island park res.

[Big_iceman]

has any one been to island park reservoir? Im going up there in a couple of weeks and thought i might take my stuff and give it a try. any info would be much appreciated thanks.
[signature]

[thebug]

i havent been up since the snow has flown this year but please be careful. ive fallen through the ice twice and both times it was on IP res
[signature]

[curt69]

Were you on early ice ? This time of year there is usually 24+ inches . There are some springs that could cause thin ice . Curt G.
[signature]

[thebug]

it was is late january and from the exploring I have done at low water there were no springs in that area jsut huge gaping holes with a crust of ice and a foot of snow
[signature]

[MMDon]

Island Park Res. continually rises throughout the winter. This creates two problems. Unstable bank ice and cases where 12 to 18" of water flows over the top of the existing ice. Until that freezes solid you can fall through it! I was fishing next to a set of guys one time that were fishing rather shallow. I explained to them that their hand augers were only getting through the first layer of ice. They were fishing in the 18" of water between layers. I gave them my holes as we were just leaving.
[signature]

[Big_iceman]

what works out there for bait.
[signature]

[MMDon]

White grubs and minnow imitations work well but . . .
You can put a limit on the ice in under 15 minutes with a half of a nightcrawler and a half of a red/white/blue power nugget when the bites on.

Kokanee . . . the usual Kokanee set ups work well. These Kokes are bigger so you can use a Swedish Pimple with a single hook and bait and do well if you have a fish finder to check the depth. I remove the treble as the fish leverage against the three hooks and get away as often as not. I still prefer using the S.P. as an attractor and a pink #8 Rat Finke jig for the hook with bait fished 10" below the attractor.

Water column depth and jig depth are the key to success!
[signature]