A sampling of the fish caught from McGrath Pond in a few hours of fishing on Sunday/Staff photo by Travis Barrett

Scott Horne said it wasn't what he'd call a "typical" weekend for ice fisherman at his Wild Things bait shop in Oakland. But he did say that, considering it was the final weekend of March, business was good.

Most of that business came before the weekend even started.

Horne said that on Friday he fielded calls from across the state from anglers looking for bait -- from as far away as Portland, Lewiston and Wiscasset.

"People just can't find bait," Horne said.

At this time of year, it's not surprising. It's also not surprising that some bait dealers still have plenty of smelts to sell.

"The last weekend last year, I couldn't get any smelts for the last 3 days of the season," Horne said. "This year, I'm still driving my truck on the ice to get them."

I asked him how far north he was traveling.

"I'm not," he said. "The lake's in Augusta."

And that anecdote pretty much sums up everything we needed to know about the ice fishing season this year. We were fishing on opening day, and we were fishing on the final day of the season. We couldn't always say that in recent years.

"It's been a good year," Horne said.

-- TB