Double Shift
Whew, what a day...double shift. Crappie fishing in the morning and burbot fishing in the night. It was a beautiful night to fish. The stars were shining, no wind, warm (27 degrees F) and no people on the ice. We never had, such a perfect night, on this lake. We caught our limit, 12 total, within three hours.
Crappie
Crappie fishing was a little slow...only 23. But, we finally had gotten on this body of water. We had do get onto the ice at the ramp and not the t-dock (not safe). The ice was about 3.5" thick. Later, we will try some night fishing for trout and burbot at the other lake... 2.25 - 3" thick.
Slower
Only 42 perch and one bullhead. The ice was iffy in places and there were two layers of ice/snow and ice. Hopefully we will get a good cold snap and solidify things. Still...a beautiful day to be on the ice.
The Big Haul
We decided to try another lake, up here in NW Idaho. This one had 3.5" of ice, near the shore. There was a line, further out, signaling newer, thinner ice. We caught 121 perch within 2 hours. One-after-another. It was hard to stop fishing, but one bucket was enough fish to clean.
First Ice
Beautiful morning to test the ice, up here, in northern Idaho. The ice was 3.5 - 4" thick of good, clear, ice. We caught three crappie and one (keeper) blue gill, at first light. Once the sun started to come up the fish stopped biting. I'm sure, the high pressure had a lot to do with it. It's always hard fishing on a nice day.
Supper
We wanted crappie for supper, so headed out to my favorite lake, just north of us. As soon as we started fishing, Tom caught a nice, large mouth, bass. The bass was 18", but we released him....they don't taste, that great. We fished to the other end and caught nothing! I looked closer to the shore. What seemed like calm water, was icy slush. No wonder why the fish weren't biting. The water temperature was too cold. Guess, we have to wait until the lake freezes to ice fish. Come on ice......
Ice
Yes, ICE...this is the earliest we have been able to ice fish. We had gone to a shallow lake, near Kalispell, Montana. The ice was 2.5 - 3" thick when we had gotten there. The temperature was about 1 degree F! Lots of ice-making temps. We caught 7 pike, most around 18"...normal for that lake. There are a few, nice ones, but not this time. The ice was smooth enough, I had gotten in some ice skating. By the time we were leaving, around 1 pm, the ice was cracking and starting to break up. Got off just in time, as the ice was starting to rot in the warming of the day (40's).
