Fishing Report January 26, 2026

The recent snowstorm put a damper on some reports, as many were digging out when a second wave of snow made for even more clean up. That said, reports from the past weekend were very similar, with extreme cold temps keeping the hearty inside shelters and many off the ice. The Patriots AFC Championship game kept many others off the ice on Sunday. Those who fished, reported slower catches in the cold, but as usual, persistence pays.

Maine:
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago reported that some anglers are fishing Sebago and the crappie are biting well. “They’re fishing pretty good down at the station. They’re getting fish. They aren’t setting the world on fire, but some are having some good days. They may only bite for a little while, but when they bite, they bite good. The lake froze over yesterday out in front of the store and there aren’t a lot of wet spots in the snow as far out as I can see. The wind is blowing and it hasn’t blown it out, so that’s good. Hopefully it holds. At any rate, if you head out there, you need to be careful and check as you go. I got into some nice crappie the other day, up to 15 inches at Lovewell Pond. Pink was working really well, which I don’t normally use. They are still fishing Tricky and picking up a few fish. It’s not as good as it was, but still decent. The veteran’s derby has been postponed to this Saturday. All veterans need to do is show up. They’ll have a warming hut, transportation down to the pond, all the fishing equipment, and they’ll be cooking some food,” he said.

Vern at Cobbossee Bait happily told us that conditions are excellent and the fishing has been decent, despite the cold. “We only got about 10 inches of snow up here in Kennebec County. Things have slowed down a bit due to the cold as far as the amount of fishing goes. The people who are catching are doing pretty well. Saturday was much busier than Sunday. Conditions to take a snowmobile out riding and fishing are as good as they get. The two days before it got cold were very busy. Thursday and Friday were like a Saturday or Sunday. Anglers are using a lot of smelt and shiners, but smelt always seem to outfish the shiners. There’s been a lot of people making the trip to Moosehead for those big brook trout,” he told us.

New Hampshire:
Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors/Lake Winnipesaukee Fishing Guide Service on Lake Winnipesaukee reported a busy weekend in the cold. “Man, it was brutal out there. We had great people all weekend and the fishing was decent. Bitter cold and wind made being outside, tending tip ups a chore, but the jig bite was slow, so we persevered. We caught a mix of lake trout, white perch, and smallmouth bass. The fish we caught on jigs were on a pink 1/8-ounce Clam Pinhead Minnow tipped with a bit of worm. We had been doing really well with the Clam Predator Tip Ups and live smelt, but it was so cold and windy over the weekend that we used the Trophy Thermal Tip Ups. We still did well, but everyone loves reeling their fish in on a rod over handlining,” he said.

Alan Nute at Winnisquam Country Store in Tilton said that people are still fishing in the cold over the weekend. “They don’t seem to be letting the cold stop them. They’re still out catching. It slowed down a little bit. We are registering some snowmobiles today with all this snow. It will make fishing on foot tough. Bucktails and Swedish Pimples have been good for lakers, and glow Swimsticks have been good for cusk. Jumbo shiners put down live on cusk traps have been working really well,” he said.