Fishing Report January 19, 2026

The fishing reports are of stellar fishing, but a bit less pressure with the Patriots playing the Texans in the playoffs. Anglers who are not football fans enjoyed a quiet Sunday with calm and cloudy conditions, which seemed to equate to excellent fishing all around. Reports of some great salmon, splake, and brown trout are coming in from across southern Maine. In New Hampshire, Winnipesaukee, with good ice and good fishing, has been producing a lot of really nice rainbow trout, white and yellow perch, and tons of big cusk. Smaller ponds have been excellent for warm water fish.

Maine:
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago told us that the ice in the Lower Bay of Sebago has held up, but he didn’t think it was safe to fish yet. “I haven’t heard of anyone checking the ice in the lower bay, but with the cold weather coming I would guess it will be fishable, at least on foot, soon. I don’t think a ton of people fished over the weekend. I’m sure a lot of people stayed home to watch the Patriots game. I had one guy send me a picture of a beautiful brown trout from Hancock. He didn’t get a weight on it, but it was a beautiful fish. They’re still catching some really nice splake in Tricky. Some guys have been going into Brown’s Pond and catching crappie. If you find that 30-foot depth of water you should find the crappie. Pink jigs tipped with worm or a small shiner seem to work well in there,” he told us.

Vern at Cobbossee Bait happily says that conditions and fishing are great in the Kennebec County area. “Things really picked up this weekend. There is just enough snow for snowmobiles, but not too much to keep ATVs off. There have been some nice salmon caught in the Narrows and some nice salmon and brown trout caught up to Flying Pond. No monster pike yet, but they’ll come. Smelt catches have been great and there is plenty of really nice smelt available for bait,” he said.

James Eddy Smelt Camps in Dresden reported that not much has changed with the smelt fishing and their camps. “We still only have the outgoing tide camps on right now, but the fishing has been really good. I’m not sure if we will put the incoming camps out at this point, but we’ll see,” she said.

Fisheries Resource Supervisor, Jason Seiders, noted on the Maine Fishing report that most of the following waters in the Belgrade Region were heavily stocked with various age/size brook trout back in December for ice anglers: Levenseller Pond (Searsmont), Tolman Pond (Rockport), Knight Pond (Lincolnville), Ross Pond (Bristol), Kaler Pond (Waldoboro), Maces Pond (Rockport), McGrath Pond (Oakland), Hosmer Pond (Camden), Brettuns Pond (Livermore), Round Pond (Livermore), Pinkham Pond (Alna), Sewell Pond (Arrowsic), Charles Pond (Georgetown), and Caesar Pond (Bowdoin).

New Hampshire:
Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors/Lake Winnipesaukee Fishing Guide Service on Lake Winnipesaukee is back at it, guiding and reporting good ice and great fishing. “The fishing has been excellent. We haven’t had to work very hard for them either. We have been setting up in areas and putting out a spread of Clam Predator Tip Ups (hook setting devices) with smelt and the fish have been coming through in waves, with just enough time in between to get everything reset and straighten up any messes that happen in the melee. Most of our fish are coming on the Predators, but a lot of people are opting to fish those rather than jig. We’ve seen quite a few lake trout on Pinhead Minnows and ¼ ounce Leech Flutter Spoons, though,” he reported.

Lon Berry at Berry’s Bait in Alton Bay reported another busy weekend and some excellent fishing. “It’s absolute fire out there right now. They are catching a ton of lake trout and a lot of big cusk. A lot of yellow perch, too. It’s one thing to have good ice, but having great fishing with it is making everyone’s season. Everybody’s catching fish. Smelt are going out the door for most everything, but people are even doing well using shiners. Cusk fishing has been good with bucktails and Swim Sticks with extra large shiners right on the bottom,” he said.

Alan Nute at Winnisquam Country Store in Tilton says that the fishing has been great and the ice is getting better. “We’re making ice and the coming cold snap should really thicken some of the thin areas up. I saw some decent rainbows and lakers on Winnisquam. Bucktails and Swimsticks tipped with shiner or sucker meat have been good. Kastmasters and Swedish Pimples are a staple. We’ve been seeing a lot of small jigs doing well for crappie and perch,” he told us.