With opening day of Maine’s ice-fishing season on most waters a mere two weeks away, Dylan Larose and Dennis Daniel were keeping close tabs on temperatures Saturday.

Larose is a bait retailer who manages Dag’s Bait Shop for his father, Marcel, in Auburn. Daniel owns Ellis Pond Variety in Roxbury.

Normally, both would be very busy ordering and selling bait and ice-fishing tackle this month, prior to the season opening on Jan. 1.

However, due to the lack of ice, Larose said he’s lost money and bait. Daniel said he has yet to call his bait dealer and take delivery of 200 dozen bait he ordered two weeks ago.

“I should be selling 200 dozen a week, bare minimum, this week and this is the beginning of fishing,” Larose said.

“Not as many people ice fish in December, because on the ponds and lakes it’s catch-and-release in the southern counties where we’re at,” he said. “So. I’ve missed out on 400 dozen bait sales plus the tackle, the hooks, the weights and everything that goes with it.”

Larose said he had lost $260 worth of bait in the past two days.

Daniel orders bait for anglers who primarily fish Ellis Pond, also known as Roxbury Pond. Last week, ice was 2 inches thick there. By Friday, it was gone. On Saturday morning, the ice-making cycle began anew.

“I’m just hoping that it freezes and I’ll call the (bait) guy and say, ‘Hey, OK, send it on up,’ but it’s just too chancy right now,” Daniel said.

Larose, who is starting his third winter selling bait and tackle this month, said bait wholesalers — the people who catch the bait — and bait retailers are hurting from the finicky weather.

Normally, early ice anglers hit the Androscoggin River in a cove at the Turner Boat Launch for monster pike of the 20-pound variety, he said.

Two years ago, he sold bait on Dec. 11 to a guy going there. Last year, he sold bait to a guy on Dec. 4.

“It’s still open water right now and I have yet to sell bait to a guy to go ice fishing up there this year and that’s how far behind we are,” Larose said.

“If we have ice, I’ll sell 200 dozen (bait) on Christmas Eve,” he said.

In fact, he’s anticipating just that and said he’ll have plenty of bait and be open Christmas morning. Daniel will also have bait aplenty.

By the week of Thanksgiving last year, Ellis Pond had ice from 3 to 5 inches thick, Daniel said.

By Saturday afternoon, he said poor ice had formed in the coves and to about 75 feet from shore by the boat launch.

“It’s what I would call junk ice,” Daniel said. “It’s all full of ripples and bumps. It’s very wavy, so I would say it’s very dangerous, even that first 75 feet. If we can get the right conditions, this thing is going to freeze, literally.”

To grow ice on Maine waters, it takes temperatures in the 20s to below zero and no wind, but it also depends on the size and depth of the body of water, Lt. Adam Gormely of the Maine Warden Service said Saturday.

“Water’s really probably the most difficult medium to change with temperature,” he said. “That’s why you see the bigger, deeper lakes, they don’t freeze as much, Sebago being a prime example.

“If we had a few zero-degree nights with no wind, we’d see some of the smaller ponds button up quick,” Gormely said. “So we could still very easily have ice for January. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities.”

The best way to test the ice is to take a chisel and step out onto the lake, one step at a time and chisel your hole, Gormely said.

“You’ve got to test the ice,” he said. “People always want to hear, ‘What’s the magic number? What’s safe to go on?’”

He said 4 inches of ice would probably support people, but the problem is that ice thickness could be 2 inches or less in other places on the same pond or lake.

“I don’t like 2 inches of ice,” Gormely said. “It would probably hold you, but I don’t like the ‘probably.’ I’ve got young boys who love to ice fish and I like to see 6 inches before we’re going fishing. That gives me some support.”

He cautioned anyone venturing out on the ice in the next few days as a cold spell sets in, saying winter hasn’t yet arrived.

“Weird thing is, this Halloween and this Thanksgiving were white,” Larose said. “You know we had such early indications of winter. Even the Farmers’ Almanac said there was going to be an early freeze. I burnt my Farmers’ Almanac. I threw it in the fire.”

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

GRAY — Meteorologist Mike Kistner with the National Weather Service offered hope on Saturday for ice anglers and bait and tackle sellers.

Temperatures were expected to fall considerably Saturday night and into the early workweek.

“It looks like temperatures for highs will stay below freezing all day tomorrow, probably top out in most areas in the mid to upper 20s, so some cold air is finally coming,” he said.

However, he doesn’t think it will last long.

“We’ve got a little system that’s going to come through and we could possibly see some rain coming on or toward the end of the week,” he said.

Long range, Kistner said toward Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, temperatures return to single digits up north and the low teens farther south.

A few days beyond that, temperatures could return to below zero, if cold air plunging down from Canada reaches Maine.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com