Right after the new year, I traveled to Florida to see my new granddaughter, Mary Louise. My daughter lives on a small lake with some pretty good fishing. The crappie were certainly active and that was fun. We caught them on squirmy wormies and small white soft hackles with a zig hook.
In mid-January, winter arrived – four snowstorms totally 30 plus inches in just 10 days, followed in early February by the coldest windchill temperatures ever recorded in Portland, Maine and the surrounding areas – 40 plus below zero.
On the morning of February 4, my thermometer in Windham at 630 AM registered minus 18 degrees, the coldest I have ever seen other than a minus 20 in my old house in Pownal, Maine in the late 90s. The cold was short lived before temperatures returned to normal, but it was enough to finally freeze local ponds and lake coves sufficiently to ice fish safely.
After the wait, I got out on the ice with a vengence. Chaffin Pond yielded just one small brookie, but Dundee Pond produced half a dozen fat brook trout in short order with a few pickerel mixed in. Speaking of pickerel, they were biting like crazy on Panther Pond and we pulled almost a dozen on the ice with a few largemouth mixed in. The real monster five plus pounders we were after didn’t materialize. Oh well, that’s ice fishing.
I did hear of a couple five plus pound brown trout taken through the ice in early February on lower Range Pond. That is such an under utilized and unsung fishery.
An update on the book availability of my Flyfishers Guide to New England: It is out of stock almost everywhere as my battle with my printer continues. I have a new 2023/2024 updated version ready to go. I will keep you updated. In the meantime, the kindle version is available and certainly provides you will all of the information you require although the maps don’t work quite as well.
For those of you looking for a printed version, I still have a few I can sell you directly from my website and I will sign them. Rangeley Fly Shop, the Maine Flyrod Shop in Yarmouth, and Selene’s Fly Shop in Gardner have a few although they will go fast. My other two books are still in stock.