Maine Ice Fishing: March 2009

Sebago Lake Derby

A lot of preparation went into this weekend. Dan Jr, Dan Sr and Dana did some pre-derby fishing on several different parts of the lake to determine where the best area was. Although we didn't get it exactly right, we still had a lot of fun. Just so I can get the disappointment out of the way early, I'll tell you all that I can't locate the video of Danny Clifford pulling the bag out of the lake. I don't know what happened to it, but what can I say? I have a 3 year old!

Dana would have been on the lake 3 days early if he could have. Dan Jr, Felipe and Dana were on the lake and setting up around 2:30 am, and Dan Sr wasn't far behind. Dave Sr, Dave Jr, Porter and Danny Clifford showed up a little while later. For some reason, we all decided it was ok to drive our vehicles onto the ice. They served as a nice wind block/workstation/warming hut/urination station.

Dana's streak of luck continued on this day, and he caught the only fish, a 2+ pound togue. Well, technically Danny Clifford caught something, but none of us is sure (or will admit to knowing) what it was. He was jigging, and announced that he had a fish on. We all crowded around the hole, and waited for him to pull the fish up. After lots of anticipation, he pulled up a bag of something that resembled pebbles and fish. Definitely the funniest moment of the tournament. I had it all on video, but don't know what happened to it. I'm sure Danny's glad I can't find it!

Dana went on a campaign to enlist as many people as he could to stay overnight on the ice to fish for cusk. Both Lorfanos agreed to give it a shot. There were a couple of cusk caught, but all three of them nearly froze to death, and got very little sleep. They tried to sitck it out in the portable ice shack we had with a small heater, but quickly retreated to Dave Jr's truck, and burned a quarter tank of gas trying to stay warm. They were all asleep at one point, and all of a sudden, some random drunk guy opened the door and scared the crap out of them! He asked if they were ok, and then took off in his truck, destroying one of Dave Jr's traps in the process!

The rest of us went home to get a good night's sleep and returned early the next morning. Dana caught another togue, about the same size. Otherwise, not a lot to report. The winning fish for the tournament weighed 18 pounds, so we were a long way off. I think most of us have given up on jigging. Here are some pictures and videos:

Fish #1

Fish #2

FW Webb Tournament, Hancock Pond

Dave Sr, Dave Jr and Dan Jr fished the FW Webb tournament on Hancock Pond in Sebago, but with no success. Dana was there as well, but only to cook food, and wasn't able to join us for fishing. Dan Jr had a couple of late flags, but didn't pull a fish out. Here are a couple of pictures of the fish we didn't catch:

Long Lake Week #... I don't know

Here's a video from one of our days on Long Lake. Dave Sr, who hasn't had a lot of luck catching fish this year catches a nice 25 inch pickerel. It's not a salmon Dave.

Catching up... Horne Pond

It's been a while since my last post, so I'll cut to the chase, and try to highlight some of the more memorable moments from each week that I can remember. We've been fishing just about every weekend, so for the millions who read this blog, I apologize for the delay.

I'll start with our first tournament of the year. Horne Pond in Limington. Dan Sr, Dan Jr and Petros fished this pond the day before the tournament to scout things out a bit, and heard from several people that it was smart to get there very early to ensure a good spot. Dana arrived at the pond at around 3:45, followed by Dan Jr at 4:00 and Dave Jr (after circling the pond on foot) at 4:15. Dan Sr and Felips showed up a little while after ... As you can imagine, it was pitch black, so drilling holes and locating anything was pretty difficult. We only had one flashlight between 5 of us, so let's just say tempers flared a little!

Dana caught the first and only fish of the day, a 1.3 pound brown trout in the early morning. Actually, it was the only flag of the day too. It ended up getting him 5th place overall in the tournament. His prize was $200 and a trophy. But that wasn't the most significant event of the day. None of us is sure how Dana got a trap in the ice that day, since his gallon of "orange juice" was gone by around 10:00! He spent a few hours having a pretty hard time getting a full sentence out, but was back to normal by the early afternoon.

Since our ice shack resides on Long Lake, we decided to use Dan Sr's Easy Up tent as shelter . Not a great idea on this day. The wind was blowing really hard, and it took all of us to keep it continuously anchored to the ice. Here are some pictures and a video to prove that all of this really happened: