or issue a permit to stock fish in a lake or pond listed as secondary brook trout waters as defined in this bill.  Lastly, the bill states that a person may not use live fish bait or possess live fish bait on a lake or pond listed as secondary brook trout water under this section.

LD 285, "An Act To Designate Additional Wild Trout Waters for Recognition and Protection" is sponsored by Representative Koffman of Bar Harbor.  Co-sponsors include: Representative Bryant of Windham, Representative Duchesne of Windham, Representative Eberle of South Portland, Representative Jackson of Allagash, Senator Mitchell of Kennebec, Representative Saviello of Wilton and Representative Watson of Bath.

Some of the more recognizable waters in this region that are currently on the list of secondary waters containing wild brook trout include: Big Eagle Lake, Churchill Lake, Umsaskis Lake and Round Pond (T13R12 WELS) on the Allagash Waterway; First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth Musquacook Lakes, Ross Lake (Chemquasabamticook Lake), T10R15 WELS, Piscataquis County, Spider Lake, Long Lake, Mud Lake, Cross Lake, Square Lake, Eagle Lake, Saint Froid Lake, Portage Lake, Round Pond and Fish Lake in the Fish River Chain of Lakes, First, Second and Third Sly Brook Lakes, Togue Pond, T15R9 WELS, Aroostook County, Millimagassett Lake and Millinocket Lake (T7R9 WELS, Piscataquis County), Big Machias Lake and Little Machias Lake, Portland Lake and Saint Croix Lake

Presently, I am not aware of a date that has been set for the legislative hearing on this bill.  Anglers having an interest in this legislation should contact their local legislators to express their view.

 
-Dave Basley, Regional Fishery Biologist