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

There are 3 days left in the 2008 ice fishing season, and there's still a lot of ice covering many area bodies of water.

But that doesn't mean they're all safe.

According to the acting colonel of the Maine Warden Service, Greg Sanborn, it may look like winter but that doesn't necessarily mean it is.

“Several snowfalls blanketed what was thin ice early in the season and for a while that created a danger for ice anglers and snowmobilers,” Sanborn said. “But as winter progressed and temperatures fell below freezing, layers of ice formed on top of the snow making the lakes and ponds useable. Now as temperatures warm, those early snowfalls have become problematic again. Ice that looks thick could actually be thin and unsafe because of that snow.”

People should be cautious, particularly around inlets and outlets because most of them have open water and they should be careful around obstacles that retain heat, such as rocks.

Ice is thinning all around us.

Bo Willoughby of Winslow pulls up a salmon while ice fishing with Jeremy Burbank of Clinton on Wyman Lake in Moscow on Monday. The salmon, around 12-inches long, was the only fish they caught. At far left is Burbank's seven-year-old son Caleb.

Slow fishing wasn't a problem

Story and photos by Jeff Pouland, staff photographer
I have to admit that I have an addiction to downhill skiing. So, when a friend of mine asked me to go ice fishing on a day I was going to go to Sugarloaf, something had to have gone wrong in my mind to say yes.

During the ride from Jeremy Burbank’s house in Clinton to Wyman Lake in Moscow last Monday my eyes were constantly picking lines through the trees along U.S. Route 201 especially as we drove north of Bingham to our fishing spot on Wyman Lake in Moscow.

We arrived in Moscow around 7 a.m.. drilled our holes , set our traps and were eating deer steaks for breakfast around 9 am. Slowly my mind drifted from day dreaming about powder runs that were surely still fresh from Saturday’s storm atop Sugarloaf to hilarious stories told among friends on this frozen river.

In the end, the fishing was slow. We caught one fish all day, a 12-inch salmon, and spent more time looking for firewood and sledding down the steeps banks of Wyman Lake than we did resetting our traps. I came to realize why I said yes to ice fishing and no to skiing. Hanging out with friends can be more fun than riding a chairlift by yourself. I can’t wait to hit Sugarloaf next week, though.

Jeremy Burbank of Clinton, left, his seven-year-old son Caleb and Bo Willoughby of Winslow enjoy conversation and the warmth of a fire while ice fishing on Wyman Lake in Moscow on Monday.

Morning Sentinel photographer Jeff Pouland hangs on while sledding at Wyman Lake in Moscow on Monday. Pouland was ice fishing with Jeremy Burbank of Clinton, his seven-year-old son and Bo Willoughby of Clinton. The fishing was slow but the sledding was fast.

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Staff photo by Andy Molloy
DIPPING AT DUSK: Tyler Cote, of Monmouth, jigs for smelts within a shack at Baker's Smelt Camps in Pittston Saturday evening as other anglers walk to their shacks on the Kennebec River. Most anglers caught a smelt or two as the tide turned. The smelt season should continue, with heavy ice on the river, through March.





Staff photo by Andy Molloy
ROLLING ON THE RIVER: Children roll snowballs recently on the Kennebec River before a cluster of smelt shacks. The wet, sticky snow made for excellent snowman conditions.

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Staff photo by Travis Barrett
LINING UP: Mike Guarino winds line back onto a reel on Messalonskee Lake recently. Guarino was on the prowl for northern pike and perch with Doug Hall, though the pair found some excellent smallmouth bass fishing.

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