Best Lakes to Fish Between Helena and Seeley....

[icechick]

Just got a quick question for everybody. We are headed up to Seeley on Friday for the Pike On Ice tournament and would like to fish a couple of lakes or one lake if fishing is good on our way. Now because of the tournament rules we can not fish Salmon or Seeley which is fine. So in turn we were thinking about Browns Lake and possible Lake Placid. We were also thinking also about Nevada Cr but decided that it is not that far away and we can fish that any time. Does anybody have any other lakes that are good fishing between Helena and Seeley??

[cuznalfy]

you  might want to try upsta lake or harpers lake both a close to seely area small pearch and pike in upsta never fished harpper though i think just trout. hope this helps.

[icechick]

Thanks for the info cuznalfy. I suggested Upsata but my brother and husband think that it is too far off the path. Do you know how far from the hwy it is?

[FishN4Eyes]

Upsata is only about 7 miles off the highway.

Good road all the way to the lake.

If you fish it, I would recommend going about halfway up the lake from the parking area.

That's where I've done the best anyway.   Tons, I mean tons, of small perch in there.  You have to sort through a bunch to get some keepers, but it's fun as heck.

Only lake I've ever fished where you can catch perch at all depths of the water column.  A few feet below the ice, half way down, right off the bottom.   Never seen anything like it.   Also some hog largemouths and some decent pike in there.

Good luck at the tourney!

[cuznalfy]

 if you go to upsta to fish you dont have to go back down to highway 200 these a road that cuts over and comes out right about salmon lake i think the keep it plowed its a good road worth checking out

[icechick]

Hey thanks for info guys I will have to let you know how we do

[perchhogslayer]

What kind of fish does Lake Placid have?  I've only fished it in the summer, with some success for pike minnows I think? (A smallish thoothpaste tube like fish, very slimy with hard lips, no teeth that I noticed?)  And some bass and perch (some big bass, mostly small perch).  Nevada Creek Lake Reservoir (Has many names) is ok for an occasional trout (aka rainbow carp), and small perch.  Thought they might be bigger this year, they aren't.  Must be because the water gets pretty low in the summer?  They have been working on the dam in years past and that has had a huge effect on the numbers and sizes, but thought they may be recovering.  Still seem really small though. 

[Walltrout]

Monster man eating pike!!!!  They made a movie about them. 



Just kidding. I'm not sure.

[perchhogslayer]

  Ha ha, that's awesome. watch out for the sudden pressure ridges.   

[icechick]

Wow you guys are too funny. I think that we have decided to try Browns Lake. Our buddy in Seeley was telling us that the bite is pretty good there, any advice?

[PerchFan]

How far away is Lake upsta from Helena

[icechick]

Upsata is about 80 miles from Helena. A little bit of a trip but it is on our way to Seeley so it should not be too bad.

[icechick]

Alright so we went to Seeley this weekend and fished salmon lake and lake placid. Salmon lake has 14 inches of clear ice with about a 10 inches or so of snow on top. Some areas were pretty darn slushy but most not too bad. Lake Placid had about 9 inches of clear ice with a couple of inches of white ice on top. Fishing was really slow for us. This is the second year we have gone to the Pike on Ice tournament and never caught any pike . Oh well at least it was nice to get out and have a good time.

[perchhogslayer]

Alright so we went to Seeley this weekend and fished salmon lake and lake placid. Salmon lake has 14 inches of clear ice with about a 10 inches or so of snow on top. Some areas were pretty darn slushy but most not too bad. Lake Placid had about 9 inches of clear ice with a couple of inches of white ice on top. Fishing was really slow for us. This is the second year we have gone to the Pike on Ice tournament and never caught any pike . Oh well at least it was nice to get out and have a good time.

Thanks for the report.  Did you guys go to Lake Upsta at all?  Catch anything at all on Placid?

[icechick]

Did you guys go to Lake Upsta at all?  Catch anything at all on Placid?

Well we tried to get to upsata but the truck got stuck in the snow and after we got it out we decided to try Placid instead. The snow is actually deeper then it looks and has a layer of crusty snow and then a layer of powder. Yeah we caught a little perch but we did not fish that long at Placid.  I saw some trout, a pike and had some bites from whitefish on the aqua-vu.

[perchhogslayer]

Well we tried to get to upsata but the truck got stuck in the snow and after we got it out we decided to try Placid instead. The snow is actually deeper then it looks and has a layer of crusty snow and then a layer of powder. Yeah we caught a little perch but we did not fish that long at Placid.  I saw some trout, a pike and had some bites from whitefish on the aqua-vu.

I've always wanted to try one of those cameras,  What model of Aqua-vu do you have,  any recommendations on similar models?  I thought with the lights they might scare the fish away.   

[icechick]

I have the Aqua-Vu Scout II. I really like it and it is easy to use the only thing is that it is hard to see when there is a bunch on snow on the ice. I am not sure about any other models though. The one really cool thing is that I have been able to improve my jigging by watching what motion the fish like and dislike.  As for the lights they have not seemed to bothered the fish too much at all. I have tried with lights on and lights off and got the same results.

[Neptune]

I have the Aqua-Vu Scout II. I really like it and it is easy to use the only thing is that it is hard to see when there is a bunch on snow on the ice. I am not sure about any other models though. The one really cool thing is that I have been able to improve my jigging by watching what motion the fish like and dislike.  As for the lights they have not seemed to bothered the fish too much at all. I have tried with lights on and lights off and got the same results.

Just chiming in here... I have the Cabelas 7" screen model and I would highly recommend it.  The lights are infrared so they don't produce visible light(that you or I can see) but they illuminate what ever is in front of the camera when you have it down deep.  I have perch that swim right up to the camera and stare in the lense or swim slowly by...it is really cool to watch.  I have been improving my jigging techniques for Kokanee and it is amazing how many times those little buggers pound the jig and you don't feel or see anything!!!

Highly recommend the camera!