Category Archives: Fishing Tips

Best ice fishing ponds for catching large trout in Androscoggin County, Maine (winter of 2014)

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A dozen ponds in Androscoggin County, Maine, were stocked in the fall of 2013 with trout to support ice fishing. Most of these fish are relatively small (7” to 12”), but plentiful, in order to provide fast action on the ice.

The state also spices-up several of these ponds with bigger trout, which I define here as fish measuring 13” or more and weighing at least 1.0 lb. This blog highlights the ponds (presented in alphabetical order) in Androscoggin County where ice fishermen have the best odds of catching those larger fish through the ice.

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Best ice fishing ponds for catching lunker trout in Maine (winter of 2014)

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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 2013 that it would make sense to target them specifically.

For this blog, I define a “lunker trout” as measuring between 19” and 24”. Such a fish would weigh between 3.0 and 6.0 lbs depending on its size, which would make anyone’s ice fishing day! I also defined the minimum stocking density where it becomes worth targeting these fish as around 0.3 fish per acre of pond. This value represents the average stocking density for landlocked salmon throughout Maine.

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TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Waldo County, Maine

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For the purpose of this blog, I’ll define a brook trout pond as a body of water less than 50 acres in size which is stocked in the fall with hatchery-reared brook trout to support ice fishing.  Such small ponds freeze over early in the season and are typically safe to fish several weeks before the bigger lakes become accessible.  This provides a real opportunity for hot early-season action for those of us (myself included!) who just can’t wait to catch brookies through the ice.

The two TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Waldo County are highlighted below.  A pond is considered “top” based on its stocking density: the more trout are stocked per acre, the higher the chances of catching them.

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TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Piscataquis County, Maine

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For the purpose of this blog, I’ll define a brook trout pond as a body of water less than 50 acres in size (well, give or take…) which is stocked in the fall with hatchery-reared brook trout to support ice fishing.  Such small ponds freeze over early in the season and are typically safe to fish several weeks before the bigger lakes become accessible.  This provides a real opportunity for hot early-season action for those of us (myself included!) who just can’t wait to catch brookies through the ice.

The TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Piscataquis County are highlighted below (in alphabetical order).  Only a handful of ponds are listed because most of the smaller water bodies are closed to ice fishing.  A pond is considered “TOP” based on its stocking density: the more trout are stocked per acre, the higher the chances of catching them.

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TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Penobscot County, Maine

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For the purpose of this blog, I’ll define a brook trout pond as a body of water less than 50 acres in size which is stocked in the fall with hatchery-reared brook trout to support ice fishing.  Such small ponds freeze over early in the season and are typically safe to fish several weeks before the bigger lakes become accessible.  This provides a real opportunity for hot early-season action for those of us (myself included!) who just can’t wait to catch brookies through the ice.

The TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Penobscot County are highlighted below (in alphabetical order).  Only a handful of ponds are listed because most of the water bodies open to ice fishing in Penobscot County exceed 50 acres.  A pond is considered “TOP” based on its stocking density: the more trout are stocked per acre, the higher the chances of catching them.

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TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Oxford County, Maine

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For the purpose of this blog, I’ll define a brook trout pond as a body of water less than 50 acres in size (well, give or take…) which is stocked in the fall with hatchery-reared brook trout to support ice fishing.  These small ponds freeze over early in the season and are typically safe to fish several weeks before the bigger lakes become accessible.  This provides a real opportunity for hot early-season action for those of us (myself included!) who just can’t wait to catch brookies through the ice.

The TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Oxford County are highlighted below (in alphabetical order).  A pond is considered “top” based on its stocking density: the more trout are stocked per acre, the higher the chances of catching them. Note that the list is rather short because most of the smaller ponds which are stocked in the fall are closed to ice fishing.

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TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Knox County, Maine

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For the purpose of this blog, I’ll define a brook trout pond as a body of water less than 50 acres in size (well, give or take…) which is stocked in the fall with hatchery-reared brook trout to support ice fishing.  These small ponds freeze over early in the season and are typically safe to fish several weeks before the bigger lakes become accessible.  This provides a real opportunity for hot early-season action for those of us (myself included!) who just can’t wait to catch brookies through the ice.

The TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Knox County are highlighted below (in alphabetical order).  A pond is considered “top” based on its stocking density: the more trout are stocked per acre, the higher the chances of catching them.

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TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Washington County, Maine

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For the purpose of this blog, I’ll define a brook trout pond as a body of water less than 50 acres in size which is stocked in the fall with hatchery-reared brook trout to support ice fishing.  These small ponds freeze over early in the season and are typically safe to fish several weeks before the bigger lakes become accessible.  This provides a real opportunity for hot early-season action for those of us (myself included!) who just can’t wait to catch brookies through the ice.

The TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Washington County are highlighted below (in alphabetical order).  A pond is considered “top” based on its stocking density: the more trout are stocked per acre, the higher the chances of catching them.

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TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Androscoggin County, Maine

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For the purpose of this blog, I’ll define a brook trout pond as a body of water less than 50 acres in size which is stocked in the fall with hatchery-reared brook trout to support ice fishing.  These small ponds freeze over early in the season and are typically safe to fish several weeks before the bigger lakes become accessible.  This provides a real opportunity for hot early-season action for those of us (myself included!) who just can’t wait to catch brookies through the ice.

The TOP brook trout ponds for the 2013 ice fishing season in Androscoggin County are highlighted below (in alphabetical order).  A pond is considered “top” based on its stocking density: the more trout are stocked per acre, the higher the chances of catching them.

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TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Hancock County, Maine

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For the purpose of this blog, I’ll define a brook trout pond as a body of water less than 50 acres in size which is stocked in the fall with hatchery-reared brook trout to support ice fishing.  These small ponds freeze over early in the season and are typically safe to fish several weeks before the bigger lakes become accessible.  This provides a real opportunity for hot early-season action for those of us (myself included!) who just can’twait to catch brookies through the ice.

The TOP brook trout ponds for the 2014 ice fishing season in Hancock County are highlighted below (in alphabetical order).  A pond is considered “top” based on its stocking density: the more trout are stocked per acre, the higher the chances of catching them.

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