Korie Higgins of Auburn knew it was going to be a good one when he saw the tail of the rainbow trout the second time the fish passed near the hole drilled through about 16 inches of ice.
Higgins had gone fishing that day on a lake in Poland with a buddy and two others, one of whom had never ice-fished before and the other had only been a couple of times. They had gotten there really early so they could get good fishing spots.
Higgins and his friend loaned their extra gear to the novice ice fishermen and helped them set their traps. They then set up their own. It wasn’t long before there was a flag on his Jack trap.
“We caught a lot of bass that day but just the one rainbow,” he said.
But it was the biggest one he’s caught this year.
That was on Saturday, Feb. 22. On Thursday, Feb. 27, he caught seven rainbow trout, four of which were similar in size to his big one a week ago, he said.
Catching the big rainbow was a lot of fun and about five or 10 minutes of intense work, he said.
The fish had come near the hole several times as Higgins pulled it in, only to let it spool the 4-pound test line back out when it took off for a run.
It had several runs before Higgins was able to line its head up with the hole and pull the fish out. You have to be careful with hand-pulling the line because it’s easy for the fish to snap it, he said.
He had caught the 20-inch, 3½ pound rainbow on live bait.
Higgins often practices catch and release unless he wants a fish dinner. This one he kept to give to a friend he knew would enjoy eating it.
He also catches a lot of white fish in a northern lake, and lake trout from Moosehead.
He just got his first trapping license at the end of last year after taking a Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife course on the subject, and has been keeping and freezing junk fish to use for coyote bait during the season.
But catching big fish can happen pretty quickly, he said.
“Sometimes you catch five or six smaller ones and sometimes you catch one that makes the day really fun,” Higgins said.
