Weekly Fishing Report: January 2, 2023
Fishing Conditions & Updates for Maine & New Hampshire
Week of October 3, 2022
Welcome back and happy New Year! The hope is always for cold weather and early ice, but again this year things are off to a very slow start. There is little to no ice and those who are fishing are traveling north to find enough ice to walk on. Ice conditions are inconsistent at best, and we recommend using caution when venturing out. Long range temps look to be cooling off a bit, so fingers crossed that it holds true. In the meantime, the first of a series of live webinars with full-time guide Tim Moore of Tim Moore Outdoors is coming up this Thursday 1/5 and will be coming to you from the Tim Moore Outdoors Facebook page at 7pm. In his first webinar, he will discuss the various gear he uses when on the ice. He will also be offering a discount code for certain purchases at KTP.com as well.
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago told us that the smaller ponds in the area are fishing but, as usual for this time of year, extreme caution should be used when venturing onto the ice. “They’re fishing all the small ponds. A friend of mine was out catching big largemouth bass and decent yellow perch the other day,” he said. Greg says some of the ponds with brook trout in them have been fished. “I’m not sure about the Otter Ponds. There have been some vehicles down there, but I don’t know about the ice,” he told us. He mentioned Cold Rain and Sand Pond as a couple ponds he knew anglers had been on recently.
Vern at Cobbossee Bait in Winthrop says the smaller waters in his are also fishing. “We have a few ponds with walking ice. Everything is locked up, but you can’t get on the bigger lakes yet. Little Cobbossee and the other smaller ponds have been crowded with few places to fish,” he said. Vern did say that there are a lot of little coves with 4 or 5-inches of ice on them. As usual, he says check for yourself and check as you go.
Photo courtesy of Tim Moore.
Full-time New Hampshire fishing guide Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors reported that he was still waiting for the area outside 19 Mile Bay to become thick enough to even walk on. “I’ve heard reports of 3-inches of bad ice inside 19 Mile Bay, but I can’t confirm that myself. To say we are behind is an understatement,” he said. With warm temps and rain in the forecast, Tim wasn’t very optimistic about when he would be able to start guiding. He mentioned that he knew of people that were fishing but has been seeing some taking unnecessary risks. He strongly advises using extreme caution. “Listen, it’s fishing. I want to get out there as bad as the next person, but again, it’s fishing. How important is it? Be safe and bring a spud bar to check the ice for yourself and check it often. If you have a float suit, wear it. Bring safety picks and let someone know where you are going.,” Tim said.
Jason MacKenzie at Pawtuckaway Trading Post in Raymond said the same as everyone else. “We had a few people fishing a few days ago, but that ice is all gone now. A lot of people have gone out, but none have come back with reports,” he said. Jason says there were a lot of people fishing shallow water shoreline ice for trout on some of the trout ponds with no closed season.
Mike Crouthamel at Wildlife Sport Outfitters in Manchester was fishing on Webster Lake and mentioned that there was a consistent 3-inches of ice, but the fishing was slow. “There is no fishable southern NH ice that I know of. Everyone is heading north of Concord to walk out right now,” he said. Mike says the shop is stocked with gear and this coming week they should be stocked up on all sizes of shiners. Right now they only have medium shiners, spikes, meal worms, and all the regular worms. He also said that this weekend they begin opening at 5am on the weekends.
Because of inherent time restrictions of gathering fresh, up-to-date information, editing & producing this report in a timely manner, occasional errors or marginal information may slip by us. We try our hardest to provide accurate information. We urge readers to use this report as a tool to increase their fishing pleasure and not to rely on as their sole resource. First or second-hand information is offered by fishing guides, commercial fishing charters or party boats, bait & tackle dealers, well-known successful anglers, and state & federal fisheries and natural resources enforcement officials. We also welcome and use reports forwarded to us by fishermen that use this report. - Kittery Trading Post Fishing Report Editor