Fish & Wildlife news

The following is an excerpt from the Jan. 23 edition of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Ice Fishing Report. For more information or to view the complete report visit their Web site at www.mefishwildlife.com.
     Region G – Aroostook County
Ice conditions around northern Maine lakes have improved in the last week with the return to normal winter weather. Up to 10 inches was measured at Long Lake on Friday, Jan. 19. However, ice thickness is still highly variable with some areas on Long Lake as thin as three inches.
Relatively thin ice and the additional weight of new snow has created slush conditions on all regional lakes from the Allagash Waterway to the Fish River Chain of lakes. Recent snow has greatly improved access trails particularly those passing through wood cover. Even though we are now experiencing cold weather, a thin layer of snow on the ice is an effective insulator so that formation of new ice will be slow. Extreme caution will be necessary for the remainder of the season.
Fishing was very good during the first week on the Fish River Chain. Opening day on Square, Cross, Long and Eagle lakes was Jan. 15. Many 3.5- to 5.5- pound salmon were seen during the first week, and on the first Saturday at Long Lake, we missed measuring a salmon that tipped the scale at eight pounds and 11 ounces. We’ve noticed that anglers catching large fish like this one leave the lake almost immediately to weigh their catch on a certified scale and call their taxidermist.
Brook trout catches on regional lakes have been very good as well; we’ve measured many trout 2-3 pounds and observed on Sunday that missed four pounds by a few ounces. Angler activity in the Allagash Region was lower than expected during the past weekend; the winter storm on Friday that ended up along eastern Maine and the cold, blowing conditions on Saturday and Sunday kept anglers from heading into the backcountry.
-Frank Frost, assistant regional fisheries biologist