Whitefish Caught In Cold Stream Pond Ice Fishing Derby

News spread quickly around Cold Stream Pond on Sunday, February 22, the last day of the local Boy Scout Ice Fishing Derby, that a pair of lake whitefish had been caught and registered by the Maine Inland Fisheries Department on the Lowell/Lincoln end of the lake.

Local anglers have known that Upper Cold Stream (locally known as The Big Narrows) has had a population of whitefish for over thirty years, but even one fisheries employee seemed surprised to hear the news of whitefish in the big lake.

The catch for the day according to one source, was average to good, although the word was that Saturday was a slow day on most parts of the lake. One party on Sunday landed six togue, while others caught some salmon and a few perch in the some of the shallower parts of the lake.

There were even reports of a couple of near miss brook trout that likely would have weighed in around five lbs.

Fish At Last

Our most recent outing produced more action than we have seen in our scant outings this year. We fished all smelts, at varying depths, and chased down six flags. It was not until about 3:30 PM (the fish always seem to bite better in the afternoon) when I finally hooked one. Up until then all we had done was lose bait, and change out chewed up bait.The wind was brutal, as this was Valentines day, and everything that was not bolted or weighed down seemed to blow away.

The togue we landed was almost 23" long and weighed probably in the 3- 3 1/2 lb ballpark. He put up a tough but brief fight as we were near the hole when he tripped the flag. He probably only ran twenty feet of line out before I set the hook. There is a picture of this fish to your right. Yeah, that's me, crooked smile and all. But if you are from away, please note, some of us Mainers do still have all our teeth. LOL.

Anyway, it was a great day on the ice and we were getting warmed up for a three day tournament next weekend. My daughter will be in attendance, defending her title in two categories from the same tournament last year. I will try and post a bunch of pictures, maybe even a video, as it goes along. Thanks!

Skunked!

Well, after finishing off last year like a house of fire, we got skunked on our first trip of the season this year. Yeah, yeah, I hear ya out there. It went kinda like this; Jason, Jean and Nate struck off to Cold Stream Pond in a snowstorm before dawn, temps about -8 without the windchill. We set up the first ten traps, then did a little set up on the last five. By ten AM we were froze up pretty good and the heater wasn't acting just right, but that's okay, at least if you're catching fish. But we weren't.

So, to make a long story short, after our hiatus setting up traps, Nate and I immediately popped the cord on the auger, and precluded the possibility of drilling any more holes. We fished until three thirtyish to no avail. I did play tug and pull with either a togue or large salmon as we were picking up traps, but it gave up before I was ready to.

Buried in snow we headed back to dig out the truck. Our very nice honey hole from last year didn't produce this time, but last year we caught fish on every trip (even some nice 5+ pounders).

We'll probably give it a try again on Monday, but may move up the lake a little. It is important to note that another party of four was right behind us on the lake. They chased down four flags but never got a hook set. Their first flag came no more than two minutes after they set a Heritage Laker in the hole.

The fish are there, but I guess tonight I'll spend some time watching guys catch them on youtube. Oh yeah, and Nate, you looked like freakin Hannibal Lecter in your new mask.