IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Washington => Ice Fishing Washington => Topic started by: spiltmilt on Nov 01, 2017, 11:18 PM
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Located near the town of Newport this lake hosts Kokanee, Burbot, and Mackinaw.
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Have you ever fished this one in the winter? It's in striking distance for us so we might check it out this season.
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I have fished it. I did not catch anything but do have verified reports of good size burbot and mackinaw in this lake.
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Thank you for the info. Sounds worth checking out.
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Anyone been up to Bead to check ice thickness? I’m itching to get back up there, but I want to know that it’s worth the drive from the valley. (My truck is a gas guzzler) I’m headed back to Eloika in the AM...report to follow.
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Flam
I may see you out there-going to Eloika tomorrow as well-probably make it before noon-are you going to be at the south access or jerrys resort?
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I was planning on Jerry’s. I pay the $3 and hoof it from there. I’m hoping to be there by 9. I’ll have an IceShanty flag flying off the back of my smitty-sled. Come say ‘hello’!
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We got there a little later than I expected-I didn't see your flag but my eyesight isn't very good we were north of the resort-how did you do?-We got 1 nice (10'') perch and 5 dinks in 4 hours of fishing. Horrible bite. whats the deal?
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Pretty slow morning for me, as well. I brought a couple (small) large-mouth bass, and one decent perch through the ice. (They were returned to grow bigger) I was gone by 1PM. Really slow bite out there. Noone was doing much good.
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Heading up to Bead on Friday to check conditions and up to fish on Monday if it looks ok. I'll post how it went. Newport's been colder than Spo so hopefully ice is still ok
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A friends father-in-law drives by Bead lake almost daily, and reports that there has been people out ice fishing. I’m guessing the ice is fine? I look forward to your report! Good luck!
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Went to bead yesterday-Ice is O.K. 3" clear 3" milky unfrozen slush layer in between layers. Open water past the power lines however so fishable only in the southeast part of the lake. Lake is freezing at night so the ice it has should be good for a while. Fishing not good. Fished from 9am to 4 pm zero bites between 5 poles. We were targeting burbot and kokanee. We marked fish with the finder in 30-50' (kokanee?) but could not get any love. 3 other groups out on the lake when we got there saw no fish landed all day. One group said they caught 2 small burbot right before sunrise but they hadn't had a bite the whole rest of the day. Public access to the lake takes a trek-the road to the boat launch is closed so you have to park on the main road and walk in-very limited parking by the gate and super steep to get down.-just sayin. Given the drive and lack of bite I won't be going back this year.
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Getting skunked on Bead is more the norm. It seems to be a real hit and miss lake. Thanks for the report.
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Anybody ever try for the Macs in there?
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hit bead lake 12 dec. not a hit. saw 2 small berbot caught ice was about 8 - 9 inches
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Bead Lake has good populations of lake trout plus burbot and a huge population of pike minnow and some Kokanee. If you look at the bathymetry of Bead, the saddle at 45' under the power lines divides the two lake basins. The saddle always has fish on it and the major point across the lake also has fish. I have only fished soft water there but most of the lake trout range between 8-14 lbs. Usually, 1/2 zzingers work the best thru the ice because of the free rotation on the line but in soft water tubes are better. Interestingly, some of the lake trout have aluminum tags in the jaw from a local doing his own research years ago.
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Bead Lake has good populations of lake trout plus burbot and a huge population of pike minnow and some Kokanee. If you look at the bathymetry of Bead, the saddle at 45' under the power lines divides the two lake basins. The saddle always has fish on it and the major point across the lake also has fish. I have only fished soft water there but most of the lake trout range between 8-14 lbs. Usually, 1/2 zzingers work the best thru the ice because of the free rotation on the line but in soft water tubes are better. Interestingly, some of the lake trout have aluminum tags in the jaw from a local doing his own research years ago.
Thanks for the info. Have heard about the lake but never tried. Any particular color on the zzingers? White always works good for lakers on Priest.
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I don’t think color matters as much as giving it lots of slack so it free falls and sends out vibration that hits the lateral line. Hi viz braid is imperative because you don’t feel bites on the drop just see the line twich. Also use a 2’ leader of fluor or mono about 12 lb with a barrel swivel and change it often as it gets nicked by the lure. Gamakatsu or owner #1 trebles are sharp. The fish have rarely seen these lures so they work well, i once hooked 4 large fish in 45” min on Bonaparte where I usually only catch 2 a day.
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Heading up to Bead tomorrow evening with a friend to check ice thickness, and burbot attitudes. We’ll be hitting our normal spots, ice permitting, hoping to get on some hungry fish. Stay tuned!
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Having never fished for burbot or lakers before, I am definitely interested to hear your report!
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No bites in just over 5 hours of fishing, made for a slow and cold night. The trek just to get to our spots, was treacherous, to say the least! There’s about 6” to 10” of snow on top of the ice, with some being packed, but mostly just powdery. There was a slush layer in a few spots, which made it even harder to walk. It made for a long haul, even with our smitty-sleds. At 60 years of age, it was a chore. (And I’m in shape! Sad shape, I guess!)
We got to Bead after 4 sometime, and were fishing by 5:30, or so. I saw a couple fish come through on my Showdown, but nothing hung around long enough to matter. I did notice twice, when I had the fish-finder in full water column, that it looked like a school of kokanee came by, but we were only set up for burbot, and not after the kokes.
The burbot fishing, for me at least, has been hit or miss, at best. This year so far, a complete whiff!
I shall return, but probably not again this year.
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No bites in just over 5 hours of fishing, made for a slow and cold night. The trek just to get to our spots, was treacherous, to say the least! There’s about 6” to 10” of snow on top of the ice, with some being packed, but mostly just powdery. There was a slush layer in a few spots, which made it even harder to walk. It made for a long haul, even with our smitty-sleds. At 60 years of age, it was a chore. (And I’m in shape! Sad shape, I guess!)
We got to Bead after 4 sometime, and were fishing by 5:30, or so. I saw a couple fish come through on my Showdown, but nothing hung around long enough to matter. I did notice twice, when I had the fish-finder in full water column, that it looked like a school of kokanee came by, but we were only set up for burbot, and not after the kokes.
The burbot fishing, for me at least, has been hit or miss, at best. This year so far, a complete whiff!
I shall return, but probably not again this year.
How thick was the ice?
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6" to 8" clear underneath anywhere from 6" to 12" powdery stuff on top. There were a few areas with a slush layer between the snow, and the ice layer. A VERY tough slog! It was a sliver moon, on a cold night, with no bites. Darn glad we had a warming shanty to pop in, once in awhile, but it got tough to keep the holes, rod eyelets, or our reels from icing pretty bad.
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Anyone been out on Bead Lake in 2022 yet? I love fishing there but it's quite the drive... curious if there's safe ice near the boat ramp
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I am going to head up to check it tomorrow. I will let you know what I find. I have never fished it but I am hoping to try for Mac’s and burbot.
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(https://i.postimg.cc/K46cVhnh/3-BC48680-40-EE-4147-B585-D8-E55-E005-A33.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/K46cVhnh)
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Glad to see this thread has some new life in it! Bead is a somewhat enigmatic lake for fisherman. I'm new to this forum but figured I would sign up to make my contribution to the fishing reports. I'm heading up there today and plan on spending the night on the lake. My plan is to spilt up our gear between macs and kokes during the day, then head back out and pound the bottom for a few hours after dinner to see if we can't get hooked into a burb. Bringing my video gear so hopefully I will have a report for you guys in a few days and a video of the triumph/failure to follow.
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Well, it was a tough weekend for everybody. After a day and a half of hard fishing my buddy and I had one squawfish to show for it. Fished the powerlines hard on Saturday, mostly for macs. Only saw about half a dozen marks on the finder so we headed east to the next arm where we set up camp for the night. lots of really small marks suspended in 30ft on a sharp break but no bait takers. I think they were some kind of fry. Fished our way back and had a report of one burb being caught back at the saddle and a couple more squawfish but that was it. Some locals that were heading out on Saturday that had fished Friday night said they got skunked but managed 5 burbs right by the launch last weekend. They thought it the poor fishing might have been from the cold front a low pressure that came in on Thursday. Anyway, ice was a solid 8" in the south arm there but got thin real quick in the main lake basin I turned around over about 70fow when the ice got down to about 3" :o Bead might have won this round but the game is far from over for me.
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Any reports on Bead Lake with all of this warm weather? How thick is the ice? How are the edges holding up?