Ice fishing for splake on Trickey Pond in Naples, Maine (February 21, 2015)

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Trickey Pond is a 311-acre body of water located in Naples, Cumberland County (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 4 B5). Access is via the public boat launch located at the southern tip of the lake off Route 114 (Sebago Road). Beware that this access road is unplowed in the winter, and steep. As described here, the pond offers a cornucopia of sport fish species to be caught through the ice, including landlocked salmon, splake, brook trout, and smallmouth bass. Click here for a depth map and more fisheries information. This blog identifies the pond as the go-to location in southern Maine for catching splake during the 2015 ice fishing season. That is our target species for today. Splake is a trout hybrid created by crossing a female lake trout with a male brook trout. The main advantage is that these fish are sterile. Hence, the metabolic energy that would be spent reproducing is channeled into growing fast and fat!

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Ice fishing for rainbow trout on Stanley Pond in Hiram, Maine (February 1, 2015)

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Drilling holes on a cold morning

Drilling holes on a cold morning

Stanley Pond is a three-lobed, 137-acre body of water located in Hiram, Oxford County (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 4 C2). Public access is via the municipal boat launch located on the lower lobe by the outlet on Tripptown Road (off Route 160). I choose to fish this pond today for two reasons: (a) the blizzard from 4 days ago dumped over 2 ft of drifting snow which greatly limits how far I care to walk in knee-deep snow, and (b) Stanley Pond is a top 2015 winter destination for catching rainbow trout through the ice (click here for details). My son Joel and I ice fished this pond in March 2013 but ended up skunked. However, at that time, Joel obtained good intel from two guys who were catching rainbows nearby us (click here for details). We are now going to put that information to good use. Those two guys were fishing the point of land to the right (looking upgradient) of the outlet area. It is a sweet spot because it is real close to the boat launch, has current associated with the outlet, and has an interesting depth profile close to shore. Also, this area faces west, which means that it stays in the shadow of the rising sun to the east, at least for part of the morning.

 

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