Ice Fishing!

[GoldenRing270]

Curious how many of you guys and gals are into ice fishing?

If you haven't been ice fishing before I would strongly encourage you to give it a try. It's a lot of fun. Even if it means driving 6 hours north to find safe ice it's worth it. Make a trip out of it.

If your an ice fisherman, have you checked out Iceshanty.com? Its an internet forum for ice fishing. Lots of great info and people on the site. It's a lot like hunting-washington forums. They just added a Washington section and it would be cool to see more folks using it. Washington needs to represent in the ice fishing community. We get safe ice for nearly as long as many places in the midwest and they are crazy about ice fishing. It seems slower to catch on here but it seems to be building steam.

[762Armo]

I've tried at Banks Lake a couple years ago. Didn't catch anything.

[Huntin Hounds]

I enjoy ice fishing. We usually fish local small lakes around Spokane and North Idaho. I just picked up an ice flasher for this year. I have used my buddies quite a bit and they are super helpful. Seeing what the bottom is made of along with if there are any fish looking at your lure makes for a much more successful day. If you're not seeing anything you can bounce around until you find fish.
Later this year I am going to Lake Cascade in Idaho with some friends to fish for giant perch. They went last year and caught several 2lbs fish. Hopefully we will get some safe ice around here soon so I can get some practice in.

[Ridgeratt]

 

Glad to see it turning cold before we get snow that way it's hard ice.

[steelhead4life]

This will be my first year.  I was a avid bass fisherman in the past and have been looking to expand on the opportunities in the area.  Just ordered a auger and a ice rod up last week.
Any pointers for a new guy

[Ridgeratt]

ice cleat's

Just like any other hobby. Depends on how thick your wallet is. I have used hand augers for years. But a person I fish with went and bought a gas auger last year.

[snake]

Any ice reports for the spokane area? I moved over here a few years ago from central Washington. Would love to fish for some Walleye and Pike through the ice. I lived in MN for almost 30 years and Ice fishing was a way of life for us.

[oldschool]

 Perch eyes are best bait.

[Ridgeratt]

Any ice reports for the spokane area? I moved over here a few years ago from central Washington. Would love to fish for some Walleye and Pike through the ice. I lived in MN for almost 30 years and Ice fishing was a way of life for us.

To fish Wally's it will be a trip to the basin, unless long lake get's hard. Tiger Musky's would be a trip to silver lake by Cheney or Newman.  You can catch pike on long lake as well.

[boneaddict]

Used to snowmobile to the lake, chop a hole, (no auger) Cut a pole from a willow by the lake and catch trout.   Good times!   Havent ice fished for years.   We watched Grump Old Men yesterday and made us think about it just yesterday.  Theres a nice lake here by Selah that they just dumped some pounders in.   I dont think the ice is there yet though.

[Ridgeratt]

On a safety note.
Last year there were folks using chain saws to cut holes large enough to go through in some areas.
Some lakes have springs that might be a shade soft also.

This photo was on the ice shanty site under the Idaho section

[GoldenRing270]

I would suggest getting a pop up ice shelter or a big hunting ground blind and get a buddy heater. It will make fishing on the cold days much more fun and it will keep you out there on the ice later in the evening when the fish really get going. A sled to haul your gear around. If you really end up liking it and want to increase your success catching fish invest in an ice flasher. They aren't cheap but its a game changer. As for tips on tackle, I really like small spoons and very small jigs but if your just getting into it I suggest doing some searching around at iceshanty.com. I wish I'd found that site much sooner. It would have eliminated a lot of trial and error and my success rate has at least doubled or tripled since I first logged on.

[GoldenRing270]

Oh and look for tackle that glows in the dark.

[Ridgeratt]

You could install led's in your fishing hut as well. Both white and red. White so the old guy can see to tie on micro jig's and red so the hole is dark and you can see in the lake.  Dimmer controlled. Then again some type of decoy can be useful.

[Ridgeratt]

I just found this. 
Just depends on how thick your wallet is.

[Ridgeratt]

Here's a great YouTube from a local person who lives in Omak I think.

[steelhead4life]

Thanks for the help guys.  I was in Moses today and some of the small shallow lakes still have some ice on them.  Not enough to walk on but maybe the next cold cycle will make it safe.  The lakes in Ellensbug are close also. 
Thought I would give a quick update, since I was in the area.

[Huntin Hounds]

  It's been a slow start to the ice fishing season but with this cold weather we are getting all the lakes should be good to go soon if not already. I took my 5 year old son out after Christmas to Coffin lake. It was one of the only fishable lakes at the time and a buddy had been doing well at it. We did not get a bite.
  I went to Lake Cascade in Idaho 1/18-1/20. The fishing was very slow the first two days there. First day we only caught a dozen small fish out of poison creek between 6 guys. We had two snowmobiles but one broke down so that left us with one the rest of the trip. There were large pockets of slush that made the getting around more difficult. The second day we fished around sugarloaf island and there were not a lot of fish caught. There were a few decent trout and 5-6 jumbo perch caught. I got one perch which was 13" long and 1.5 lbs. That part was awesome and I will be going back to try again. It rained all day and by the time we left there were slush pockets over a foot deep. Several 4 wheelers and sleds were left on the ice that day. We did not fish our last day as it had rained all night and we didn't think we could get to where we wanted to fish. The longest perch from our group was 14" and mine was the heaviest. I did see one from another angler that was 15" and 2.0 lbs!
  I fished Hauser on Saturday with my wife and boys. The ice is 6" and there were bluegill and crappie being caught. We were fishing less than 10 feet of water and the bite was very lite. I will be getting out on some more lakes in the next few weeks. See you out there.

[Ridgeratt]

Drove to Diamond Saturday half a dozen cars in the parking lot. Gate to the launch is closed and has not been plowed. We fished until after dark and it was slow. I never saw any fish under my depth finder. Walking around there wasn't any large evidence marks on the ice of a perch slaughter. 
There were about a dozen perch somebody had caught and just left on the ice.    Ice was a good solid 8+ there is maybe 2 inches of cheese ice over a hard layer.  But on the plus side we are making ice now folks. 

[WapitiTalk1]

Man o man, yum. 

[7mmfan]

Fantastic, looks great! I used to fish Curlew a lot when I was younger, and never saw perch there. When did they arrive on the scene? It's probably been 18 years of so since I was there last.

[blacktail378]

That bucket of perch brings back lots of memories of ice fishing with Gramps on Devils Lake ND.

[WapitiTalk1]

Yep, that's one of the things I miss by not living in a colder part of the world.... ice fishing!  I grew up and spent a good portion of my young adult years in NW Montana.  Ice fishing was a huge part of our winter sporting activities there!