The state releases part of its trout brood stock every fall to create some real and unexpected excitement on the ice. In most cases, though, too few of these huge fish are present such that catching one of them falls into the category of plain-old luck. In a few select ponds, however, enough of these fish were released in the fall of 2015 that it would make sense to target them specifically. For this blog, I define a “lunker trout” as measuring between 18” and 21”. Such a fish would weigh between 3.0 and 5.0 lbs depending on its size, which would make anyone’s ice fishing day! I also defined the minimum stocking density where it becomes worthwhile to target these hogs as around 0.3 fish per acre of pond. This value represents the average stocking density for landlocked salmon throughout Maine.

The following ponds (presented in alphabetical order) met the two criteria outlined above (i.e., fish size range and minimum stocking density).

No other ponds in the State of Maine offer better odds of catching the fish of a lifetime during the 2016 ice fishing season than those listed below. It is recommended to consult the latest law book (click here for details) about special ice fishing rules that may apply on these ponds.

I did my utmost best to verify that a particular pond is indeed open for ice fishing, but I make no guarantees whatsoever that my interpretation of the convoluted Maine fishing rules is accurate or correct. It is up to each reader of this blog to ensure that a pond listed below can be fished through the ice by checking the latest regulations.

Note also that the list below excludes “kids only” ponds which have their own stocking regime and special fishing rules.

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