March is like a teenager stuck in that awkward period between youth and adulthood. It’s not quite spring but it’s not winter, either. With rapidly deteriorating ice on Sebago Lake, it’s time to get out on a mild evening and do some cusk fishing.

Arguably one of the ugliest fish in our lakes (well, except for maybe the eel), the cusk is the freshwater version of the cod. Despite its ghastly appearance, it is delicious and makes a great chowder. This month, cusk leave their deep-water haunts and come into the shallows to spawn. Sandy coves are prime cusk territory and my cove is one such spot. Cusk feed voraciously on crayfish and they like rocky stretches, with small stones, not big boulders. I don’t know any bait shops that sell crayfish this time of year, but I used to catch dozens of them as a youngster using a minnow trap filled with my dad’s fillet pieces from the fish he caught. Dead fish work best for cusk and sea smelts are fine bait if you have some left over from smelt jigging trips to the coastal rivers.

Cusk are caught at night using a standard ice fishing trap baited with a dead shiner, sucker or smelt. Leave plenty of line loose on the lake floor and check your traps hourly as required by law. If you have a flag during one of your checks, you can bet it’s a cusk. My fishing partner, Rene Lavoie of Lewiston, caught a 10-pounder some years back. He said his grandmother made chowder all winter long from that fish.

For the hunting crowd, mild days and minimal snowfall spell perfect conditions for hare hunters. Nothing can compare to standing on a snowy path in the woods, hearing the approaching baying of a beagle hot on the trail of a snowshoe hare. You have to be quick as the hare is typically a few minutes ahead of the dog and they aren’t waiting around to see what’s chasing them!

Hunters without a dog can, and do, get their quarry, but it’s not as productive or as much fun. I spent many hours in my youth walking in areas of low-growing junipers, stepping through the brush to kick up a bunny. When one rocketed out of the brush it usually caught me off guard, but a few times I was lucky enough to draw a quick bead and bag the makings of hasenpfeffer, a traditional family recipe. This month is a great time to get out and exercise the legs and the shooting reflexes, and snowshoe hare provide the right outlet.

It’s also a good time to get the open-water fishing gear ready. I’ve been busy tying up sliding bait rigs in anticipation of what I think will be an early ice-out on the big lake. April will be here before we know it.

Tom Roth is a freelance outdoor writer who lives in Raymond on the shore of Sebago Lake. He has been fishing and hunting in this region for more than 30 years and is a Registered Maine Guide.

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