North Idaho Ice

[WinterWizard]

Upper Twin was capped today but only 1-2" spud went through in one light whack.

Lower Twin; 80% capped

Hayden Lake's Sportsman access; maybe 1"

[catskinner]

Good info Wizerd, thanks

[plfish]

Hit Blue this afternoon.  Any slush from yesterday firmed  up overnight.  Still 4” of clear ice.  Landed 9 perch, 2 largemouth, and 1 crappie.  Bass were 8” and the perch ran about 9”.

[hugeinchina]

Hit Blue this afternoon.  Any slush from yesterday firmed  up overnight.  Still 4” of clear ice.  Landed 9 perch, 2 largemouth, and 1 crappie.  Bass were 8” and the perch ran about 9”.

Where is Blue lake located? When I search it, I only see the one down in southern Idaho.

[RayneBidziil22]

Its north pf the town of priest river

[plfish]

Had about an hours worth of time on Blue again today.  Bite was very slow.  Ice was up to 4.5”

Then checked out Freeman.  Measured 4.5-5” in several holes straight out from the dock.  Looked like several groups had been out all over the lake based on the tracks and holes

[aza10]

Round lake is 3-4”. Fishing was steady until about 11am. Mirror was about 2” clear under the snow.

Going to hit blue tomorrow morning. Hopefully the storm will pick the bite up.

[catskinner]

Had about an hours worth of time on Blue again today.  Bite was very slow.  Ice was up to 4.5”

Then checked out Freeman.  Measured 4.5-5” in several holes straight out from the dock.  Looked like several groups had been out all over the lake based on the tracks and holes

I will probably check out Freeman on Thursday. Anyone want to ride along from Spokane Valley or parts in between let me know.

[Vandal78]

I checked out most of the chain lakes (Black, Cave, Medicine, Killarney, Bull Run and Rose. Bull Run, Rose and Medicine all have about 2" of cloudy ice. Killarney I was not even able to get on, maybe with a board you might be able to get away from shore. Cave has quite a bit of open water. Black was kind of iced over, but I bet its only an inch or 2 at best. Temperatures just have not been getting as cold as forecasted and this forecasted warmup will not help things.

[aza10]

Blue was steady until around noon. Crappies, perch and pumpkins. Ice was a solid 5” where I fished. The snow was about 4” with temps around 25 when I left. Not much slush yet. 

Fishing freeman tomorrow

[RayneBidziil22]

So fernan is frozen but its not good ice like 1.5 clear and 2.5 cloudy  don't go on it even if you see tracks on it

[houlzhouse]

Hit Freeman on Thursday (12/31).  4" clear ice with 10-12" of slop on top.  Bite was steady until about noon.  lots of smaller fish but managed 45 keeper perch.

[jagmt]

Fished Freeman today. Ice was 3 to 4 inches of good clear ice with 2 to 3 inches melted snow and slush on top. Bite was fast from 0730 to 0900 where we caught the most of the keepers and slowed way down but steady until noon when we left.

[plfish]

Anybody have any updates on ice conditions with the recent rains?  It seems like Freeman, Blue, and Round were being fished....but was wondering on current conditions

[aza10]

I checked on round yesterday and it was sketchy. You can find good ice but I had the spud bar go through way too many times on one light hit.

I was out at freeman today just checking ice and the top had about a half inch of slush but the ice still seemed nice underneath. I’d say at least 4” at the hole I checked.  I’ll be out at freeman tomorrow evening / night. Going to try the night light bite, never done it.

[sihlms391]

Thanks for info.  I checked Freeman on Monday and definitely best ice I have seen this year. 

[BlueDuck]

Another crappy ice season here in north Idaho.  The forecast doesn't  look good for the next ten days either.  Bummer.

[jagmt]

Fished Freeman again today. Ice was consistent to about the middle...didn’t move to much. Set some tip-ups and jigged a few perch. All the slush and water had frozen solid. About 5 or sow inches of ice.

Anyone had luck fishing the night bite for pick on Freeman ?

[aza10]

I’ve fished freeman a handful of times and come up empty.  I’ve spoke with a lot of guys that mentioned they haven’t seen a pike pulled out of freeman or blue as of recent. Not saying you won’t but I’m leaning towards slim unless some one has other insight.

[RayneBidziil22]

Wait what last I heard a week ago  lower barely had 2" with all this rain it should be open water

[plfish]

I’ve got a friend who fishes Freeman for pike in the summer and does pretty good. I’m not sure about through the ice and how many people pull pike up....but I have heard of a few being iced over the last couple of years.  It’s definitely not like Hayden or the southern end of CDA....but there are a few taken out of there

[plfish]

Fished Blue yesterday and tried today.  Ice profile changed a it since yesterday morning.

Saturday - Hit the ice late morning.  Access channel and out about 100 yards on to the lake was a 3” firm layer with 1” soft layer on top with a 1” water/slush layer in between. Main part of lake was about 4” with the bottom 3” firm and clear and the top 1” softer and milky....with no slush in between. Sun came out early afternoon and left about 2:00.  Top layer definitely softened a lot and I was breaking though the top layer in the access channel.  Caught about 12 total with mostly perch, 1 small crappie, and 1 pumpkinseed. Flasher showed a bunch more that weren’t as interested.

Sunday - Got to the lake at 1230.  Sun was not out and the snow in the parking area was soft. Took 4 steps out on the ice in the access channel and punched through every step.  Ice was about 3-4” like yesterday but the entire profile was soft.  Decided not to go any further.  Temps this week don’t look promising either and I’m sure if the rain comes with the warmer weather the ice consistency will change and not for the better.

[hugeinchina]

I am glad you decided not to venture any further out. I hate to hear about guys going through. For me, I have not even bothered trying to get onto the ice this year. We had around 8 inches of snow a couple of weeks ago and it was gone in a matter of days. As Blue Duck said, what a crappy ice season this has been so far. Again. I hope we get a late season cold snap. Otherwise, I will be looking to get the boat out again to start chasing early season walleye around.

[RayneBidziil22]

Ok so im going to go check kelso this week and get a real report for it lower twin is 1-1.5" not 5"

[houlzhouse]

Interested in what you find at kelso -thinking of taking the kids fri or sat

[houlzhouse]

Those of you fishing blue-how's the access there-never fished it but thinking of hitting it in next couple of weeks.

[Po Tader]

Got tired of waiting for ice and headed down to cascade to catch some jumbo perch over the weekend. 20”+ of ice. Bite is picking up and there is a tournament next month with some pretty good prizes. It took me about 5.5 hrs of driving from CDA to get there. Just thought I would mention this in case there is someone else who is tired of waiting for ice...

[RayneBidziil22]

Ok so kelso does have 4-4.5" of ice bt the dock didn't have a lot of time to check farther out but li definitely has some safe ice im hopefully hitting it this weekend unless a buddy wants to go hunting

[houlzhouse]

Thanks for the info Rayne we'll probably hit it friday or sat

[bullpine]

Got tired of waiting for ice and headed down to cascade to catch some jumbo perch over the weekend. 20”+ of ice. Bite is picking up and there is a tournament next month with some pretty good prizes. It took me about 5.5 hrs of driving from CDA to get there. Just thought I would mention this in case there is someone else who is tired of waiting for ice...

Did you catch any JUMBOS?  heard they are going to be in shorter supply this year.  haha Jumbos in shorter supply.  It sure is good to be easily entertained during the Covid shutdowns.