North Idaho Ice

[sihlms391]

red jig and a maggot usually.  I am not the best at catching them.

[icefire2012]

Excited to go to Spirit today:-)

[Idahogator]

Wow ! Early start, good luck.   Happy New Year.     

[plfish]

Anybody been on Round the past few days?  Looking for an update on the ice conditions. We've had a house full of company the past week and haven't been able to get out much and I'm eager to get out! I'm hoping to get on Round tomorrow with my 8 year old so he can try his luck at some rainbows. 

[plfish]

No surprises here but no ice on Priest Lake.  Cavanaughs restaurant overlooking Cavanaugh Bay just put up a web cam but it's not showing a picture right now.  Once it's up and running I'll post the link so folks can get an idea of ice cover.  The past 3 years the ice hasn't formed here but another arctic blast might change things if we get another one.  Anyways...the webcam might give folks an idea of ice on Priest if we get another cold spell.

[bullpine]

where everyone going fishing for new years day.   

Don't you have to use one of those small ford fender type flashers to attract them to your jig?

[sihlms391]

small kokanee are hitting on spirit.  light bite.  anyone any catch any on hauser before.  fish and game say they stock it. 

[elkhuntinfool]

Sihlms I caught a 14"  kokanee out of Hauser about 4 summers ago

[uprivercasey]

Fished Winchester today very, very slow. Is it like this everywhere or am I having bad luck?

[fowl_language]

I was out on Winchester today too, I was out by the sportsman's access aerators, must have drilled 30 holes it felt like, one trout 10" it was a horrible day, everyone I talked too said they were skunked too.

Winchester has died off in the last 7 days or so, I'm going to the chain lakes tomorrow can't take another disappointment at Winchester.

[Idahogator]

Better to go try and at least get some fresh air, than to stay away just because some chart claims it's not gonna be a catch fest. 

But, there is a way to know when to drop everything and be in a honey hole or at least try to tempt the fishies.

This link will lead you to a place on weather.com, you only need to enter your zip code or nearest city you plan to fish. Clicking "next day" several times, will advance for as much as a week or more.   You may prefer to enter a lake name insteed.

         Best to save this link before entering anything, especially if you fish far and wide, ha.     

                           http://www.weather.com/activities/recreation/outdoors/fishing/


I have watched this for months and it is another weapon in the arsenal.       

[AugerSharp]

I was on Round Lake, today, from about 10:00 - 2:00.  Ice was 6" - 8" thick.  Caught 5 Rainbows 10" - 13".  Mostly light bites.  Four were about 5' off the bottom, the other was about 5' under the ice.

[BlueDuck]

Idahogator I have used that site for years.  Another tool I use is a Prime Times calendar.  Sometimes its right on, sometimes not so much.  Just like following tracks.  Sometimes it leads to something, sometimes not.  But hey, no lead a flying, no meat a frying.

[Idahogator]

That's a good thing to watch too, BlueDuck.   And then, there's the day all the charts says the fish have lock-jaw, and you take two thermos's of warm beverage, five sandwiches, a bag of cookies, a couple magazines and a portable radio, just so you don't get bored and never get the second line out, cause you limited out in 20 minutes.   Laughable.   

[fowl_language]

Well no matter what the charts say, I went ahead and banged my head against the ice again today and went to Winchester.

Took out my neighbor's 10 year old for his first ice fishing trip.  He ended up catching 3 rainbows we caught 8 on the day 5 of which he protested until we kept them.  I'm not a huge fan of snot rockets so they usually go back in the hole, but that's the beauty of it, his parents get to deal with the mess

Got 6 of the trout on deadstick with maggots (spikes) on the Jaw Jackers, another reason why I really like those things, gave the kid a feeling of accomplishment because he got to play the fish on a rod like he jigged for them.  Hottest bite was 9-11 AM then nothing, left at 3.

Ice was 8" solid, wind strong blowing S->N popup went for a ride across the lake, good thing the kid wasn't in ear shot cause I took off after it mumbling some pretty funny stuff.

No perch, no gills, no anything else, it was a dead zone again except for trout.  I really need to find a new spot.

[Husky]

Hey All,

Anyone getting into any perch, crappie or bluegill?

Thanks...

[IDAHO BIG TIMBER]

the kids and I tried Avondale today ice started popping 15 ft out so we turned back and went home.

[Accident Prone]

Hi guys,

I am new to the site as this is only my second ice fishing season.  You have all taught me a ton and I greatly appreciate your contributions.   

I have been taking my kids and nephews out to Spring Valley and Moose Creek quite a bit this year.  We found some plans for a DIY tip-up that was easy for them to put together with a little help (kids are 4-10 yrs).  They had a blast putting them together and then heading out and actually seeing them catch fish.  It really got them involved in the sport and now they ask to go out every weekend. 

They worked so well and we had so much fun that I had to share.  We are working on second and third versions of it already. We have replaced the finishing nails that hold the line with some $2 Eagle Claw ice reels.  They work great!

http://boyslife.org/hobbies-projects/projects/18131/how-to-make-ice-fishing-tip-ups/

[Trout Wrangler]

the kids and I tried Avondale today ice started popping 15 ft out so we turned back and went home.

Considering you had your kids with you, you absolutely made the right choice.

But just for a little information and/or peace of mind, I was out there last week, after the cold spell and before this recent warm one, and it was creaking and popping then, too. However, we drilled several holes and they were 9-10" thick where we were. There were folks ice skating and playing hockey on it, in addition to the two of us fishing it. The noise sure rattled our nerves, but we stayed on it.

I don't blame you one bit for getting the kiddos off of it, I just wanted to let you know it was creaking and popping for us -- but we didn't have kids with us, it was just a buddy & me.

Oh, and for the record, Fernan was noisy too.   

Be safe!

[beandip]

Had decent luck on Spirit this last weekend for it being my first time out that way (ice was great in anglers bay), here are a couple of pictures. First time pulling blue back through the ice.. met a real nice guy who helped me get all set up, and told me to hang on to his tackle until we meet again on the ice... pretty cool sense of community! Heading to chain lakes tomorrow, hoping for some monster pike. Cheers!

[DR0CK]

Ice at Avondale is fine was on it New Year's Day was every bit of eight plus inches . Saw a hockey game with at least twenty people playing . But fishin was allot of real small perch until after dark they went away and I started picking up bluegills some as big as my hand but u need to move around often and watch the electronics for suspended fish good luck .

[idahonative]

Has anyone been out on Cougar Bay at all?

[sihlms391]

thanks for sharing pic beandip.  Nice mix of fish. 

[IDAHO BIG TIMBER]

Considering you had your kids with you, you absolutely made the right choice.

But just for a little information and/or peace of mind, I was out there last week, after the cold spell and before this recent warm one, and it was creaking and popping then, too. However, we drilled several holes and they were 9-10" thick where we were. There were folks ice skating and playing hockey on it, in addition to the two of us fishing it. The noise sure rattled our nerves, but we stayed on it.

I don't blame you one bit for getting the kiddos off of it, I just wanted to let you know it was creaking and popping for us -- but we didn't have kids with us, it was just a buddy & me.

Oh, and for the record, Fernan was noisy too.   

Be safe!

we were out on fernan also and herd the ice popping but this was not the same noise as we herd on fernan or Avondale the first time we were out.   ice was thick between 6-8 inches just didn't sound right.   we are thinking on heading north today

[TJT]

Have been on Hayden, Avondale and Round the last 3 days. Avondale the ice is fine and a good 8" so there is no worry even with the ice making a bit of noise. We have been playing hockey and etc for awhile now out there. As for the fishing well there are a lot to tiny 3" perch to be had although I have seen a few guys with some that were around 13" but not many and they worked hard for them. Some fair size bass have also been caught.....2-3 pound range but fishing is slow for the better sized fish.

 Hayden is sketchier IMO. Sportsmans has a good 7-8" depending how far you are willing to go out....gets thinner as you go and there are several springs that keep open holes that you need to be careful of. Mostly tip up fishing and heard reports of sizable pike being pulled out in the last week. We did not fish long as I wash't setup for tip ups yesterday. Small perch to be caught but did not see any size so we trekked up to Round.

 Round lake has good 8-9" I would say with slush on top from the snow/rain so wear your rubber boots. Fishing was REALLY slow. We caught 1 rainbow that was 13" or so and one sunfish. Did not see anyone else catch anything all day. Drop shots and swedish pimples with maggots and regular worms is what we were using.

[Idahogator]

Welcome to Iceshanty TJT.

     Excellent report !           Thanks.

[Husky]

Fished round lake for 4 hours this morning. All slush is now frozen solid with last nights temp. drop. Finally got a nice trout on a tip up around 9:30am. SLOW fishing, but great weather. Ice is about 9" with a lot of cracking and groaning but is safe. Open water still out by the inlet.

[elkhunter57]

I was taught that noisy ice is growing happy ice and when it's quiet you should beware. If I'm on 4.5" and hear noise cracking ect. I'm fine. I couldn't prove it but I don't believe melting ice makes any noise unless colliding with itself like in a river.

[fowl_language]

In my experience ice always pops more when there is a big temp or pressure change, it is just heaving against itself and has no where to go but up and down and then cracks in places where a large sheet of ice bends enough to crack.  I also here a lot of pressure cracks when there is a substantial bit of wind kicking the ice around.  If the ice is bubble free and over 4-5" no worries.

Best piece of advice I always give people is get a good heavy ice bar tap as you go and drill drill drill.  It doesn't hurt to have a long length of rope in your sled as well just in case.

[elkhuntinfool]

TJT I might of talked to you out on Hayden yesterday