North Idaho Ice

[stjoemitch]

Need a Fernan Report.  Is there good ice at the North end?   Ice on the Chain Lakes is getting better.

[sihlms391]

I bet fernan will be ready by monday.   I might check monday. my goal is to his round lake.  cocollala had open water the other day. 

[cocolallakid]

drilled two holes at south end of cocolalla today. first was about 4 inches thick in a foot of water then walked ten feet drilled another which was only about 2.5 inches thick. good hard ice but i think ill wait. the north end along the sportsmans access is open water from the wind. drove out to round lake and its completely froze... there were a couple guys near the dock catchin a few trout and another group braving it about hundred yards out.  i never fished just wanted to check conditions. if anyone else has been fishin the area let me know how you did

[Kayakbandit]

Shepard Lake? Many years ago I fished Shepard with good results. Does it still have big perch? I bet it is well frozen.

[atholmike]

Jewel Lake. Has anybody heard anything about it? I know that it usually Freezes over early.

[stjoemitch]

Thanks for the Fernan Report.  I appreciate the information.  This time of year you don't want to get on the roads unless there is a good reason.  Good ice is always a good reason for me.

[BlueDuck]

Just got back from checking some of the local lakes.  Upper Twin ...  4 + inches of good ice.  Two guys fishing out of shanty's when I was there.   Lower Twin is iced over but not safe yet.   Kelso probably had the best Ice so far.  5-6" of ice with two shanty's on the lake.   Cocolalla had one guy fishing on the south end.  The north end by the boat ramp was 2 1/2 to 3" .  From the road  it looks like a pretty spotty freeze.  Still some open water in a few places.

[Kayakbandit]

Jewel Lake. Has anybody heard anything about it? I know that it usually Freezes over early.

There is good clear ice about 3 inches thick at the dock. There is open water just to the right of the dock where the creek comes in.

[Kayakbandit]

Ice report: Walsh
Ice is very good everywhere I checked. About one hundred feet out from the reeds showing through the ice, it was still a good five inches of solid ice. No one fishing it yet.

[Kayakbandit]

Ice Report: Round Lake
People are going everywhere on this lake. It seems to be at leash four inches of very good ice. Near the docks, they were catching nice planted rainbows. I did not see anyone catching other fish than the planted trout.

[Idahogator]

Ice Report: Round Lake
People are going everywhere on this lake. It seems to be at leash four inches of very good ice. Near the docks, they were catching nice planted rainbows. I did not see anyone catching other fish than the planted trout.

Thanks much for this report Kayakbandit.   

If we have the same yardstick, nice falls between 11" and 13 1/2" . Is that about right ?


Tom

[Kayakbandit]

Thanks much for this report Kayakbandit.   

If we have the same yardstick, nice falls between 11" and 13 1/2" . Is that about right ?


Tom

Tom,
I guess I should have said for it being four inches thick it was very solid! Thanks for the chuckle. BTW, I am trying to rid myself of the rookie status by making a separate report for each lake I went to. Just now I was typing away when my wife informed me the food I had put on the stove was scorching. I scraped off the scorched stuff and ate it anyway.
Steve

[Kayakbandit]

Ice report: Fry Creek
Today when we were headed south on the Long Bridge, there were people out on the ice in the mouth of Fry Creek. That would be between the highway and the railroad. We could not see if they were fishing or just walking on the ice.
Steve

[Kayakbandit]

Ice report: Shepard Lake
The ice appears to be across the whole lake. At the access it was only 2 1/2 inches so I did not venture any farther than that. No one fishing.
Steve

[Kayakbandit]

Ice Report: Mirror Lake
I had not been to this lake before today. Is there public access on this lake? We found the resort at the west end. The ice was only about an inch thick near the dock. They charge 3 bucks a head for ice fishing access. They have posted prices for bait and such, but I did not see where to find it. Anyway, it is a nice resort and a good choice for the price if there are fish to be caught here.
Steve

[Idahogator]

Kayakbandit, thanks fer the many miles of checkin' today & separate reports, keeps the confusion to a minimum with us elders, ha.  As to your scorching, charcoal rids you of toxins, ha.   I just hope it wasn't boiled eggs, yikes.   

Didja happen to glance out by the "Condos"  off the NW edge of the Long Bridge ?    Thanks !

A few years ago, Mirror Lake could be accessed via the Scout Camp, just east of Mirror, park and just hike in. Something to check on...

[idahonative]

Drilled several holes at Fernan, every one measured 4". There were lots of people fishing and skating.

[elkhuntinfool]

Dorve by Avondale earlier it was all frozen and there was someone on the north end Ice skating I didn't get a chance to check the ice thickness.

[Kayakbandit]

Idahogator, we did look at the area you asked about. We could see someone out there as we were driving North, but it turned out they were on the sand. The lake level is down.
My scorched food was a warmed up chili omelet. It was pretty good when I added the Tobasco.
Steve

[Idahogator]

Thanks Steve. We need a few day's without  wind to firm it a bit more.  Um, that's a very good area, there's always a good hike, "IF" you can find a place to park. 

[sihlms391]

Thanks for info.  think I will try round tomorrow,

[plfish]

Hit Chase Lake this afternoon with my son.  7"-7.5" of hard firm ice everywhere we drilled a hole.  One guy showed up and actually drove a small SUV onto the ice about 100 feet from the shore (still not good enough for me to even think about driving on ice). We hooked about a dozen small perch and one small pumpkinseed in 1 1/2 hours.  I haven't seen this much good ice this early in December in a long time.  Hoping to try Blue this weekend and might try Round if I can get down there one afternoon this week.

[plfish]

For what it's worth....drove by Priest Lake today and didn't see any ice anywhere.  That's no surprise but with the cold weather (we've had -10 to -13 the past few mornings) there was no sign of ice even in the bays.  At 1:00 today there was still steam coming up in a few spots so the Lake is holding quite a bit of heat still.  The winds the past few days probably demolished any of the thin ice that might have formed by the shore or by the docks.  However the cold temps are sucking some heat out of the water early this year so hopefully another cold snap in January will have a better chance of forming some decent ice in some of the bays. It's been a few years since folks were ice fishing for Macs in Cavanaugh Bay.

[sihlms391]

thanks for info.  never fished priest but heard a lot.

[arborfish]

hey kayakbandit, me and elkhuntinfool will be fishing upper twin next week end stocking up on perch if you are interested.

[cocolallakid]

fished cocolalla north end today... some spots were 4 to 5 inches thick and others were about 2.5 from the open water yesterday. tomorrow should have safe ice all around the lake. but be carefull and drill your way in. (still early season and ice is not safely formed like we want it to be). as of fishing goes we sat for two hrs and not a bite. i had two tipups near shore and had one flag go off... no fish. perch was our goal. we saw two other people out about 200 yds from the access. they left in about 15 minutes. it was a cold day out there... i hope someone was catching somethin elswhere.

[Kayakbandit]

Arbor fish, your on!
steve

[Kayakbandit]

Bought supplies. Headed to Round. Hoping for trout tonight.

[cocolallakid]

got off work early today and fished the last hr n a half on north end cocolalla... had three tipups 50 yds from shore and went about 200 yds to center of lake to jig for perch. had one bite at 3:45 on beadchain n glo jig tipped with worm... missed it. came back to the tip ups around 4:15 and a flag went off with a decent sized sunfish (big for cocolalla). cant wait for mid season cuz there aint no fish in this lake as of now. as far as ice goes its still kinda scetchy in parts near sportsmans access (north end didnt ice over until two days ago... now only 2 inches in spots). for the most part the south end up to the north-west part of the lake is about 5 inches thick of solid ice. some spots will go from 5 to 2 inches quick on the north end so drill your way in and especially drill when you see a new formation of ice (crack, hump,  change of color). i saw two people at south end in middle of the lake. if anyone is hittin good size perch yet lemme know please ill return the favor.

[cocolallakid]

Hit Chase Lake this afternoon with my son.  7"-7.5" of hard firm ice everywhere we drilled a hole.  One guy showed up and actually drove a small SUV onto the ice about 100 feet from the shore (still not good enough for me to even think about driving on ice). We hooked about a dozen small perch and one small pumpkinseed in 1 1/2 hours.  I haven't seen this much good ice this early in December in a long time.  Hoping to try Blue this weekend and might try Round if I can get down there one afternoon this week.

hey ive fished blue about five times with no luck. wanna get a fatty on the tip up if you have any tips for bait, depth, and location id be happy to return the favor... thanks - C.R.