This year's warm winter weather has made ice fishing impossible on some water bodies across southern and coastal Maine.
Jim McPherson is the owner of Jim's Smelt Camps, which offers winter smelt fishing along the Cathance River in Bowdoinham.
McPherson says that the river has still not iced over enough for safe fishing this year, forcing him to make the decision to cancel the entire season earlier this month.
"I definitely was disappointed. I've been doing this a long time. I've learned, Mother Nature, you can't always depend on. It would have been nice to get them on, but that's just the way things go," he says.
Mark Latti, communications director for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, says ice fishing derbies have already been canceled, and while the situation in northern Maine is better, some areas have still been affected by the warmth.
"Certain places up north have delayed ice fishing derbies, or have delayed snowmobiling events. Or changed the venue, because ice conditions or snow conditions aren't what they expected. Or what they were like in the past," he says.
Latti says before heading out to the ice, it's important to check local conditions first.
