North Idaho Ice

[aza10]

Any size to the perch?

There were a few decent keepers but most were on the smaller side. Saved enough for tacos though! 

[catskinner]

Fished Freeman with smitti today, ice is good and thick 4-6''+, we caught a few perch but didn't have much for electronics so didn't move much. Two other guys were there they were on the other side of the lake in deeper water and did better. We had no luck with the muskie or catfish. We weren't very well prepared and I am not much of a perch fisherman. We check out Maiden Rock at Spirit, no ice. Twin is looking promising, with ice at the narrows not thick enough to check. At the upper ramp on Upper Twin we drilled a hole from the dock, only 2'' of clear ice but a few cold days and nights and we will be looking good.

[IcekiddKt]

Was there standing water and slush on freeman?

[catskinner]

Yes there was standing water and slush on Freeman.

[sihlms391]

Checked out Kelso.  Not to thick at dock.   Went to granite.   4 inches clear ice off dock.   Didn't go out on pretty slick.

[aza10]

Fished Freeman this evening, a few bluegill but nothing on the pike/tiger side of things.  The slush was pretty much frozen and there's a good 6 " plus of ice.  It was 32 degrees and snowing pretty good when we left.  might run out to granite tomorrow and give it shot.

[IdahoJoe]

Went out to the chain lakes on Saturday. Hit Bull Run...No ice to be found except back of the lake looked like ice in one of the bays. Fished open water with quick strike rigs for some pike. 4 hours of nothing. Snowed all morning. All that brand new ice gear still in the back of my truck waiting to be used!!

[TwoBucketBruce]

Does anyone know anything about Gamlin L. or any of the other little lakes out that way? Heard there might be some big crappie in Gamlin?

[bullpine]

You might think about changing your handle if you want to come on here just to ask where you can go to fill up two buckets with my crappie.

[TwoBucketBruce]

You might think about changing your handle if you want to come on here just to ask where you can go to fill up two buckets with my crappie.

Sorry Bullpine, rookie mistake.

[gillsonice]

Looks like next week will have some good ice building temps, Finally

[aza10]

Fished out on Kelso today.  Ice at the north end near the dock was a bit shaky 2.5 to 3" in some places but the south end of the lake had a good 4" of ice.  with the cold temps on the way should be a lot safer soon.  Thinking of hitting freeman or blue tomorrow, hoping the weather didn't totally kill the ice up that way.

[catskinner]

Fished Freeman this evening, a few bluegill but nothing on the pike/tiger side of things.  The slush was pretty much frozen and there's a good 6 " plus of ice.  It was 32 degrees and snowing pretty good when we left.  might run out to granite tomorrow and give it shot.

There will be plenty of ice on Freeman no need to worry about that.

[aza10]

Perfect!!

[plfish]

Blue should be good too.  6 solid inches on Sunday.  The recent snow and rain may make it sloppy on top.....but good solid layer below.   Landed almost 20 perch and crappie in a little over an hour Sunday afternoon between my son and I.

[catskinner]

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Blue should be good too.  6 solid inches on Sunday.  The recent snow and rain may make it sloppy on top.....but good solid layer below.   Landed almost 20 perch and crappie in a little over an hour Sunday afternoon between my son and I.

[DEER4DINNER]

Just checking in here.  I've been out a total of 5 times this season.  I've only fished Freeman Lake.  It has a good 6" clear and a couple white. The time before last it was a sloppy mess but the slush had mostly melted and re-froze leaving it pretty slick most recently (Saturday). I've managed to bring about a dozen perch home each time, a bluegill and a decent largemouth.  Not much size to the perch.  Probably 8" at best.  Hole hopping seems to produce more fish.  2 or 3 here, 2 or 3 there.  I tried for pike/musky with 3 tip-ups two of the 5 times I was out without a flag.  This year is the fist time I've fished that lake.  Seems to be pretty weedy and shallow.  The deepest areas I fished were maybe 14'.  Most productive bait seemed to be a white Lindy Perch Talker tipped with wax worm and/or perch eye.  I'm looking forward to some cooler weather this week.  Looks like we'll finally be freezing things up.  Just got a Tickle Stick and Freefall Ghost in the mail.  Anxious to try that out.  Might try Blue Lake this weekend.  Anyone know if the road stays plowed to that lake? Never been there. And are there pike in there?

What I know:  Everything around Coeur d'Alene is pretty much open water.  Chains were all open water last weekend with some thin shelves around the edges.  Hayden Lake Sportsman's is open water as of this morning (thin layers in spots after last nights cold), same with Avondale. Fernan appears to be all open water as of last weekend.  The officer in Sandpoint told me that Gamble was not fishable as of Dec. 27th.  Lower Twin was open water last weekend, didn't drive into the upper lake.

Anyone know anything about Burbot fishing in Bonner Lake?  Accessibility and ice conditions? 

 

[plfish]

The road to Blue stays plowed as its a county road.  The pullout to access the lake is right off the county road on the north side of the lake.  The pullout is right at the lake itself.  I caught a pike back in the summer of 1992 on Blue and haven’t caught one since.  Haven’t tried really hard to target them....but I haven’t heard anybody catching pike out of there in the last 15 years or so.  Not that they aren’t there or haven’t been caught...I just haven’t heard of anyone catching them.  There are some tiger Muskie in there though that people do catch now and then.

[DEER4DINNER]

The road to Blue stays plowed as its a county road.  The pullout to access the lake is right off the county road on the north side of the lake.  The pullout is right at the lake itself.  I caught a pike back in the summer of 1992 on Blue and haven’t caught one since.  Haven’t tried really hard to target them....but I haven’t heard anybody catching pike out of there in the last 15 years or so.  Not that they aren’t there or haven’t been caught...I just haven’t heard of anyone catching them.  There are some tiger Muskie in there though that people do catch now and then.

Thanks for the info.  I'll keep you all posted.

[houlzhouse]

deer4d-did you use that freefall/ticklestick combo yet-if so what did you think?- seriously considering going that way and would like to hear your take.

[TwoBucketBruce]

deer4d-did you use that freefall/ticklestick combo yet-if so what did you think?- seriously considering going that way and would like to hear your take.

I ordered one of those free-fall reels through 13Fishing last year but decided to send it back w/o even using it. After playing with it a little I decided I didn't like the trigger placement, it seemed too close to the cork handle and was kind of a nuisance with heavy gloves. I just decided to use a baitcasting reel instead, it does basically the same thing.

[aza10]

I bought a tickle stick this season and so far I really like it.  Super sensitive, you feel just about everything. I use it for panfish and trout.  I did not go with the inline reel though, seemed a bit pricey.

[bullpine]

I used inlines last year and I really like them and I think you will catch more panfish with them because they don't spin the bait.  But if I were after lake trout or bigger predator fish like walleye and pike I would jig with heavier lines and a spinning rod.

[Ice-A-Holic]

Fished Freeman yesterday afternoon.  6 - 8 inches of ice with 10 inches of wet slow on top.  Pretty tough walking pulling a sled.  The lane and parking lot were plowed but there's probably only room for 5 or 6 rigs in the parking lot.

[DEER4DINNER]

deer4d-did you use that freefall/ticklestick combo yet-if so what did you think?- seriously considering going that way and would like to hear your take.

Haven't tried it yet.  I've been busy doing family stuff and haven't had a chance to get out.  It feels really good in the living room though haha. I like the freefall option.  The negative sensitivity will also be nice to find the bottom, dropping a light jig down without using a heavy depth finder weight, which I've always done in the past then hand lined out to keep my depth.  I'll give a better review once I've thoroughly tested. 

Was anyone on Blue Lake yesterday or today?  How much snow is up there?  Is it wet slop or powder?  Might try to get out this week if work schedule allows. 

Anyone know if Gamble has safe ice yet?

[aza10]

I went and checked gamble before the storm and it was just a slush layer near shore. I couldn’t find any solid ice.

[sihlms391]

That's funny I was out on granite Monday 40 yards off dock and it will be even better now.

[IdahoJoe]

Would love to get out on some ice this weekend if anyone is interested. Im off on Friday, Sat and Sun. Well cancel Sunday since the Packers are playing but Im open Friday and Saturday. Was thinking Twin,  Kelso or Granite since they are close if not Im good anywhere else. let me know. Thanks for local reports as well. Appreciate it. Airborne All The Way! 

[catskinner]

Would love to get out on some ice this weekend if anyone is interested. Im off on Friday, Sat and Sun. Well cancel Sunday since the Packers are playing but Im open Friday and Saturday. Was thinking Twin,  Kelso or Granite since they are close if not Im good anywhere else. let me know. Thanks for local reports as well. Appreciate it. Airborne All The Way!

I don't know about Twin, last I checked upper had 2 inches at the dock Friday last week, with not much cold before it snowed. I was out by Twin on Sat and they got at least 12'' of snow so with the weight of the snow I would be very cautious. Lower Twin was open water last Friday so that is probably a good thing with all that snow, now if it will freeze up hard we will be golden.

[S.moyer0331]

Checked fernan today, main boat launch cove is capped, rest of the lake is water.

I give up.