December had enough cold weather to get the ice started on the lakes, but a thaw arrived as January started. A Central Maine lake nearby had shelled over, but in a personal first, I watched the ice go out on New Year's Day rather than in late April or early May. Unreal.
By that afternoon, the lake was wide open except for some ice shelves in the coves. Enough for the ducks, but nothing bigger than that.
Fishing in open water was fast, with strikes on various spoons and then the mop up of less aggressive fish with a jig suspended under a bobber. It was mainly browns that came out to play, with a few brookies in the mix.
Peak action occurred on the 4th. I'll take a 17 fish day any day of the year, but a day like that is in the PB category for open water salmonids in January
I had expanded my search that day to several spots. The going was a bit tough on banks made greasy by thawed mud over the frost below and in high water that had me sandwiched between deep water and shoreline prickers. So far, the Simms waders have held up except for a few pinholes around the knees. No biggie since my socks have remained dry
The mix of fish that day was 11 brookies, 5 browns, and 1 landlock. I'm encouraged by the relatively high number of browns! Maybe the Seeforellen program will work out.
I encountered the same brown twice during the first half of the month, once with a high sun and, a week or so later, at dark.
I didn't notice the white spot on its flank until I got home and pulled the pics. Nice to see catch and release in action.
After mid-month the weather started to behave more like winter. I hit one spot as pancake ice was rapidly developing.
Pancake ice jingles when ripples from wading move it around. As good as wind chimes from a high end antique store
In other spots, there was pad ice or ice left on tree trunks as flows dropped. You can see how high the flow had been by strand lines on shoreline trees.
By the 17th, flows had dropped enough that I gave big flowing water a try. It was still much higher than average and ice in prime holding water was an issue.
I did scrape up a couple small salmon in one short stretch that was a bit easier to fish.
The fishing continued to be tough for the balance of the month, but I managed to come up with a series of one hit wonder trips, all on jigs. Thankfully, I was able to convert on those chances. It would have been painful to lose this guy
Adipose fin clipped, born in 2016 and stocked in 2017.
The 27th was a pre-fish day to get the lay of the land for February. Brutal. The deep snow, with thick ice crust had me post holing in swampy ground all day.
The good news is that my legs and ankles held up. The bad news is that I saw no sign of life in the fish department. Winter open water fish movements and bite windows are often a tough nut to crack from now until spring.
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