Fishing Forum

Well as we all know this was one of the last big ice weekends in Idaho; I still want to get out a few times; my son and I want to reach our winter goal of 1,000 iced fish[], but I know it won't be too long until ice off. We hit Palies at Big Elk Saturday morning from 7;00-11:30 landed five cutts 1.5-2 pounds. The bite was actually pretty consistent, and we lost probably another five on the way up towards the hole. I actually lost a rod; did not witness it, but while reeling in a nice cutt and returning to the Vex I looked over and it was gone[mad] Good rod, had caught a lot of fish in its five year history. The ice is still in really good shape, and the edges are the best I have seen for an entire winter, still take a board! Ice is still a good 12-14 inches, big white glow jigs and pink paddle bugs worked well tipped with crawler.

I actually left Palies early, because my wife had to be at my brother-in-laws in Tremonten (spelling), Utah. We packed up the van and she dropped my son and I at Deep Creek. Set up camp on the ice and iced eight; four of them were at 7:00 PM. It was fun to fish with the lantern, but we still decided to turn in early at 8;30 pm. The next morning we got up and action was red hot almost immediately. From 7:00-9:00 we iced 20 trout five were hold overs; at 9:30 my wife/daughter arrived and we fished until 12:00. Iced eight more, and my brother-in-law (okfishon, from Utah) did really well to. The highlight of the weekend was the camping on the ice. Deep Creek is noisy with wild and domestic life. Coyotes, owls, dogs, horses, and cows all night long. The ice popped all night as well; it is kind of a cool erie feeling to have it go right under you when your sleeping. Oh' yes ice is still about 24-30 inches, but the sides our weak. A variety of methods can produce fish at Deep Creek. I hope you all did well this weekend.

OvidCreek
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You camped on the ice? You are a much braver soul than I am. I have a hard time just sitting on it when it's popping like that. Glad to hear you did so well.
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So how did you camp? tent or what?
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Great post Ovid and thanks for sharing. I bet it was wild to hear all that stuff at night, even the echoing ice popping.
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Idahopanfish: I tented it, and loved it. I plan on doing this a lot more. Number one, because it was fun to hang out with the kid. Number two I actually got to sleep in a little, rather than get up at 4:30 to start the drive.

Reellady: First welcome to the board! Second I do crazy things like this all the time. I was once stranded on the Channel Islands for an extra day, because I was hiking with my son on my back when he was two and the boat came early due to high sea swells. It paid off, the next day on the return trip we entered a pod of a 1,000 plus dolphins. My family is big time outdoors every year we have a goal to do 30 days of tent camping and in many remote locations.
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So how did you insulate yourself from the ice or did you use a cot and I assume a heater? This sounds like something I will be doing next year[]
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Michael,

We just used a heavy duty air mattress and -20 F Kelty bags. We both sleeped really well. I usually carry a Kelty bag everywhere I go ice fishing. My son goes into it a lot when it gets -20 and the fishing is slow.

OvidCreek
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