This has been a week of firsts! The most obvious was the turning of the calendar to 2018, but for the frozen-fun fraternity, Lake Winnipesaukee is sporting first ice, and the first smelt camps of Maine have opened for the season!
New Hampshire Ice Fishing Report
For many, there is ice fishing and then there’s Winnipesaukee! For those, the New Year has officially begun. According to Al from AJs in Meredith, Lake Winnipesaukee has caught from one end to the other. He’s hearing good reports of lakers, white perch, and rainbow trout from Center Harbor, Long Island, Guilford Bay and Meredith Harbor. There’s already anecdotal evidence of healthy numbers of smelt again. Regarding smelt, a regular of the shop recently jigged up a mess from Newfound Lake. The shop is stocked with everything from live smelt to suckers.
Joe from Granite State Rod and Reel Repair in Nashua said he’s hearing good things about brown and rainbow trout from Canobie Lake and Cobbett’s Pond; the latter has given up some real trophies through the years. For warm water species, the volume of ponds and lakes where anglers are catching is too numerous to list. Suffice to say, most everywhere has safe ice and anglers are exploring. Joe did say that anglers who don’t mind fishing relatively inaccessible spots, which require more effort to reach, are catching better. I have a hunch if you drop by the shop, Joe will give you the insider track toward the “pond-less-fished”.
Zach from Suds ‘N Soda said that finally we have a winter where Great Bay has frozen over and it didn’t take long for fisherman to drag their shacks out on the ice and catch limits of smelt. While Zach hasn’t sampled the smelt fishing just yet, he has taken a trip to Manning Lake where he found willing trout, pickerel and yellow perch.
Southern Maine Ice Fishing Report
Prior to the recent big tides, the smelt fishing among the Merrymeeting Bay/Kennebec River was very good. Catching tends to run inverse of tide swings – big tides, lead to small catches. The good news is that those plus/minus tides are in our rearview mirror and the fishing is expected to begin where it left off – when it was really good! Both Jimmy from Worthing’s and Zeke from Jim’s were confident that the catching would make the effort worthwhile. Thanks to the Nor’easter, I wasn’t able to reach anyone for the scoop on Sebago, but rest assured I’ll have that for the following week’s forecast.
Maine, New Hampshire And Vermont Fishing Forecast
First ice/any ice euphoria has now been supplanted by historically significant New England outdoor pastimes, namely ice fishing on Winnipesaukee and the opening of Southern Maine smelt camps. With attention somewhat shifting, you may find less-harried hardwater at smaller water bodies now; two in particular to consider are Cobbetts Pond and Manning Lake.
Enjoy the ice and be safe out there!