01-03-2007, 02:20 AM
I have done quiet a bit of icefishing over the last week or so. I took my family after Christmas over to Boysen Res. in Wyoming. I was interested in trying the live bait for the walleye and perch. The guy at the Riverton Sporting goods store made it seem like catching perch at Boysen was simple, but it turned into an ordeal for me. I went to tough creek which had been recommended by many people as the place to go. I fished with my family for 6 hours, drilled over 100 holes, and got zero bites. My wife loves ice fishing but not that much. That night we swam at the hot springs in Thermopolis and had a great time. The next day I took my oldest boy back and we went to Fremont Bay. The morning started out good with an 18" fat rainbow. Then the perch started to hit the live minnows. We landed 8 big perch before the weather turned on us and literally blew us off of the lake. Even though I did not find the piles of perch that I had heard of I still enjoyed the lake. I saw a couple of sauger caught and a couple of ling. I was hoping for an "exotic" species but maybe next time. The lake is huge and it is probably just a matter of learning the ins and outs of another lake.
Next I drove through a snow storm to Billings to visit my best friend (besides my wife of course[angelic]) It turned out that he had to take his Scout Troop on their campout for the month so I went along with them to Deadmans Basin. This lake was new to both of us but we had heard that the Kokanee population was tremendous. We set up camp in the dark and then went out with our flashlights and drilled holes all over the lake looking for the Kokes. We got a few bites but could not find them in numbers at night. One of the scout leaders had a vexilar so we were drilling and he was checking. Finally we gave up at 1:00 in the morning. I settled into my sleeping bag and I guess the holidays have been good to me because my cot collapsed and I ended up sleeping on the ground in zero degree weather. I awoke in the morning and headed back out to try and find the Kokanee. We did find a few but the bites were really lite. I ended up only landing one before we had to head home. My friend called me last night and reported that he went back and talked to the locals. He found out that we had been fishing in much to deep of water. The Kokes in that lake hug the bank so you have to be fishing in really shallow water. So it just goes to show that you can't use Ririe tactics at Deadmans Basin in Montana. My friend said that once he found them in shallow it was easy to get them to bite.
Saturday I took my son and some friends out to Mudlake. I will just say that last winters fish kill was not complete and if you need a place to introduce kids to icefishing Mudlake is a wonderful spot. It is kind of ironic that after fishing lakes in two states the simplist fishing was only 30 minutes away.
I hope you all had a safe and wonderful holiday. I enjoy reading all the new reports.
Thanks
Windriver
[signature]
Next I drove through a snow storm to Billings to visit my best friend (besides my wife of course[angelic]) It turned out that he had to take his Scout Troop on their campout for the month so I went along with them to Deadmans Basin. This lake was new to both of us but we had heard that the Kokanee population was tremendous. We set up camp in the dark and then went out with our flashlights and drilled holes all over the lake looking for the Kokes. We got a few bites but could not find them in numbers at night. One of the scout leaders had a vexilar so we were drilling and he was checking. Finally we gave up at 1:00 in the morning. I settled into my sleeping bag and I guess the holidays have been good to me because my cot collapsed and I ended up sleeping on the ground in zero degree weather. I awoke in the morning and headed back out to try and find the Kokanee. We did find a few but the bites were really lite. I ended up only landing one before we had to head home. My friend called me last night and reported that he went back and talked to the locals. He found out that we had been fishing in much to deep of water. The Kokes in that lake hug the bank so you have to be fishing in really shallow water. So it just goes to show that you can't use Ririe tactics at Deadmans Basin in Montana. My friend said that once he found them in shallow it was easy to get them to bite.
Saturday I took my son and some friends out to Mudlake. I will just say that last winters fish kill was not complete and if you need a place to introduce kids to icefishing Mudlake is a wonderful spot. It is kind of ironic that after fishing lakes in two states the simplist fishing was only 30 minutes away.
I hope you all had a safe and wonderful holiday. I enjoy reading all the new reports.
Thanks
Windriver
[signature]
]. I had a similar experience a couple of years ago on a winter ice fishing trip over to Pinedale, Wyoming, to fish Fremont Reservoir. I refer to Fremont now as the "Dead Sea".