The routine should still be to concentrate on the shallow roaming coho salmon with long-lining stick baits. This time of year ...

When ice fishing stocked trout ... slow it down with a soft-plastic bait. Try the 13 Fishing Madpole on a VMC Tungsten Tubby Jig. The tungsten jig gets you down fast and the wider hook gap ...

Bowdoinham’s Ice and Smelt Fishing Festival is a winter tradition, drawing tourists eager to fish and explore the town. However, the past two events lacked its key attraction: actual smelt fishing.

But even this bone-chilling place is feeling the effects of climate change. The ice fishing season for pond smelt opened on Feb. 6, the latest date since 1998 when such statistics were first recorded.

Four fishing seasons will shut down after March 15 – Northern pike, pickerel, walleye and inland tiger musky. They will reopen May 1. March 15 also is the final day for ice shanties on hard water.

Some anglers will aggressively jig when they should actually be slowly raising their bait. This is especially true when cold water means slower metabolisms. Put the time in to find the fish, use ...

In the Northern states, this happens a month or so after ice ... bait feeding on windblown plankton. Head to banks with nearby dropoffs and slowly swim a small white or chartreuse twister jig ...