Garrett Coffin brought hot dogs and steak for sons Ivan, 11, and Chase, 9, and him to enjoy on their afternoon of ice fishing on Damariscotta Lake in Newcastle Sunday.

In addition to the food and the ice auger, Coffin brought a Honda dirt bike. He planned to join friends with their bikes for some riding on the ice.

The dirt biking has been going on for several weekends this winter, on the nicer days, participants said. “It’s something to do because there hasn’t been much snow for this time of  year,” Coffin, of Nobleboro, said.

“There’s at least 12 inches of ice here,” he said in answer to a question as he prepared to unload the auger from the bed of a pickup truck.

Cones were set up and bikes’ studded tires were forming tracks. One of the first riders of the afternoon, Mark Mainella of Nobleboro, wore a helmet, as did all riders observed. He compared the riding experience to flat-track dirt bike riding with the added potential the ice creates for sliding. He can get the bike up to about 50 mph on the ice. 

The noontime temperature in the area was 29 F, or 23 F with the wind chill, meteorologist Margaret Curtis of the National Weather Service’s Gray office said.

By about 12:30 p.m., a dozen vehicles were parked beside the road, on the lake side of Route 215. Within minutes, the lineup grew. Spectators dotted the shoreline under the blue sky. Trees cast long shadows onto the ice. The slope down to the ice was mostly bare ground with occasional patches of ice. Some spectators stood smiling and talking a few feet onto the frozen lake where tufts of brush protruded. Children slid sideways or forward with their boots. Some rode dirt bikes.

Damariscotta’s Keith Reilly sat on the banking. A short time earlier, he was operating a radio-controlled plane, as he does at a lot of area ponds.

The location is a good one for the hobby because it’s a big, open area and it’s flat, Reilly said.