Weekly Fishing Report: March 13, 2023
Fishing Conditions & Updates for Maine & New Hampshire
Week of March 13, 2023
Winter is still hanging on for ice anglers, but southern New England is beginning to send murmurs of open water fishing. We’ve even heard rumors of trout stocking activity in southern Massachusetts. There are still lots of ice fishing opportunities to be had. While many don’t like to see these repeated snow storms this time of year, those who regularly ice fish know that it’s that snow that is saving the little ice we have this year.
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago reported that there were some crazy souls fishing the lower bay on Sebago. “A spud bar goes through with one hit, so I can’t imagine how those guys haven’t gone through yet. I don’t recommend heading out there,” he said. Greg said he made it to Thompson Lake and caught ten lake trout, with the biggest being 18.5-inches. He was fishing light tackle and had a blast. He told us that some of the ponds had trout stocked in them and has been catching a lot of nice brook trout. He mentioned Cold Rain and Sand Pond as a couple of noteworthy places to try. Greg said Woods Pond in Bridgeton was producing a bunch of largemouth bass as well.
Vern at Cobbossee Bait in Winthrop told us that the conditions were holding on in his area of Kennebec County, but the slush was coming with more snow and warm temps on the way. “Right now, we’ve got perfect ice fishing conditions. We’ve had a couple of slushy days, but things tighten up at night,” he said. Vern says Echo Lake in Mount Vernon has been attracting a lot of attention. He guesses there must be some nice fish being caught there lately.
Full-time New Hampshire fishing guide Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors told us that he was surprised he was still on the lake at all. “I’ve had to cancel a couple of trips because I was concerned about the warm temps, but cooler nighttime temperatures tightened things back up. The fishing has been pretty good too, with lakers and white perch caught regularly, but the smallmouth bass have been biting very well in the past week,” he said. Tim reports live smelt on tip ups being the hot ticket in the past week but says if the coming rain doesn’t wipe out the ice, the white perch and lake trout should begin feeding more as increased oxygen levels cause things to come to life.
Mike Crouthamel at Wildlife Sport Outfitters in Manchester reported that things were all but over in southern New Hampshire. “I think that’s going to be about it for us. We’re going to close our bait tanks down so we can get them cleaned and ready for spring fishing,” he said. Mike said they are beginning to transition the shop over to open water fishing. Mike was looking at some areas in northern Massachusetts that some folks are already bass fishing and he heard rumors that the trout stocking trucks have already begun rolling in parts of that state
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