North Idaho Ice

[DR0CK]

Hit Fernan for about two hours this evening and caught 9 pretty nice perch a couple were 11"! Sporadic bite they are definitely cruising around right now but aggressive when they show up.

[sticksandstring]

Heard people were fishing black lake. Just wondering if anyone has an ice report?

[finncatcher]

Anyone have any luck fishing for pike on Hayden yet?

[elkhuntinfool]

Gettting ready to go out and hit upper twin for perch. Good luck to everyone going out today

[elkhunter57]

I spent 3 hrs on Hauser with my niece and nephew last night.  7" of ice (measured) we where marking fish and getting bites but I couldn't get them to catch a fish. 2nd and 4th grader on the ice was like herding cats but they had fun

[fowl_language]

Just got back from Fernan, went to the west launch.

Must have poked 50 holes in the ice from the launch to second western bay, worked 10 feet to 18 feet of water, using wedgee tails and spikes (maggots), one small perch and three nice rainbows (around 14"). Wasn't going for trout though, looking for the perch and was unsuccessful.

Ice was nice and clear but the warm weather is taking it's toll, I would say about 5.5-6" of black ice everywhere, it was thawing though at a pretty high rate, ankle deep water everywhere and bubbles forming through the ice, also starting to spider crack towards the shore.

Ice is still really solid, but we need some more cold weather!

[elkhuntinfool]

Ended up catching around 60 perch on upper Twin it was a good day. I fished with arborfish and kayakbandit It was great fishing with them

[sihlms391]

at least you caught some perch. not much size to the perch but they are fun to catch.   guess i will head up to round in morning.  hope there isn't to much water on top of ice.  if you see this message peter my phone is not working for a couple days. 

[stjoemitch]

Fished Black Lake today.  I fished a bunch of holes, drilled new ones, walked a long ways and finally found one spot that produced some small pike bait sized perch.  Saw eight others on the ice, mainly pike fishing. On;y saw one caught.  Anybody fished Rose lately/ I need a report on Rose and Fernan.

[fowl_language]

Fished Winchester today, 4 of us, 9 trout threw about 10 small ones back, must have caught over 80 perch, only keep those over 8", hooked one really nice crappie, lost him at the hole.  Landed 2 other crappie both around 5" went back in the hole. Good day overall.  Walked all over and across the lake, drilled all sorts of holes to find fish. Best luck around the boat launch within an hour of sunset.

Winchester ice: Dec, 15 2013: 4-5" black ice everywhere except northeast arm 3" of black ice there, 1" of refreeze most everywhere but the middle of the lake, middle had no refreeze ice on top.

[stjoemitch]

Fished Cottonwood Creek and Rocky Point.  Found perch, but most were ways to small. Kept a dozen also caught a big cutthroat and back in it went.

[Packernut]

I fished Upper Twin on Saturday from 8:00 to 12:30.  There were 15-20 on the lake by the time we arrived.  We fished in 15 FOW.   Only catching very small perch when we arrived then the bite was over.  We moved out another 100 feet and started catching larger fish.   Small by any standard with the largest 8 1/2 inches.  Ice was a good 8 inches.  Nice to have a measuring stick built into my ladle.  It was melting and raining a bit with clear solid ice.  Nothing to make it at all uncomfortable.  May hit Fernan for some bigger perch.  Has anyone heard about the algae this Fall on Fernan?  At one point they said to not touch the water or eat the fish.   Looking forward to fishing Cascade in a few weeks after Christmas.  First post on Iceshanty as I usually post on Washingtonlakes.com.  Glad to have found you all.
Packernut.

[sihlms391]

packernut.  I think that was just when it was warm.  I dont eat fish out fernan.

[Idahogator]

Welcome to Icashanty Packernut.       

[elkhunter57]

I was out at lower twin Saturday evening with my uncle. 3.5" measured so we went to upper 7" measured with an inch+ of water in places. We set up on a high spot and fished till well after dark. Lots of small perch, small sun fish after dark, and little cats. The bite was ok the company was great.

[beandip]

This is my first post on IceShanty, and I fished the ice on Round Lake on Saturday 12/14 (first time fishing through the ice and I am hooked!). 

Our group of 4 kept 18 fish: 16 rainbows, 2 brown trout (not sure if they were brookies or hybrids, but they were definitely a bigger type of trout) and 1 largemouth.  Most of the fish were caught about 200 feet from docks, towards the middle of the lake, and were about 12-14".  The bass was a big surprise and came from jigging off the bottom across the far side of the lake, about 150 ft off shore and maybe 20-30 fow... he was actually a pretty good size, I didn't have a scale but about a 2 pounder.  I will post his pic in my profile/avatar deal on here. 

This warm weather can't be good for the ice, so here's to wishing for more cold weather! This forum is an awesome source of info on the ice and fishing conditions, so thanks y'all.

[Idahogator]

Howdy Beandip. Welcome to Ice shanty.

Very likely those two non-bows were brookies.  Usually the leading edge of the lower fins are white.  It really helps to see a brownie and brookie together and notice any difference, all are very tasty.
     Since you stated "first time through the ice" , may I say, mark  your skimmer handle, beginning at the scoop. Nice for reading ice thickness, stick it in the new hole, bring it up under the ice and know if it's safe to stay or get off, ha.
   Nice report.   Good luck.     

[stjoemitch]

Fished out at the Benewah trestle today.  Six flags three pike and two nice largemouth on my little rod.   I have been eating Fernan perch for years I don't think there is a problem.  I have been eating Fernan perch fro oper mini yeras adn I dot'n thkn thar is problim ehh.

[Idahogator]

Hahaha !  You too funny SJM.   

[fowl_language]

Went to Winchester again, lost about 0.5" of ice but still very strong 4-4.5" of good ice.

Got one nice perch 10", all the rest were small, no trout, one crappie and a few bluegills, the Jaw Jackers worked great and I got to film my review of my LX-3 and my flasher I made, I should post those in the main forum some time today.

Last thing I heard about Fernan was a few weeks before Thanksgiving, the micocystin toxin in H.A.Bs (harmful algal blooms) can accumulate in the tissues of fish but generally is confined to the fast growing tissues (skin, blood,) as long as you filet and don't whole cook you should be fine.  I did not see any warnings posted near the dock when I was up there on Saturday.

[fishaddict]

Fished Killarney yesterday with my old man.  We had 6 or 7 flags with two pike on the ice. 5-6 inches of good clear ice.  Also caught two nice perch, one of which was a jumbo 11 incher! Had a nice fire going, the sun was out, we saw a deer on the ice and spotted a bald eagle as we were leaving! Fresh pike and perch for supper! A good day indeed!

[idaho-grizz]

My Daughter lives on Hayden Lake, she said one guy has been fishing ever day the last four days. I am coming up that way after the first of the year, was looking looking for someone that might help a old fart on how to catch a pike on Hayden. I have never ice fished for pike. I have got bass, crappie and sunfish off their dock but no luck on the pike thanks Rick

[Idahogator]

Rick, there's some info about pike on Iceshanty and if you have a little time, it's good reading.     Good luck.

   http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?board=39.0

[sihlms391]

any reports if mirror lake is going?  I haven't made it out much yet because of work.  Hope to catch up on fishing soon.

[baetis_elk]

Fished the east end of Fernan this morning from about 10:00 - 12:00 with my daughter.  Ice is still solid, clear and black.  Measured around 5.5 to 6 inches.  Managed to land 4 nice perch 9"- 10.5" and one nice crappie about 11" before my daughter was burned out on that activity.  I was fishing 18 FOW with small jigs baited with maggots.  The catching wasn't horribly slow is was just a bit too slow to keep a 3 and a half year old's attention for more than a couple of hours.

[cocolallakid]

decided to try fry creek today in the morning. ice was 4" thick and solid. every hole had fish but they were 3-4 inches... perfect bait sized perch. we bagged out and fished at cocolalla. got one bite after for hrs of fishing. fished deep and shallow with no luck.

[cocolallakid]

any reports if mirror lake is going?  I haven't made it out much yet because of work.  Hope to catch up on fishing soon.

 i went out there over a week ago when we had that cold snap. ice was 4-5 inch thick. we caught our limit of bows on spoons with worms. ice should be plenty safe now.

[sihlms391]

thanks for info cocolallakid.  hope to make it up that way sometime.  going to try round tomorrow.  how is cocolalla.  i haven't tried it this year.

[idahonative]

Tried Avondale after it got dark. Brought in several nice perch, all of them were over 11" 

[BlueDuck]

Fished Round lake on Wed. and Upper Twin yesterday.   Caught a limit of trout on Round, but no perch.  Upper Twin was fast and furious for small perch.