The boys are having a good time horsing around on the glare ice!

Thompson’s Ice Pond is a miniscule 1-acre body of water located in the town of South Bristol, Lincoln County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 7 C3, but the pond is not shown due to its small size). The pond is situated at the intersection of Route 129, which runs between Damariscotta and South Bristol, and McFarlands Cove Road. I recommend searching Google Maps for “Thompson’s Ice House, South Bristol, Maine” to see its actual location. Note that a depth map is not available. Thompson’s Ice Pond is a small shallow reservoir associated with the Thompson Ice House Harvesting Museum, which is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Plenty of parking space is available next to the pond. Why bother with such a small potato? A review of the 2020 fish stocking report issued by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife shows that this tiny pond received 250 8” brookies and 50 13” brookies last fall. Do the math. That works out to an astonishing 300 brook trout per acre! Beware that between October 1 and May 31, the pond is reserved exclusively for kids under 16 years old using only two lines per person (click here for more details).

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Christian’s first brookie of the day is a nice one!

***IMPORTANT UPDATE (January 12, 2016)***: The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) appears to have made a key error publishing the rules pertaining to this pond. The hard-copy version of the 2016 fishing rules, which I used to select this pond, does NOT specifically mention Thompson’s Ice Pond under its “Special Rules” section for Lincoln County, indicating that the pond falls under the general law fishing provisions. However, the on-line version of the self-same 2016 fishing rules stipulates that Thompson’s Ice Pond is a “KIDS ONLY” pond with a two-trap limit. I would now assume that the on-line version prevails. Please beware of this deep inconsistency!! Thank you, Herb, for pointing out this problem.

Thompson’s Ice Pond is a miniscule 1-acre body of water located in the town South Bristol, Lincoln County (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 7 C3, but the pond is not shown due to its small size. Click on the Google Map above to get an exact location). The pond is situated at the intersection of Route 129, which runs between Damariscotta and South Bristol, and McFarlands Cove Road. A depth map is not available. Thompson’s Ice Pond is a small reservoir associated with Thompson’s Ice House, which is on the National Registry of Historic Places (click here for details). Plenty of parking is available next to the pond. Why bother with such a small potato? A review of the 2015 stocking report issued by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife shows that this tiny pond was stocked in the fall of 2015 with 150 8” brookies, 100 13” brookies and ten 20” brookies!! Do the math. That works out to an astonishing 260 brook trout per acre! My real focus this morning is on trying to catch one of those huge 20” – 4 lbs brookies.

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