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Little Ossipee Lake Ice Fishermen Get a Bite

January 14, 2009 - EAST WATERBORO — The fish weren't biting much, but plenty of munching was going on at Little Ossipee Lake on Saturday.

Hoping to build an annual tradition, Bill Stackpole got up before dawn, hitched up the trailer to haul the smoker, fired up the deep fryer and set out tables on the lake to feed whoever decided to brave single-digit temperatures to spend some time on the ice.

Stackpole had chickens, turkeys and venison smoking and had some moose meat set to go. He had the oil in the fryer a little too hot at first, but soon batches of french fries were piling up. His employer, Hannaford Bros., donated some of the supplies since Stackpole was handing the food out free.

The occasion? Nothing special. He and some friends hit on the idea last year of hot food to go along with a frozen lake.

"We said, 'Hey, let's have a party on the ice,' " he said, and it was such a hit that they were back at it again Saturday.

For ice fishing fans, a patch of thick ice is reason enough to celebrate, and the stretch of cold weather forecast for the next 10 days or so means conditions are only going to improve.

There was some open water near the middle of Little Ossipee on Saturday, but the upcoming cold means the whole lake is likely to ice up soon. Saturday, however, most of those trying a little ice fishing stayed close to shore, where the ice was about 6 to 8 inches thick.

Bill Stackpole's father, Norman Stackpole, used a small powered auger to drill a couple of holes in the ice. He unpacked a portable, personal ice shack – essentially a small folding travel chair with a pop-up cover – and dropped a line and lure into the lake through a fresh-cut hole. A plastic window in the cover allowed him to keep on eye on the other line about 10 feet away, a "tip-up" that would trigger a small flag to pop up if a fish bit on the baited hook.

Stackpole, 66, said he's caught some salmon and brook trout close to shore and hopes to snare some pickerel and bass when the ice firms up over the deeper parts of the lake. He caught a trout earlier this year that went to his 90-year-old mother.

This year's ice fishing on larger lakes, like Little Ossipee, was set back a bit by a short warm-up in December, but now conditions are getting back to normal.

The cold fall had Bill Stackpole out on the ice pretty early – he was ice fishing on a pond in Hollis two weeks before Thanksgiving. Of course, the weather that time of year is notoriously fickle.

"The very next day, you couldn't fish it," he said with a sigh. "That's living in Maine."

Don't try to tell Steve Mayberry that climate change threatens his favorite sport.

"There is no global warming," said Mayberry.

Mayberry said ice fishing seasons lengthen and shorten year to year, but he can't detect any long-term trend to warmer winters. And it won't change his plans in any case. Even though Saturday was his first day out on the lake this season, he still plans to fish this winter, including taking his usual week off in February to go ice fishing with his kids.

By EDWARD D. MURPHY, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, January 11, 2009


Lakes: Little Ossipee Lake
Regions: Sanford


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