Despite snow, fishing is good at Moosehead and Schoodic

IF &W Staff Report

    “Bring your auger extension” are the words of wisdom from IF&W regional fisheries biologist Tim Obrey in the Moosehead region. The recent storm dumped over 20 inches of snow in the region and Obrey added that the snow now reaches the top of his windows in his office.
    Anglers have been busy on Moosehead and Obrey said it has been a fairly typical winter with good catches of togue, a few salmon and good catches of trout early on in the season.

    Obrey has visited Sebec Lake the last two weekends, surveying anglers. The fishing was very good to start the season, but has since slowed. Obrey said he saw mostly lake trout and a few salmon. The largest lake trout was seven pounds and there were a bunch in the four pound range.
    While Obrey hasn’t been on Chesuncook for two weeks, it still offers some good salmon fishing.
    Obrey did mention that if anyone still had ice shacks on area lakes, it would be prudent to jack them up and put them on blocks, as the recent snow and likely slush might freeze them in deep if they don’t.
    If you want to fish the Penobscot region, Schoodic Lake is the place to be.
    “I talked with one angler last week. He and a friend were on Schoodic and caught 24 togue. Three of them went out the following day and caught 36 togue. Most were in the 18 to 24-inch range along with a few larger ones,” said IF&W fisheries biologist Nels Kramer.
    Kramer did add that anglers are also having success handlining smelts on Schoodic as well. “You can set a few traps, and jig some smelts while you wait for flags,” suggested Kramer.
    Access onto Schoodic is very good with ample parking at the IF&W boat ramp in Lakeview, and another ramp in Brownville.
    Kramer believes travel on the lake will be good since the winds blew hard during the storm, and much of the snow that fell on the lake drifted into the woods.