AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is encouraging ice anglers to continue fishing come April 1, the traditional day when they’d have to stow their ice-fishing traps and augers.

However, ice anglers who use fishing shacks must still remove them from lakes and ponds by Tuesday, April 1. Portable shelters are allowed, according to a department news release Friday.

Many water bodies are still making ice. Sub-freezing temperatures that began in November have persisted every month, even past the calendar’s first day of spring.

“I was talking to a fishing biologist with 25 years of experience the other day and he told me this is the first year that he’s ever seen the ice thickness increase in March,” state wildlife biologist Chuck Hulsey said Thursday.

April 1 is the traditional start to Maine’s open-water fishing season, but the department said anglers can still legally ice-fish on many waterways throughout the state.

In the past, no matter what the weather was like, ice anglers had to pack it in come the first day of April. But thanks to winter’s refusal to succumb to spring, and the department’s efforts to streamline Maine’s fishing laws and expand opportunities, anglers can ice-fish on many lakes and ponds, so long as the ice is safe. The department went to year-round fishing laws throughout much of the state four years ago, giving anglers more waters and longer seasons to fish while simplifying Maine’s fishing law book.

“So while others may debate the pros and cons of climate change, don’t put your ice-fishing gear away just yet,” the news release said. “Go out and check the safety of the ice on your favorite pond, and enjoy another outing on the ice.”

In Southern, Central and Down East Maine, if lakes or ponds are open to ice-fishing and open-water fishing under general-law fishing provisions, anglers can continue to ice-fish, unless that lake or pond has a special rule specifying otherwise, the release said.

In Northern and Western Maine, anglers can ice-fish in April on lakes and ponds that are designated with the “A” season in the law book.

Always check the safety of the ice before heading out by chiseling or drilling holes and measuring.

“Remember, springtime ice can often be softer than ice in mid-winter, and areas near inlets and outlets tend to open up earlier than other parts of lakes and ponds,” according to the Inland Fisheries Department.

For detailed information on where you can and can’t fish, consult the 2014 fishing law book, which is available online at www.mefishwildlife.com or at many locations where fishing licenses are sold.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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