Hello everyone,

Mid-January finally brought some wintery weather in the form of snow and cold, but it was interspersed with warmer weather and rain. Bottom Line: Very few lakes and ponds froze enough to be safe for ice-fishing or ice-skating, except in the traditionally coldest climes. Strong currents from all of the continuing rain left inlets and outlets and hundreds of yards of water nearby unfrozen.

Until you got up north to the Rangeley area and northern New Hampshire and Vermont, there was barely enough snow for skiing or snowmobiling unless snowmaking capabilities could cover the slopes. I managed to X-country for a few days.

Such a strange, non-existent winter. Only four sunny days in January, and I feel temps on many days were running ten degrees above normal. In southern Maine, we used to have double-digit numbers of nights below zero. This year? None. It hardly ever gets into the single digits.

I would predict for everyone a very early ice-out and an early start to fishing season, but can you call it ice-out when many stillwaters didn’t totally freeze? Near me, Dundee Pond only partially froze and North Gorham Pond as I write this is totally open water. A few bays of the major lakes are frozen enough to venture out, but that is it.

I did get some ice fishing in, but it wasn’t very good, maybe the fish are confused given the strange weather. I know that turkeys were gobbling, songbirds were singing their spring songs, and male woodpeckers were drilling, marking their territories in late January.

The Presumpscot River and its impoundments give up a few impressive brown trout every year. My son-in-law and myself have landed three brown trout between 3 and 4 plus pounds over the last several years. A gentlemen ice-fishing one of the impoundments at the beginning of February landed a monster. Why can’t I catch a fish like this ice fishing?

I am a member of the Sebago Chapter of Trout Unlimited, (sebagotu.org) a fine conservation and outreach organization. We host an Ice-fishing event every year on Chaffin Pond in Windham for families who want to learn about ice fishing. This year the weather was good, pond was frozen, and 70 or so hardy souls turned out. We even caught a few brook trout despite the commotion on the ice. Come join us next year,

I am always interested in hearing about your interesting fishing experiences. Email me. louzambello@gmail.com