North Idaho Ice

[Ratso-jig]

Went to Hauser before light.  Bite was real good when it got light.  Caught so many I left at 8.   

[Davedb]

Any reports from Kelso, I was thinking of giving it a try this week.

[JimBob2]

Has anyone fished Mirror recently? I was wondering if anyone has caught any Kokanee besides those Zombie fish.

[CMS]

I heard a rumor that some 15” perch were being caught in front of the condos this weekend.

[Davedb]

I heard a rumor that some 15” perch were being caught in front of the condos this weekend.

Wowza! If that rumor is true, them’s some dandy perch.

[CMS]

It was a friend of a friend, I just saw a pic of one and it was closer to 14-1/2” but I know how you gotta round up. I don’t know where to park or where exactly the condos that everyone talks about are though.

[IdahoBill]

Fished Upper Twin Lake most of the day. Plenty of ice (but not too many fish lol). 6-8 inches of good ice and another 6 of honeycomb.

[Bsuman]

Hello guys. I'm new to fishing the twin lakes. I'm wondering where I access the lake? Sounds like there is some better fishing there. Thanks for the help.

[Bsuman]

I did fish cocollala on Tuesday. Found a few nice perch. Lots of little ones. And a train who's horn was obviously broken so we left. Lol.

[JimBob2]

You need to be in 35'+ of water, we caught very few small ones on Sunday.

[JimBob2]

And every time a train goes by it more often than not triggers a few bites.

[Bsuman]

And every time a train goes by it more often than not triggers a few bites.

The train really did trigger bites that's for sure!

[Davedb]

Fished round lake this week, 1 crappie,
1 perch, and 2 trout, the ice was at 8”.
Looks like some good low temps for next week.

[Yellowice]

Condos in question might just be on Pendorielle Lake, north end of the long bridge, bay to the west…Shhhh! 😉

[nICE!]

Tried Avondale this morning. There were two fellas already out there fishing and one guy ran over towards the bank to let us know it was pretty sketchy for the first 10-20' from the bank. He said it was about 8" of solid once you get out, but was cracking pretty good on them on the way out. Since I had about 80-100lbs on these guys, I wasn't going to chance it, especially because I had my wife with me.

Then drove out to Hauser and upon testing the ice, my left foot cracked through the ice and fully submerged my boot. It looked like most folks were walking out, off the end of the dock. Not my cup of tea, since ice is typically weak around docks.

Since we were out and enjoying the day, we decided to drive out to check on Twin Lakes. There were folks fishing on both upper and lower, but the shoreline looked a little weak there as well. Anyway, still very solid lakes with great ice, if you can get out on them. Should be good to go after a few days in this cold front. Just use caution out there.

[Ratso-jig]

nICE sorry that happened to you.  Same thing at fernan launch.  Use docks to go off or use a spud bar check shore line.   Fernan is a solid 7 inches off dock.   

[Jigginman]

Was out on Hauser this morning. Bite wasn't as good as it has been. The ones that did come on the ice were actually decent size. Didnt have to weed through the small ones. Shoreline has definitely improved over the cold night last night. Ice still about 8 or 9". Good hard ice.I still walked the dock to get out, but on the way back I decided to stomp around the shoreline to see how well it held up. Didn't go through when i was stomping on it. Was at mirror on Saturday. Ice was good all the way around about 8" + or so....I think I forget. Pulled in some bows. Had a hard time with the kokanees but I don't use one of those Gameboys on the ice most have when fishing for them. Did see a group who had a fair amount on the ice though.

[JimBob2]

What size were the kokanee?

[Ratso-jig]

Anyone fish bronze bay on spirit yet?   Kokanee probably still small mirror lake.

[JimBob2]

What size were the kokanee?

[JimBob2]

Anyone fish bronze bay on spirit yet?   Kokanee probably still small mirror lake.

Did you see kokes at mirror earlier?

[Ratso-jig]

I haven't been up there this year but been same size for years.  Don't know why they don't get bigger.  That's why I gave up in that lake.   I can't catch any kokanee in lower twin.    Might be a few in there.

[plfish]

Fished Blue Lake later afternoon until 7:00 tonight.  Bite came on after dark and flasher helped figure out where they were in the column.  Caught about 15 crappie and a few pumpkinseed….and no perch.  Had 3 poles in the water in my shelter and every bite and fish caught was on one pole (3 holes all within 5-6’ of each other).  The other 2 had zero bites….go figure. Fished in 12 -13 feet of water and most were caught at 8-9’.  Measured 11.5” of hard ice…and it should add some more as it was 6F when I left the lake.

[JimBob2]

I just saw this posted on Facebook:

Our cabin was burglarized at twin lake low. The four wheeler was stolen and small items were taken. Please let me know if you have seen this Polaris 4 wheeler. It was driven out across the lake.
Jennifer Brandal is the poster.

[Idaho Panhandler]

Does anyone know if Avondale is better along the edges? Apparently it was sketchy a couple of days ago. Also, I was hoping to target some pike at Sportsman’s. Does anyone know about those ice conditions or how the bite is right now?

[smitty661]

Avondale is good

[JimBob2]

Does anyone know if lower Hayden is starting to ice over. I know it probably wouldn't be safe yet, just wondering if it is starting.

[Idaho Panhandler]

Avondale is good
[/quote
Awesome thank you

[RayneBidziil22]

The rest of Hayden lake would need atleast 3weeks of -0 temperatures and no wind to possibly make its safe ice as it sits people are going boating for kokanee these days 😕

[SpudIce]

Hey all,

I've been lurking here for so many years reading info and a massive THANK YOU to all of you for said info.  I've never posted or even had an account until tonight.  I've been on ice for 40 years now.  All of that time split between two things....ice fishing and rink building (for skating).

That said, I built a rink on Shepard Lake last weekend (where there were no ice fishing holes) about the time the cold weather started.  I put many, many hours into that rink in hope to bring my 7 year old daughter out there to learn to skate.  That finally happened today because she has been sick for quite awhile. While I'd like to think all users of ice can coexist in this public space we all enjoy, I was dismayed to find that someone decided to ice fish on the actual rink.  It's maybe a 60x30 shoveled sheet near the dock, but someone decided that the rest of the entirety of the lake wasn't enough room and chainsawed a square hole into the rink to fish.

In 40 years, I've never actually had this happen.  As a bright spot, I'm glad that person used a chainsaw for the hole and not an auger as it might actually be able to be repaired. 

But, if that person is here and reads this....that was a messed up choice.  I'd like to think all users of ice can get along much better than that!