Yellowstone River?

[MTviking]

Anyone on here ever have any luck ice fishing the Yellowstone River?  Yes I know it can be dangerous yadda yadda yadda.  A little common sense and precaution goes a long ways but has anyone on here ever experienced any success on the Yellowstone or any other river in MT?  If so, for what?

I've fished it a few times and slush under the ice has been a huge problem but we got away from the slush in a back channel one unseasonably warm February day two years ago and pulled in quite a few channel cats.  I want to explore the river more through the ice though and see if I can get into some walleye, sauger, ling etc.

That day we were fishing on an Ice shelf right next to open water.  This cat was caught legitimately through the ice but the rest were caught in the open water off the ice shelf.



We had that shelf pretty well covered  between all the tip ups and rods.


As you can see, I've got an ice rod in the hole and a slip bobber rigged out in the open water.


Getting the bigger cats up onto the ice shelf was the biggest challenge.


There was a steady supply of lumber on the bank so we gave it a boy scout effort and stuck it out for a few hours after dark.  Despite our persistant effort we didn't get a single bite once the sun went down.

[doublehaul]

That's awesome!

[minnowguy]

Looks fun.

[MTangler]

 

Some of the best catfishin is in the late winter early spring on the yellowstone! Never tried to drill a hole on the river though! I might give it a shot if there is decent ice since it is in my back yard!   8)

[MTviking]

Fished the missouri over by Bainville one year,years ago.
Knocked holes through the ice,used a stick longer than it took to reach the bottom,couple of feet off the bottom tied on a three or so foot length of string and tied the hook to the string,stuffed a minnow on the hook,shoved the stick through the hole and stuck the end in the mud in the bottom,caught several ling.
Tried it on the yellowstone last year and did`nt have any luck catching any fish but I will keep on a tryin till I do.

Sounds like a very primitive yet effective technique.  Interesting.  Any reason you wouldn't just use an ice rod or tip-up with enough lead to keep your line at the bottom?  It seems it would be almost impossible to detect bites wtih the stick in the mud.