Ice Fishing In Maine

I'm sure that every ice fisherman has a story to tell concerning their exploits on the ice but mine came back to me as I was peering at a picture of my deceased brother Lyndon which is on the dresser near my bed. My brother was one who would use a piece of equipment long after most people would have thrown it in the trash can and my story concerns one example of this fact!

In the sixties he and I went somewhere ice fishing every weekend from ice in until it was almost too dangerous to be on the ice. One of our favorite places was in Duck Cove located in the upper regions of Moosehead Lake in Maine. Duck Cove seemed to be where unusual numbers of salmon, brook trout and togue congregated in the winter.

During this February period the weather had been quite warm and as we unloaded the snow sleds we experienced a certain degree of water just beneath the surface of the snow. The farther we proceeded from the landing in Rockwood the amount of surface water seemed to increase but it didn't seem to be much of a problem until we enter the inner portion of Duck Cove. Being the diehards that we were, we proceeded to set the five traps allotted by Maine law.

Some of Lyndon's traps looked like they were on their last legs but he proceeded to string out his traps farther and farther out from the area we had chosen to set up our gear. We had decided not to use our sleds any more than we had to because of the amount of water on the ice to insure our ride back the 10 – 12 miles back to the landing.

Soon after the completion of the setting of the ice traps and as we were sampling our menu for the day I noticed one of Lyndon's traps seemed to be kind of quivering and of course it was the trap about 200 yards out. Looking again, the trap was now not quivering but started to shake violently. My brother started to walk toward the trap and the closer he got to the trap the violent thrashing accelerated. My brother tried to hurry up his pace but the slush was preventing him from crossing fast enough. As he was about 20 feet from the trap there were three separate surges and the trap was bouncing up 6 to 8 inches off the ice and a final surge the trap went up into the air and went down through the hole. Although we tried by using weighted lures and an assortment of hooks we were unable to retrieve the trap and the enormous fish attached to the other end. This was an example of the need of all fishermen, regardless of the situation, to check and double check all equipment before each adventure and replace all gear that simply won't get the job done. I believe my brother lost a real trophy size fish because of his worn out gear. Note: The next week I noticed as we were getting ready to leave on our next fishing trip there were new editions added to my brother's pack basket.

http://www.lorsey.com is a small Maine based business.www.LORSEY.COM is where you can find top quality men’s canvas fishing vests by Kakadu Traders also mens fishing sunglasses, Ameristep Ice shelters and Precision Pak fishing packs at Lorsey.com