MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 16, 2022
The Rangeley region boasts 119 of the state’s nearly 600 Maine Heritage Fish Waters, which have wild brook trout or Arctic charr and have never been stocked or stocked in at least 25 years. Previously, the region had less than 30 waters open to ice fishing compared to southern and central Maine, where all waters are open year round. In western Maine, biologists have worked to protect wild trout fisheries and some stocked fisheries from added fishing pressure. This winter, however, in response to high demand, state biologists opened seven additional ponds – roughly a third more of the region’s waters – to ice fishing, all of which are stocked.