New year's eve fishing trip?

[BonesJonesMT]

The season is almost here!!! I'm in the process of planning a 4 day trip over new years weekend. Really wanted to hit ft. peck as I have never been there and always heard good things but I'm a little worried about the ice conditions by that time on such a large body of water. I'm not one to risk it.
And I'm kinda stuck with whatever I choose because I'm either going to book a forest service cabin or an AirBnB - so my choice must be reliably frozen around that time of year. Can anyone lend some ideas where I could have a great fishing weekend? I normally fish georgetown and around in the flathead valley lakes, but unexperienced elsewhere. I'd like to explore somewhere new. Pike would be at the top of the list, lake trout or large perch, just something different than rainbows and kokes.

[Noon]

I've never fished Fort Peck myself, but if you check out the 'Fishing Reports and Conditions' section of the Montana forum and select 'Fort Peck' I figure you can find out what are typical ice conditions in January as well as what areas people have luck with. Here is a link to the thread

https://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=142939.0

[BonesJonesMT]

Yeah I went there first, seems like most usual case is there's not a lot of hard water at the end of december.

[Mizayikaa]

Fourchette would most likely be solid by then but it's a long ways from an airbnb. And hard to predict the road conditions that far in advance. I would consider the Lewistown area. Plenty of rentals and a few reservoirs within a reasonable distance that have perch and pike. Lake trout is probably another story but we can't have everything every time.

[tman71]

Lake Francis hotel right in Valier.  You can drive 4wheeler to the lake , bar and restaurant within minutes. Pike, Perch, Walleye and Ling. 50 miles east is Tiber and 40 miles southwest is pishikin reservoir. 

[BonesJonesMT]

Wow that sounds like the recipe for an incredible weekend. I will look into it, thanks!

[Noon]

Lake Francis hotel right in Valier.  You can drive 4wheeler to the lake , bar and restaurant within minutes. Pike, Perch, Walleye and Ling. 50 miles east is Tiber and 40 miles southwest is pishikin reservoir.

It's posts like this that make me love IceShanty's community so much.

[Fortpeck1]

Fort peck is frozen by Jan 1st [ 1 year out of last 16yrs it had weak ice].
Book a room at Hell Creek marina,[ drive down boat ramp onto the Ice].
Or at a motel in Jordan Mt.
The fishing for Northern pike in the bay out to main lake should be good, walleye you never know, lots of perch.
Clint or Lane can give you good advise on ice conditions and where to fish.
Tight lines
FP1

[BonesJonesMT]

Thanks to everyone for the replies.
I'm leaning towards Frances, because ft peck is 500 miles away... and that doesnt sound like a comfortable drive at the end of december. I would love to go get into the pike though, it sounds a lot better at ft peck then lake frances. Just not sure, having never been there. Also gotta think about time spent fishing vs time spent driving on the snow and ice over a long weekend  .

[BonesJonesMT]

Called the Hell Creek marina and he said the just tip of the bay would be frozen around new years eve but most of it isnt safe ice til after the first week of Jan. So I'm gonna rule that one out.

[Fortpeck1]

Crooke Creek out of Winnett is capped.
Don't know how far it goes past the bend or how thick it is .
FP1

[albo]

I was hunting UL Bend last weekend and on the Fred Robinson side there was no ice.

[albo]

For a New Year's trip it would be a tossup between Nelson and staying at the Buffalo Jump Hot Springs or  Georgetown and staying at the local hotel.

[BonesJonesMT]

Georgetown is our normal spot, so we're looking into other places. I'm holding on to hope that there will be lots of cold weather on fort peck between now and then, but have a feeling we'll end up on lake frances.