A few ice fishermen angling on opening day Friday advised sticking close to shore because of thin ice.
David Toothaker of Paris and his grandson Jamison Labreque of Greenwood have been out on Hall Pond in Paris the last couple of days, including Friday afternoon with about a dozen other fishermen trying their luck.
Toothaker said the ice fishing “was great, yesterday was better than today. The sun was out, and the fish were bitin’ better.”
He said there isn’t much ice, so fishermen have to watch where they’re going. “A couple of guys fell through,” he said.
Toothaker said he feels his way around with a chisel, and he sticks to the edges, where there is about 2 inches of ice.
“There’ll be more ice in the next couple days, it’ll be colder, especially at night,” he said.
He said his ice-fishing season usually lasts until mid-March, depending how long it stays cold.
According to Scotty Bragden, a registered Maine Guide and employee at Dag’s Bait and Tackle in Auburn, the season is later than usual.
“I ice-fished just after Thanksgiving last year, so we’re about five weeks behind from last year,” he said.
Not only is the season getting a later than usual start, but so are sales of ice-fishing gear and snow and winter gear.
“Usually we’re out of sleds by now,” Bragdon said.
He said it’s starting to look up, and temperatures are expected to be colder next week.
Most lakes and ponds, unless directly noted, are open to freshwater and ice fishing year-round in Androscoggin and Oxford counties south of the Androscoggin River. The farther north, the stricter the rules become on ice fishing.
Local lakes and ponds are just starting to form ice on their shores, but not enough to call it real ice fishing.
According to the official Maine fishing guidelines, ice fishing is “taking freshwater fish during the ice-fishing season through man-made openings in the ice by the use of ice fishing implements.”
While ice fishermen may be getting anxious to get out there, Bragden said a good rule of thumb now is to stay close to the shore. “Don’t go in deep water yet,” he said.
http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/pdfs/2015openwatericefishingregulations.pdf
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