Seasons Greetings,

I hope that you are surviving Covid and figuring out a way to see your loved ones in some fashion; in person or virtually. My family had our Christmas in hastily-decorated garage with car doors and windows open and everyone wearing masks. I think we deserve an A for ingenuity.

December is usually a month with little fishing activity, at least locally. The last few years, my wife and I have been fortunate enough to travel to southern climes, but not this year.

The weather has been a roller coaster. Early December was warmish, more indicative of  November. Then in mid-December we had a burst of real winter; some zeroish nights, 20 inches of snow, and 4 inches of ice on the pond

Late December brought October weather – driving wind and rain, 50 degrees, and bare ground again with open water.

Ice breaking up. It was soon completely gone.

I am old enough to remember that late December in Maine frequently meant single digit mornings, snow on the ground from early December on, and lakes and ponds locked up tight with ice. I swear our weather is New Jerseyish now, at least 10 degrees warmer than it used to be. We hardly see any below zero temps anymore.

Fishing was a roller coaster as well. Early December featured water temps still in the 40’s and trout were still active to a well placed nymph. Some big browns were caught in the Royal River and Presumpscot River – some stocked that size, others hold overs or wild fish.

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A typical early Dec. brown.

A huge holdover brown weighing in excess of four pounds, caught in slow water  (not by me)where he probably overwinters. During the summer he most likely lives in some undercut bank or under a sunken tree and only feeds at night.

Brookies were active in early December as well, and fishing tailwaters worked well.

On December 22,23, and 24th the newly formed ice was thick enough (barely) to ice fish on, at least in Windham, Maine’s small ponds and lake coves. My Floridian son-in-law had never ice fished or had a brook trout fish fry so we fished a put and take ice fishing pond, caught some brookies and fried them up. I don’t think I had kept and cooked brook trout for over ten years.

First ice fishing of the year on Dundee Pond, a few days before Christmas

My son in law, Brian, caught a number of large pickerel in front of my house.

Destined for the frying pan. We could tell from the coloring that one was recently stocked, the other two not for some time.

The warm rain melted the ice and sent rivers and streams raging with high, 35 degree, brown water. But below dams where the flow was normal and waters clear, fish could be caught if the angler could tolerate cold fingers and only the very sporadic take from a sluggish fish.

High-stick nymphing with tiny nymphs or egg patterns is the highest percentage play for winter fishing

A brookie caught December 27th on a size 20 tungsten bead red midge nymph.