Editor’s Note: Weekly fishing reports by Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologists begin in January. Due to the recent warm weather, this report was submitted early to update ice fishermen before the season starts.

Moosehead Lake

As the first year of the millennium closes, we look forward to the 2002 ice fishing season. However, it appears the “Grinch” passed on Christmas, and stole much of our early season fishing opportunity.

With only a few days to go before Jan. 1, ice conditions in the Moosehead Lake region on opening day will vary from marginal on our smaller ponds to almost nonexistent on our largest waters. Cold weather has finally arrived, a month late, and it is predicted to last until New Year’s Day. So the ice conditions will improve.

But our advice is to exercise extreme caution in venturing out onto any frozen surfaces. There’s no telling how much ice there is unless you check. And until you do, operating snowmobiles or ATV’s on the ice is out of the question!

In the Jackman area the lakes have frozen over, so they should provide their traditional opening-day activity. That activity could be a little sweeter on Big Wood Pond this year due to the adult brook trout that were planted there late this past fall. Fishing for salmon and splake on Big Wood is usually best the season’s first few weeks.

In the southern part of the region some ice can be expected on the smaller ponds. How safe they will be awaits inspection come Tuesday. Piper Pond in Abbot offers a popular early fishery for splake. Adult brook trout were stocked last fall in Branns Mill Pond (Dover-Foxcroft) and Harlow Pond (Parkman) and should add to the excitement of catching perch and pickerel in these two waters. But be sure to check the ice first!

Sebec Lake does not open for ice fishing until Jan. 15.

At Moosehead Lake, expect to find a little ice in some of the coves and along the shore in sheltered areas. But on Jan. 1, we will quite likely will find less ice on Moosehead than we have seen on opening day for many, many years.

There will be limited opportunities for anglers who test the ice near shore. Travel beyond the shore is not advised, even if the lake freezes over more than we expect in the next few days. Ice thickness varies and will decrease as you move away from the shore.

For the 2002 season the length limits for salmon trout and togue remain the same as in past years, but the bag limit on lake trout has been increased to 5 fish (still only 1 over 18 inches allowed). Togue fishing last winter was excellent, and if the fish cooperate, anglers should have another good year.

Smaller ponds around Moosehead that are open should have enough ice to be fished with care. Both Prong Pond (Beaver Cove Plantation) and Shirley Pond were stocked with adult trout this fall.

To the north, the small ponds should have ice that could support fishing. The large lakes, like Chesuncook and Chamberlain, still had open water only a day or two ago. They should begin to close by Jan. 1, but will not be safe for widespread travel.

If a major snowstorm holds off, and ice thickness approaches a few inches, we will be looking at a lot more opportunity by Jan. 5.

– Paul Johnson, biologist