North Idaho Ice

[plfish]

The little lakes in the area are fishable up here…and the cold temps will help even more…but Priest Lake needs more time

[BlueDuck]

I checked upper Twin today.  A guy and his son were fishing about a hundred feet out from the dock.  Popped a hole and it had about 5" of ice and 5 or 6" of frozen slush on top of that.  Then I went to lower Twin and talked to one guy just starting to fish for pike close to shore.  Seemed to be about 3 inches of ice with 5 or 6 inches of frozen slush on top of that.   If you go, be careful, it may not be that good all over. 

[JimBob2]

I fished Hauser today, 20 cars in the parking lot when I left at 3:15. Bite was hot I kept 10 Perch and one nice Bluegill, in less than 2 hrs.

[Idaho Panhandler]

I fished Hauser today, 20 cars in the parking lot when I left at 3:15. Bite was hot I kept 10 Perch and one nice Bluegill, in less than 2 hrs.

How did the ice look, JimBob2?

[DEER4DINNER]

Any size to the perch?

I fished Hauser today, 20 cars in the parking lot when I left at 3:15. Bite was hot I kept 10 Perch and one nice Bluegill, in less than 2 hrs.

[RayneBidziil22]

Well I'm going to try night fishing this next weekend at Avondale for crappie maybe bullhead catfish if they want to bite

[Idaho Panhandler]

Well I'm going to try night fishing this next weekend at Avondale for crappie maybe bullhead catfish if they want to bite

Have you heard how the ice is on Avondale?

[RayneBidziil22]

It's safe but by next weekend it should be safer there's maybe 4-5 inches on there 2 clear rest cloudy

[Idaho Panhandler]

It's safe but by next weekend it should be safer there's maybe 4-5 inches on there 2 clear rest cloudy

Ok thanks for the info

[JimBob2]

How did the ice look, JimBob2?

4 inches clear and 2 inches of cloudy.

[JimBob2]

Any size to the perch?

I kept the ones 8" and over, I took 10 home, 1 nice bluegill 8".  I think if I had taken my fish finder I might have been able to move around and found the bluegills. I was using a trout magnet with bright yellow plastic tail tipped with a crappie bites by power bait. As soon as you got it to the bottom and picked it up they were biting.

[RayneBidziil22]

Any news on how mirror is doing heard reports that people are fishing it already 

[houlzhouse]

perch are stacked in hauser if you get out in slightly deeper water-20-25 fow.  We caught 40 keepers in 3 hours

[houlzhouse]

+1 on mirror-curious how the koke bite is going

[ForestGuy88]

Anyone been out to the chain lakes and checked the ice?

[Vandal78]

Anyone been out to the chain lakes and checked the ice?

They are all good, except Rose Lake. I haven't checked personally, but people have been out on all of them the past few weekends.

[plfish]

An update on Priest….was in Coolin Bay this afternoon.  No ice and the NE breeze was keeping a pretty good chop on the lake.  Very little ice around the docks and it will be awhile yet before the main bay freezes.  -20 tonight might help but it was 4 degrees when I was in Coolin.

[DEER4DINNER]

Thank you for the reply.  Sounds good.  I haven't been out yet.  Been busy with other things and just dug out my ice fishin' gear today and of course, my auger won't start.  Not that it's a deal breaker, I'm sure I can kick some holes open if I can't get it going.  I'm anxious to do some fishing with the kids over their winter break.  We'll likely hit Hauser, Gamble, Blue and Hayden.. maybe some others.  I'll keep everyone posted on the successes or lack of and ice conditions.  Thanks again! Brad @ Lateral Concepts, LLC, Sewer Inspection & Locating

I kept the ones 8" and over, I took 10 home, 1 nice bluegill 8".  I think if I had taken my fish finder I might have been able to move around and found the bluegills. I was using a trout magnet with bright yellow plastic tail tipped with a crappie bites by power bait. As soon as you got it to the bottom and picked it up they were biting.

[dudemandude]

Any word of Pend Oreille? If or when will it freeze, if so where would it freeze, by the bridges? Sandpoint area?

[TOMINATER]

Anyone have an ice report for Blue, Freeman, or Chase? I live a bit further away from there now, but still want to go at somepoint before the new year.

[JimBob2]

Any news on how mirror is doing heard reports that people are fishing it already 

I'd like to know about the koke bite too.

[Lcsodiver]

Anyone have an ice report for Blue, Freeman, or Chase? I live a bit further away from there now, but still want to go at somepoint before the new year.

We hit Freeman Saturday, ice was 6” clear with a slush layer on top and about 4” frozen solid snow on the very top.

Bite was very slow, we only got a small perch and a small crappie, both release to get bigger. There were at least 4 other groups out there. Didn’t sound like anyone else was having much luck. One guy had a decent trout and a bass the day before.

[TOMINATER]

We hit Freeman Saturday, ice was 6” clear with a slush layer on top and about 4” frozen solid snow on the very top.

Bite was very slow, we only got a small perch and a small crappie, both release to get bigger. There were at least 4 other groups out there. Didn’t sound like anyone else was having much luck. One guy had a decent trout and a bass the day before.

Thanks for the report! That is literally the first time I have ever heard of someone catching a trout at Freeman in the 5 years I've fished it lol.

[Idaho Panhandler]

Man, I sure haven't heard of anyone having much luck on freeman this year. I went a few weeks ago and could only get tiny perch to bite. Hopefully things will pick up there as the season progresses because it really is a cool spot.

We hit Freeman Saturday, ice was 6” clear with a slush layer on top and about 4” frozen solid snow on the very top.

Bite was very slow, we only got a small perch and a small crappie, both release to get bigger. There were at least 4 other groups out there. Didn’t sound like anyone else was having much luck. One guy had a decent trout and a bass the day before.

[Idaho Panhandler]

Does anyone know how sportsman's access on Hayden lake is looking? Is anyone managing to ice a few pike?

[RayneBidziil22]

Mirror sucked only two kokanee in 4 hours ice wasn't much better

[Lcsodiver]

Thanks for the report! That is literally the first time I have ever heard of someone catching a trout at Freeman in the 5 years I've fished it lol.

Summer time the trout were nice. 14” to 17”. Out about 2oclock from the dock. We were trolling black rooster tails topwater over about 40’ of water. 

I haven’t figured out where they hide under the ice yet.

[JimBob2]

Mirror sucked only two kokanee in 4 hours ice wasn't much better

Anyone else fishing Kokaneem? What size were the ones you caught?

[RayneBidziil22]

We didn't see anyone tell like 9am and we left an hour after that as for size the spawning kokanee was 11"and the normal one was 8"

[Idaho Panhandler]

Hauser perch bite is hot