I did a bit of scouting yesterday and found a lake a few miles east of Palmer and north of Butte. The road (not maintained) was a bit scary in spots but there was a lake at the end of it. I did not have any fishing gear with me and I noticed the some one had recently been fishing (within the last 2 weeks). I walked out and found a jar of salmon eggs so I got the erge to fish. I took a cotter pin from my tool box in the truck and filed it down to a make shift hook. For line I used some black nylon fibers (use to weave those blue tarps that are everywhere). I took out my one-pound ax from the truck and punched a hole through the ice (that took some time and work). In the end I landed about 6 dollies and 1 salmon. The salmon and two dollies were cooked on the lake over an open fire (I couldn't resist- mmmmmm...).
I took my girls out with me today and we hammered the dollies. Started by using salmon eggs but kept pulling in fish around 6 inches long. We switched to chunks of herring on larger hooks. In the end we kept 7 fish ranging from 10 to 18 inches (three were caught on a tip up). The best part was that all of the fish were caught in less than 2 FOW. The water was gin clear so we fished mostly by sight. The kids loved it. We'll be heading out there again. No fishing pressure at all. Lake was about 1 square mile. Name...? Still trying to learn how to get the pics up, sorry.
Icy Mike
