MAINELY OUTDOORS
by Bill Graves
During open-water fishing season, most anglers select regular casting spots based on proximity, for quick pre and post work outings, less travel time equals more fishing time. Ice drillers, on the other hand, face an altogether different set of criteria when selecting a waterway. Not only are all rivers, brooks and streams off limits, but only roughly 65 (give or take a couple each season) of the hundreds of Aroostook lakes and ponds are open to ice fishing.
Distance and winter road conditions become a big factor, as does the necessity of a snowmobile or a rigorous snowshoe hike from the nearest plowed road. Day to day weather conditions, ice conditions and even the availability of fishing shanties also weigh into the selection process for many sportsmen. Oddly enough, the number one feature drawing most hard water anglers to a specific lake is the desire to catch their favorite species of gamefish.
Despite being Maine’s smallest gamefish, ever since my high school years, smelt have been my favorite winter quarry. Perhaps being able to fish from a warm, comfy smelt hut swayed my decision, but being able to fish at night and actively use a handline rather than just passively watch a tip-up play a part as well.
Birch Point on Pleasant Lake in Island Falls remains a great smelting location, and Squa Pan Lake between Presque Isle and Ashland also boasts great smelt jigging. Along with being extremely tasty, these 5- to 8-inch silver darters offer high limits and steady action.
For those ice drillers who wish to do battle with the Pine Tree State’s largest gamefish, a trip to the far northern tip of the state is required. Glazier Lake is a border-water bisected lengthwise by the Maine/New Brunswick boundary line. Due to an unplanned invasion roughly a decade ago, muskellunge upwards of 30-pounds now inhabit Glazier.
In the last five years the state record for musky has been broken and reset roughly half a dozen times, all from Glazier Lake and all through the ice. Everyone ought to try catching a “water wolf” during the winter, but beef up your lines and hooks to withstand the battle.
For bragging size salmon, cold weather anglers from throughout The County head for Long Lake in St. Agatha and for a chance at some really big brook trout Square Lake is the destination. To best reach and fish the more remote sections of these sister waters of the Fish River chain of lakes, a snowmobile is really a necessity.
If trophy togue trip your trigger, sink your auger into the icy coat of Eagle Lake, another Fish River gem. Double-digit size lake trout can also be occasionally caught from Carr Pond, a smaller, less populated waterway. For sports preferring faster action on smaller togue, two to three pounds average, and an even more secluded setting, visit First, Second or Third Musquacook Lakes.
Since splake, a brook trout-lake trout hybrid, were stocked in a dozen or so Aroostook lakes a decade or so ago, they have become a favorite finned quarry. Squa Pan Lake continues to produce bragging size splake but does garner a lot of fishing pressure. Head south to Cochrane Lake near New Limerick to find more splake and fewer fishermen. Rowe Lake up in the deep woods also gets well stocked with some good size splake.
One of the most challenging species to catch and stocked in very few county lakes is brown trout. Cochrane has a few, as does Hodgdon Mill Pond and Nickerson Lake, but for a chance at 3- to 5- pound browns you’ve got to visit Drew’s Lake near Houlton. Drew’s also harbors splake, brook trout, some large pickerel and plenty of white and yellow perch, it’s a great spot for rookie ice anglers and kids since some species is bound to be biting.
That about covers the options for variety and size of favorite fish throughout the Crown of Maine. Some spots are simple to reach and easy to fish, other lakes require extra time and travel but results are usually well worth the effort. Suffice it to say that there’s something for everyone. In the off chance you don’t have a favorite fish quarry yet, just wander off to a different lake each winter weekend until you select one- or not,- variety really is the spice of life.
Contributed photo
ENJOYING THE WARMTH and comfort of a smelt hut while handlining for smelt on St. Froid lake on a cold, blustery afternoon is Lee Shaw of Mars Hill.