Ice Fishing

Across the northern stretches of the region, ice fishing in Aroostook County centers on expansive waterways like the Fish River Chain of Lakes. On Long Lake, ice anglers set up heated ice shanties directly on the hard water, with public boat launches in St. Agatha providing access behind the Town Office marina. The Long Lake Ice Fishing Derby, initiated in the autumn of 2005 by the Black Bear Rod & Gun Club and held annually in late January, has grown into Maine's largest ice fishing tournament. Spanning ten lakes across the St. John Valley including Cross Lake, Square Lake, and Eagle Lake, the event directs proceeds to the Edgar J. Paradis Cancer Fund. Anglers target landlocked salmon, togue, brook trout, perch, and muskellunge, riding snowmobiles out to decorated shacks that dot the ice.

Winter traditions thrive equally on nearby waters. On Eagle Lake, clusters of winter shacks form busy encampments where anglers target lake trout, brook trout, landlocked salmon, cusk, and hook-and-line rainbow smelt. Square Lake similarly yields togue, salmon, and hook-and-line smelt, while Portage Lake and Scopan Lake draw those jigging for rainbow smelt. Farther north along the Saint John River valley and Glazier Lake, heavy tackle and oversized ice holes are readied for muskellunge, with anglers setting and breaking Maine state ice-fishing records on Glazier Lake. To the west, the Allagash Wilderness Waterway river corridor, managed by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, provides ice fishing access checkpoints at Michaud Farm and Churchill Dam.

Heading south and east, community derbies and local ponds keep lines tight through the middle of the winter. Anglers on East Grand Lake in Weston fish from portable shelters or permanent shacks, jigging bright lures for prize salmon and togue weighed in at Butterfield's Landing. In Island Falls, a two-day derby on Mattawamkeag Lake and Pleasant Pond offers cash prizes, while the Benedicta Snow Gang hosts an annual derby on Plunkett Pond to support local trail maintenance. In New Limerick, Nickerson Lake regularly receives stocked brook trout from the state and welcomes anglers during Houlton's MooseStompers Weekend. St. Croix Lake supports its own winter brook trout fishery, and landlocked salmon occasionally wander into Brackett Lake from connected waters.

Closer to town, waters like Arnold Brook Lake in Presque Isle provide early-season access from the cove adjacent to the boat launch. Anglers set tip-ups and jig rods with lures in shallow water for brook trout stocked each fall by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Nearby at Aroostook State Park, Echo Lake also opens its frozen surface to winter fishing. Behind the scenes, biologists from MDIFW's Region G headquarters in Ashland monitor these fisheries through winter creel surveys from January through March, recording catch data and biological measurements to maintain healthy balances across the county's frozen waters.