Author Topic: North Idaho Ice  (Read 536787 times)

Offline plfish

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3510 on: Feb 11, 2019, 08:05 PM »
Hit Blue Lake (north of Priest River) yesterday afternoon.  10” of good solid ice.  Had to wait until the afternoon for things to warm up as the weather station on the airstrip at Priest Lake was -11 yesterday morning with some breezy conditions.  Pulled in 10 or so perch all about 8” and one pumpkinseed in about an hour and a half.   

Offline gillsonice

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3511 on: Feb 12, 2019, 06:53 PM »
I sure wish it would stop snowing  lol,  15 inches and counting in boundary county  >:(

Offline plfish

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3512 on: Feb 13, 2019, 05:44 PM »
I was thinking of hitting Granite or Kelso in the next few days.  Anybody been out who could report on conditions?  I haven’t fished them before....but want to give it a try.

Offline cocolallakid

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3513 on: Feb 13, 2019, 10:31 PM »
Tried spirit on Monday. Never fished it before. After talking to locals I found the maiden rock boat launch and fished from the center of the bay out to the first big point lookers left from the launch. I had a tip up with a worm along the shore for trout and four other rods rigged with beadchain and dropper glow hooks and maggots. Drilled and fished 15 holes around the bay. Fished all 80' of water and no bites. I don't use a vexlar or electronic fish finding equipment. Curious if anyone reading this is old school and fishes for Kokanee without electronic equipment and might have some tips? Anyone catch any of the planted Chinook out of spirit? All in all It was fun to fish some new water!

Offline cocolallakid

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3514 on: Feb 13, 2019, 10:36 PM »
Fished Coco yesterday on the north end. Had a trout rig close to shore and 3 perch rigs out deep. Lots of snow and a pain to move around the lake I didn't drill more than 4 holes. Fished for 3 hrs without a bite. Ice was easily 8+ inches. Slow weekend of ice fishing for me.

Offline bullpine

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3515 on: Feb 14, 2019, 09:50 AM »
Fished Coco yesterday on the north end. Had a trout rig close to shore and 3 perch rigs out deep. Lots of snow and a pain to move around the lake I didn't drill more than 4 holes. Fished for 3 hrs without a bite. Ice was easily 8+ inches. Slow weekend of ice fishing for me.

The perch are usually out in and about the 35 to 40 foot range at Coco. Not had much luck in closer but there are some.   A silver and blue 1/4 oz castmaster spoon pounding the bottom at times should attract a school and then have a jig with plastic tail and maggots, then perch eyes after you catch one.  My wife swears the perch bite best when a train goes by, which is often.  Toward the end of Feb you won't be able to keep the perch off your line.

Offline jagmt

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3516 on: Feb 14, 2019, 03:45 PM »
Fished mirror today from 7:00-12:30. The ice was 10”, 4 was clear and 6 was white. We were in 60 fow and caught two limits of Kokanee and released about a dozen more that weren’t quite big enough to keep. The fish we kept were fairly small in the 8-10” range. They were biting anywhere from 40’ to 5’  the one around 5’ we could see down the hole which was pretty neat.

Thanks for the update.


Offline Jraystevens21

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3517 on: Feb 15, 2019, 10:00 PM »
I was curious if anyone had a flasher that they would part ways with?

Offline northidahoyota

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3518 on: Feb 16, 2019, 06:25 PM »
Is Priest lake fishable after last weeks cold spell? Been catching big perch in gamble and some little kokanee in Mirror but would like to go try for some lake trout if it's an option.

Offline Idahoice

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3519 on: Feb 16, 2019, 06:29 PM »


If lake trout is what you want go to Northwest Montana a couple hours of a drive can provide you with world-class fishing. There are several lakes that hold trophy class macs.

Offline Jraystevens21

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3520 on: Feb 16, 2019, 06:31 PM »
That is awesome! If you dont mind me asking what part of Montana? Kalispel on flathead?

Offline CMS

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3521 on: Feb 16, 2019, 08:24 PM »
I’ve been working at steamboat bay on priest lake and the ice that is there is more like floating slush, nowhere near safe, swung by cavanaugh the other day and it looks the same.  I don’t think ice fishing will be an option up there this year.

Offline northidahoyota

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3522 on: Feb 16, 2019, 08:37 PM »
Thanks for the intel, guess I'll have to wait a few months for Priest then haha. With the snow load on the ice everywhere is a slushy wet mess.

Offline northidahoyota

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3523 on: Feb 16, 2019, 08:43 PM »
What size hole did you have to squeeze that Montana trout through? That thing is a monster

Offline Idahoice

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3524 on: Feb 16, 2019, 09:02 PM »
8 inch k drill with a good squat. That Beauty went back to swim another day.

Offline jagmt

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3525 on: Feb 18, 2019, 11:18 PM »
Fished Mirror today. Let’s of little Kokanee.. biggest being 8ish inches.

Offline catskinner

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3526 on: Feb 22, 2019, 08:13 PM »
Has anyone been fishing Fernan or Hauser?
Doing what I do best, exploiting the natural resources of the world.

Offline cocolallakid

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3527 on: Feb 25, 2019, 03:12 PM »
Fished Coco yesterday a.m. with some friends. Caught 3 brookies and 1 bow in 8' of water on a glo jig and worm... Wind was pretty nasty so we left and tried Gamble by noon. Went straight out from the main launch/dock 15 fow and my buddy caught 3 perch in 3 different holes using a small Swedish pimple and maggots. Ice was really snowy/slushy and wind was bad so we moved to the south by the point and caught one crappie and two small bass.. really slow and cold bite but we caught some fish. I am looking for an ice shanty if anyone on here is willing to part ways with one, I'm your man. Cheers!

Offline northidahoyota

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3528 on: Feb 25, 2019, 05:00 PM »
Fished maiden rock spirit lake this morning, about a dozen holes from 55 to 85 feet of water. No bites, had a few big fish cruise by just off bottom but no sign of kokanee schools on the sonar

Offline CMS

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3529 on: Feb 25, 2019, 06:50 PM »
We fished there yesterday and were only able to pick up 5. They are nice size now but only came in two or three at a time and quite a bit of time between fish. I wonder if the chinook have them scattered? They seem to be making a difference in size but they do not seem to be schooled up like before.

Offline northidahoyota

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3530 on: Feb 25, 2019, 09:49 PM »
I'm by no means a kokanee expert, but it seems like in other lakes if you find one there's a lot and they will hang around your lure even if they won't bite. At spirit lake there would be fish on the sonar right after I drilled the hole and as soon as I dropped a spoon and dropper hook down there everything would leave and not come back until the gear was out of the water. Never fished there before but went there because of the 25 fish limit assuming an over population problem. Maybe the chinook are running the kokanee ragged. How big were the kokanee you caught, and has anyone caught a keeper chinook there yet?

Offline CMS

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3531 on: Feb 26, 2019, 07:21 AM »
The Kokanee we caught were around 10” and pretty thick. We’ve been using small tackle and small hooks with one maggot. It seems like a bigger presentation spooks them.

Offline jagmt

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3532 on: Mar 03, 2019, 01:39 PM »



My friends son caught his personal best pike on Hayden...it measures in a 40.7 inches and 26.3 lbs.

Offline Echo 6 Whiskey

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3533 on: Mar 03, 2019, 11:52 PM »
That is a tank congratulations

Offline TwoBucketBruce

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3534 on: Mar 05, 2019, 02:26 PM »
Anyone finding any crappie or perch through the ice? Is the snow so deep on the lakes that it makes it really difficult to get around?

Offline hugeinchina

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3535 on: Mar 05, 2019, 03:18 PM »
Anyone finding any crappie or perch through the ice? Is the snow so deep on the lakes that it makes it really difficult to get around?

Found a freezer full of perch, but I caught them all over on the Washington side up at Curlew lake. If you've never been, I highly recommend you go.

Offline plfish

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3536 on: Mar 06, 2019, 07:35 PM »
People were fishing Priest Lake at Cavanaugh Bay this past week.  I also heard there were people trying up north by Lionhead.   I don’t have any info on ice conditions.  The airstrip on the west side of the Lake had -13 on Sunday, -16 on Monday, and -2 yesterday.

Offline sediver

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3537 on: Mar 07, 2019, 03:17 PM »
Has anyone been out on Gamlin or Mirror Lakes recently?

Offline fishinPA18

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3538 on: Mar 08, 2019, 06:16 PM »
Fished Fernan lake twice in the last 2 weeks. Ice is about 12-14” thick. Top 7” varies from firm to slush in different areas but has 5” of solid ice at the base. Mid-lake has been teeming with people fishing in past years but has been a ghost town this year. An old timer who fishes the lake a lot told me the perch and pike fishing has been slow this year.

Drowned some worms right out from the dock at the main parking lot in 9 feet of water and caught some nice 12-14” rainbows both times I went out.   

Offline IcekiddKt

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Re: North Idaho Ice
« Reply #3539 on: Mar 08, 2019, 08:39 PM »
Anyone know the ice conditions at spirit?or Avondale,Hauser lake?

 



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