Fishing Report January 12, 2026

The warmer weather hasn’t hurt spirits or ice conditions very much. Reports from across Maine and New Hampshire are of quality ice and great fishing. We are hearing of great splake, brown, and brook trout fishing in the Sebago region of Maine and excellent yellow and white perch and rainbow trout fishing from Winnipesaukee so far this season. Although ice conditions are good, it’s still early and anglers should use caution and safety equipment.

Maine:
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago reported a lot of people fishing locally, but has not heard of any on Sebago yet. “The Lower Bay has ice and I was worried that the wind blew some of it out, but it stayed. After a couple of warm days, it will tighten back up again and get thicker. I saw a nice brook trout from Tricky Pond the other day. It was about 4 pounds. Some folks who came in, did really good at Range Pond catching stocked trout. I also heard of good white perch fishing up to Long Lake. Some other guys went into Cold Rain Pond with a bunch of kids and caught a lot of pickerel and a few brook trout. Most everyone is fishing bait, but the panfish are hitting good on small tungsten jigs. I also want to mention the annual free ice fishing event honoring veterans. It is called Operation Ray of Light at the Otter Ponds in Standish on January 24, with parking at the Johnson Field. All people need to bring is their clothing. Fishing equipment and bait will be provided,” he said.

Vern at Cobbossee Bait happily reported that the snow has gone from the ice, making walking and ATV travel a breeze. “We’re back to glare ice skating ice on all the lakes. It has smoothed down nicely. We got a little dusting of snow for snowmobiles that don’t have picks or scratchers. It seems like everyone is catching fish. I had almost 4000 customers from Thursday through Sunday. It’s been just great. Even the smelt shack on the river are renting now. The fishing seems to be good for everybody,” he said.

James Eddy Smelt Camps in Dresden told us that they have 17 camps out and the fishing has been good. “We are fishing just the outgoing tide because of the soft weather the past week. The night tides have been best, but the fishing has been good all the time, really” she said.

New Hampshire:
Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors/Lake Winnipesaukee Fishing Guide Service on Lake Winnipesaukee told us that ice conditions are the best he has seen in five years, with 13 inches of ice in some areas of Winnipesaukee. “The ice is great, but still widely variable from area to area. People need to be careful and remember that it’s still early ice, especially with the recent warm weather. The fishing has been great, though. I’ve been scouting a bit and caught a bunch of skinny lake trout and some nice white perch. Everything has been on either a gold Leech Flutter Spoon or a silver Pinhead Pro tipped with a bit of worm. I’m happy that NH Fish and Game has reduced the lake trout size limit on lake trout/salmon lakes to 15 inches. The lakers are getting stunted and it will be nice to see some of the smaller fish taken out,” he said.

Alan Nute at Winnisquam Country Store in Tilton says there are a lot of people fishing and it has been pretty good. “People are pretty much going to most of the places they want to go, except for the broads on Winni. I’ve seen some nice lakers from Sunapee. Newfound looks okay for ice and access. Bucktails and Swedish Pimples are doing well. I’m hearing more reports of good yellow perch fishing on Winnipesaukee. The ponds are doing well for pickerel and bass,” he said.

Lon Berry at Berry’s Bait in Alton Bay said they had another extremely busy weekend on Alton Bay. “There were a lot of nice big rainbows caught over the weekend. Beautiful fish. Lots of lakers, but most of them are really skinny. I had a couple guys in who did really well on white perch. Alton Bay has a pretty consistent 11 inches of ice. The yellow perch and lake trout were busy in Alton Bay. We had a lot of people catching cusk on Winni over the weekend too. The smaller ponds have 12 inches or better of ice and seem to be producing some decent black crappie and yellow perch. Productive lures were kind of a mixed bag, but a lot of ½ ounce bucktails and a lot of small tungsten stuff. No specific hot colors that we were told of. Shiners & smelt flew out the door and we are loaded up for another week of it,” he said.