North Idaho Ice

[CMS]

The first 5 spots are free through fish and game but I bet you can guess which parking spots they plow the snow into. I always throw a few bucks in anyway since they keep the road and parking lot well plowed.

[jcmontgo]

Yeah, I don’t think they enforce the pay to park thing but it’s a good deal to toss a fiver in there even if your in the Idfg spots.

[hugeinchina]

I would pay five bucks to get on there when the ice is good. I want to get on some Kokanee this season.

[jcmontgo]

Anyone have a fernan report?

[kfedka]

Fished Fernan Lake Wednesday and today(Thursday), fished both days in the afternoon from about 2pm till little past 4:30pm when it starts to get dark. Caught little over a dozen fish each day(mainly Perch and a few panfish) but the bite is slow and light. I use a ice flasher and these fish come up and are very picky and it's a hit or miss if they will take the bait. Ice condition on the lake are about 5 inches of solid ice by the docks with 4 inches of snow on top and as you venture further out there is about 3.5 to 4 inches of solid ice with 4 inches of snow. It was snowing when we left today so it may have more then 4 inches of snow on top of the ice now. Be careful if you go further out as the ice isn't as strong and all the extra weight of the snow doesn't help. Stay safe.

[DNW]

I haven't fished mirror, how big do the Koke's get in there?

[Skookum1]

The kokes in Mirror are small, all around the 8" mark and typically bump your bait rather than actually bitting. They can actually get kind of frustrating because the bite once and they are gone.

[jcmontgo]

Thanks for the ice conditions on fernan! How did the upper end of the lake look for ice?

[jcmontgo]

The kokes in Mirror are small, all around the 8" mark and typically bump your bait rather than actually bitting. They can actually get kind of frustrating because the bite once and they are gone.

I’ve found that pretty typical of kokes through the ice. I’ve fished the on Georgetown lake in mt and it can get real frustrating. A shelter helps and having no distractions helps.

[chi04003]

Went out on Fernan today. 4” of good ice with 4” of soupy slush mess. We almost got to our spot and heard popping and cracking so we took off. Definitely weak spots near old holes where the water has been sitting for a while. Hopefully we refreeze the top mess over the weekend!

[RJ2]

Anyone have a report for Spirit Lake? Want to take the family out for my birthday tomorrow!

[Idahoice]

I was out on spirit yesterday. 5 inches of solid ice. Caught one small kokanee and a small chinook!

[Idahoice]

Any reports on the chains? Cave in particular?

[hugeinchina]

Back out at Avondale again today. Perch bite is still extremely light. Ice was about 5-6 inches with slush now on top in many places. It was snowing like mad all day so there was a good amount of snow piling up when we left. We plan on being out again tomorrow. Any reports on cocollala??

[Fishnfire1]

Fished mirror today. Caught got 1 koke and a few trout. The trout bite was good but the ice was not. About 3 inches with a lot of slush and water on top.   

[Fishnfire1]

Finished the day on upper twin. Much better ice.

[mrflores187]

Good evening
Idahoice
How far did you venture on spirit lake ?
I’m planning on fishing there tomorrow morning

[Idahoice]

We went to the nautical loop launch. I fished all the way across the bay. Solid ice the whole way. Marked a lot of fish but couldn’t get very many to hit! Good luck!

[stjoemitch]

What are current conditions on Fernan?

[DR0CK]

Anybody been up to gamble yet?

[bullpine]

What are current conditions on Fernan?

Slop on top, good ice underneath, but just 4 inches.  Finicky perch bite.

[Vandal78]

Any reports on the chains? Cave in particular?

I drive by Cave everyday it doesn't look good, especially after it rained all day yesterday on it and was near 40 degrees last night. Most of the Chain lakes had 3-3 1/2 inches.

[hugeinchina]

Avondale was a soupy mess. Lots of slush and water on top of 5 to 6 inches of ice with the top 1.5 inches or so being cloudy. Fish bite sucked. Plenty of people out there moving around, but I didn’t see anything catching. We caught one trout, one perch and lost something big that we never saw. Better luck to the rest of you!

[baetis_elk]

Fished Avondale from about 7:00 til 1:00 today.  Huge is right, it's a soupy mess on top.  Wear waterproof boots.  The bite was very slow, lots of follows with no takes. I did manage to land a few nice perch, a good size gill, one nice crappie and a large mouth.  My partner landed similar numbers and mix plus a few trout.  Most fish we caught were nice sized and took either a spoon or a jigging Rapala.  Only a few took the little jigs.  I missed a few on the dead stick because I was too focused on the jigging Rap and the electronics.  Here's to keeping your feet dry.

[Idahoice]

Any ice in sandpoint? Condos? Sunnyside?

[Idahogator]

Several days ago, Condos had ice more than halfway across the lake. The outer 1/3rd of that was broken and looked to be unsafe (as I drove by). No one has been out.
Sunnyside, hm, haven't been by there. 

    CAUTIONThe Corps has begun raising Lake Pend Oreille and may go up 4 feet. It goes without saying ~ Stay alert !

[mrflores187]

Drove to preist lake this morning and couldn’t find a place to park. Finally found a spot where I could stop for a sec and check the ice. Damn near 3 foot of snow with 3/4 inch of ice on top. I measured 4 3/4 inches of good clear ice with a little over an inch of milky ice on top. Didint do any fishing there because someone needed to plow the parking lot I was parked in and was kicked out of the area.

So I also headed to Avondale. I was with my buddy in the camo hunting blind. Swedish pimple #2 was getting lots of hits.
Caught 2 decent sized large mouth, about 10 perch, and 1 sunfish

[Packernut]

I fished Fernan 12-28 from 10:00 to 3:00 and 12-30 from 11:00 to 3:00.  Fished Thursday in 19 FOW on the North side.  A few fisherman were fishing on the South side across the lake and caught a few bluegills, perch and a cat fish.  No trout being caught yet.  Ice was 4 inches with 3 1/2 good clear ice on Thursday.  Saturday ice was holding a little soft around the bank still at 4 inches with 3 inches of slop on top.  I fished closer to the public launch on the East side of the lake on Saturday in 14 FOW for about 45 minutes with no bites before I headed back to my exact spot from Thursday and immediately started catching fish out of my same holes.  I was using a glow hook with perch eye on one rod and a VMC Tigler spoon with perch eye on the other hole both with success.  25 caught with 17 perch cleaned Thursday and 13 caught with 8 cleaned Saturday.  Colder temps tonight and the rest of the week should freeze the slush on the top. 

Packernut

[Vandal78]

Drove to preist lake this morning and couldn’t find a place to park. Finally found a spot where I could stop for a sec and check the ice. Damn near 3 foot of snow with 3/4 inch of ice on top. I measured 4 3/4 inches of good clear ice with a little over an inch of milky ice on top. Didint do any fishing there because someone needed to plow the parking lot I was parked in and was kicked out of the area.

So I also headed to Avondale. I was with my buddy in the camo hunting blind. Swedish pimple #2 was getting lots of hits.
Caught 2 decent sized large mouth, about 10 perch, and 1 sunfish

Where did you take measurement at? Indian Creek?

[IcekiddKt]

Anyone been out to sportsman’s access at Hayden?