CJ Strike Is Definietly Over With As Far As Ice Fishing Is Concerned

[Idahofisherman]

Was at CJ yesterday & the ice there throughout the Bruneau Arm has several big splits in the middle & the edges everywhere are breaking up & you can't get on the ice anywhere plus she's getting pretty rotten. The only little spot you can ice fish still is right in that little cove at cottonwood where then little docks are but all you catch there right now if anything is trout.

Sad to see the ice at CJ go since i've had such good luck fishing there & just hoping we won't have to wait 20+ years to ice fish CJ again

[66birdman]

I caught a few decent gills in there too last weekend

[Idahofisherman]

Nice,  the few times i've ice fished CJ I havn't seen any gills but have always done super on perch about everytime I go there & would pick up a trout her and there once in a while too. Would see crappies & an occasional gill along with several perch cruise by on my marcum camera but could not get them crappie to bite anything I had.

[panfishman13]

i'm hoping to get up to CJ some time this summer, it's been about 5 years since i've been there, and i need to get into some big perch and bluegill. maybe try for catfish if i can. it's been a while.

[StrikeMojo]

We were in the neighborhood today so we went down and checked out Strike.  It is amazing how fast the ice comes off, and how destructive a bunch of 6 inch thick chunks of ice crushing into each other, powered by the wind and waves can be...

[Idahofisherman]

Ya panfish13 if you hit it the right time in the summertime you can do well on both perch & gills. There's also a good population of nice crappie in there too.
Ya StrikeMojo anytime you get a strong warm wind & there's open water in the vicinity even if the ice is thick it don't take long for the ice to leave, especially since the wind melts the ice quite fast. I know this all too well since I see this about every year over at the American Falls Res. which is by where I live

[panfishman13]

i do love some good crappie. the trouble is finding them, though now that i have a boat, it'll be a lot easier to get out and around to find fish.

previously, one of our best perch spots was a tree that had grown horizontally out over the water. we'dclimb out into the limbs and fish straight down to the bottom with a 2-hook drop shot rig and catch dozens of big perch in an afternoon.

[Idahofisherman]

Ya CJ seems to be one of them places you need a boat to do good on the perch & the crappie. I used to like fishing right off the spillway but damn Idaho Power closed that off which I think is a bunch of bullsh*t if you ask me. The last few times I was out on the ice at CJ I was seeing some  crappie on my marcum once in a while but I could not get the damn things to bite. The only time i've had luck on crappie at CJ was in May around the time they spawn