You MUST try Ice Fishing in Camden, ME!
Pop Quiz! Select any or all below that apply to you:
Ice fishing is boring
It’s way too cold to go ice fishing
Ice fishing is harder than I’d like
Ice fishing is dangerous
If you selected any or all of the above, then read on. I’m going to convince you to try ice fishing if you’ve never been before!
It was a quiet day around the inn and we were talking about what to do. It’s winter…it’s cold…who wants to be outside. But this year we decided we wanted it to be the year of trying new stuff. Why not ice fishing? We have some friends, Garth and Deana, who live on Crenshaw Pond in Warren, Maine and we asked if we could come by to learn to do some ice fishing!
Crenshaw Pond
We arrived at their cabin and we knew it was going to be a blast the moment we got there. Ice cold beer was sitting on the tailgate of their pick up truck with a bottle of McGillicuddy’s Peppermint Schnapp’s sitting in a mound of snow. Yep….we found the right place! It’s kind of like a tailgating party at a football stadium. And their place was magical. You couldn’t have asked for a better place to go ice fishing for the first time!
We’ve never been ice fishing so Garth gave us an overview of how it works. He used a big power auger to drill the holes. It looks really really easy to use…but then again, I wasn’t the one using it. Check it out in action below! After drilling the holes, he used a skimmer (which looks like a really big ladle with holes) to clear the slushy ice out of the hole.
Now to figure out how to catch the fish. He showed us this cool contraption called a tip-up. It is made of wood with a spool of fishing line attached and a small piece of metal that goes to an orange flag. The fishing line has a hook attached to it where you put the bait and then it is dropped in the hole. Garth used shiners as bait. Once a fish bites, the flag flips up. Pretty cool! Luckily for us, Garth caught a fish before we got there. It was a pickerel.
Tip-up Trap
If you don’t know what a pickerel is….it’s a fish with some gnarly teeth. Garth told us not to touch it near its mouth so he picked it up with some pliers by its mouth so that we could see the teeth. You know that if pliers are involved, leave your fingers out! We learned that pickerel is not something you’d want to eat, which led me to the question…why ice fish for them? Garth let us know that its just for fun and to be able to hang out with friends and family.
Pickerel
Pickerel with bait in its mouth
So we waited….and waited….to catch a fish of our own. While we waited, our gal pal Deana made us some hot dogs and soup. Delish….especially for a beautiful winter day! I know a lot of people say the tropics are paradise, but I may have to beg to differ. There is something about a beautiful cabin situated among towering pine and birch trees with the earthy aroma of a fire burning and good company with great people! Mainers truly are the best!
We headed back over to the Pond to check the traps, and unfortunately, nothing was biting. We lost the chance to catch a pickerel, bass or white perch of our own (this time). But we will get them next time! Since we learned that pickerel isn’t something you’d want to eat, we threw the fish on top of the pond for a bird to catch. We got to see and hear a bald eagle in the distance waiting for us to leave, but he gave up waiting for us to move away. Another type of bird did come by got a snack though!
Fish or no fish, we had a blast! We lucked out having such a beautiful day. We couldn’t be more grateful to Deana and Garth for letting us come by. We only wanted to take up an hour of their time, but it ended up being an afternoon of laughs and learning. If you are looking for something to do this winter, why not try ice fishing? You can cross it off your bucket list! And remember….ice fishing isn’t dangerous if you know where to go. Always know how thick the ice is before you walk out there.
Thanks again to Garth and Deana! If you have the chance, you should stop by the furniture store they own. When we moved here in 2017, we moved without a bed. A local chain mattress store promised us they’d have the mattress we wanted in stock by the time we moved up here. Long story short, the chain store broke their promise and we had no bed. We found Frantz Furniture on Google and drove right over there. It was then that we met Garth and Deana and we became instant friends. They saved us a $1000 on the same mattress we were buying at the chain store and we had it delivered a few hours later. Slowly but surely we will be buying all our furniture from them. Check out their website at https://www.frantzfurniture.com/ when you have a chance!
As always, thanks for reading! And don’t forget to book a room with us soon! Always book direct on our website and save!