Sometime soon the Penobscot Fly Fishers will host its annual affair they have dubbed The Cabin Fever Reliever. Aptly named, this public event is a chance for winter-wracked fly fishers to watch some skilled fly tying demos. It is also an opportunity to chat with kindred piscators and remind ourselves that spring will come, and with it, trout season!

Another helpful cabin fever remedy can be administered without leaving the warmth of the hearth. Yes, tying up a handful of Hornbergs is one way, but thoroughly researching potential fishing waters and making specific plans is yet another.

If fly fishing for wild trout is your thing, there are more reasons than ever to include Baxter State Park in your spring fishing planner. The Baxter State Park boundaries circumvent 155 ponds. At last count there were 41 Maine Heritage trout waters within this total. These are specially designated wild trout waters that are naturally reproductive and have not been stocked in more than 25 years.

According to state fisheries biologist Nels Kramer, who oversees the Baxter fishery, there are only 9 trout waters in the park that are stocked. This is less than 6 percent of the total. These stocked waters, as part of a new experiment, are being stocked with the Sourdnahunk Strain of trout.

The following ponds have proven to me to be well worth the hike and a day of fishing, not in any particular order: Jackson Pond, Celia Pond, Lower Fowler Pond, Big and Little Rocky Pond, Kidney Pond, Daicey Pond, Slaughter Pond, Foss and Knowlton Pond and Center Pond.

My most memorable trout fishing experience in the park was at Center Pond. No lunkers, but incredibly fast action from respectable brookies. Be forewarned that it is a five-mile slog to get there through bug-infested lowlands, but, if fast action on surface flies is your thing, well worth the physical sacrifice.

It’s a good bet that no man spends as much time fishing the Park as Jay Robinson, a Maine Guide and son of the late legendary Millinocket Guide Wiggie Robinson. “Jay,” I asked, “ Which ponds get the most pressure do you think?”

“Sourdnahunk and Slaughter still have five fish limits,” he said.” They get the majority of play for the locals.” Robinson, who probably fishes Slaughter Pond a couple dozen times in a season, also makes this interesting observation. He says that a number of the once-popular ponds like Celia and Jackson get very little fishing pressure since the stricter regulations were imposed ( slot and bag limits). Says Robinson,” As soon as more restrictive regulations went into effect here with bag limits and slot limits, locals, including myself, stopped fishing here. The same held true for every other pond. Kidney, Draper, the Rockys, Celia, Jackson, all the same. You hardly see a soul out fishing these ponds.”

Like father like son. Robinson’s father Wiggie carried the banner of opposition to slot limits in the Park right up until his death.

Slot and bag limits notwithstanding, one thing is for sure: there is something for anglers of every stripe in the Park. Whether you like a few brookies for the pan or simply enjoy catching and releasing native wild trout whose progeny dates back to the last glacial period, Baxter State Park remains an angler’s paradise.

Start making some plans.

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors.” His e-mail address is paul@sportingjournal.com . He has two books “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook” and his latest, “Backtrack.”

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