Ice Reports

[Mark K]

Do any of the "fishable" rivers ever freeze over here? Just curious.

Any word on Newman?

Silver?

Any of the local ponds fishable? I've been eyeballing Shelley Lake, but unfortunately it's gated and you'd need a "friend."

Jay K,

Check out some of the sloughs on the POR. I know for sure if you want to head that far Tiger Slough on the river freezes real thick. A friend and I hammered the Perch in there New Years Day last year. Also quite a few Pike caught there too.

[Jay K]

@Mark K - Thanks for the heads-up. I just googled Tiger Slough- actually shows up on the map. Wasn't quite sure what exactly a slough was. At that distance I might try hitting up Waitt's Lake; People seem to have some success there for big perch.

Wonder if the Little Spokane ever freezes up.

Wonder if the Spokane River has sloughs.

Curious cause I've been reading reports of people fishing frozen "rivers" back in the midwest.

[MarkFromSea]

Just got a verbal from Chewela, Williams has layers? ice, water, ice, water, ice, water..... I was told people are staying off of the ice...... warm this past week.....
ice sea... I look for the "ants" in the cam, there's also that resort up there, "The Cove" google em to find a number, I think they charged $3 to park in their parking lot................. ugh,,,, should have at least came with a cup of coffee but the store wasn't open the day I visited, still had to pay to park....bring your worms,,,,,,, LOL

added 12/27/10 brrrrrr cold temps hittin Chewela/ eastside this week(fri, sat),,,,, lookin good to walk on water!

[Anonymous]

Coulee City Boat Basin on Banks Lake.
I didn't have time to stop and fish but was told by several fishermen that the Perch bite was off the hook (No pun intended)

[Jay K]

BigD- Thanks for the report! Looks like the perch bite's finally starting to pick up. Those fellows in Coulee City seem to be fishing pretty shallow, or is that pretty deep where they're at? Enjoyed the pic, thanks. I wonder how far you gotta go to pickup walleye through the ice at Banks.

[Big D]

BigD- Thanks for the report! Looks like the perch bite's finally starting to pick up. Those fellows in Coulee City seem to be fishing pretty shallow, or is that pretty deep where they're at? Enjoyed the pic, thanks. I wonder how far you gotta go to pickup walleye through the ice at Banks.

Hey Jay,
You're very welcome. It's been a long time since I dropped a line at the boat basin so I'm only guessing as to the depth. Close to shore from the ends of the docks I think it runs 8 to 10 feet and out in the middle of the boat basin I think it runs close to 20 feet deep in some spots but remember I said it's only a guess. The main lake (Banks) has a long, long way to go before I'd trust any ice on it. Right now it's all open water. I can't remember when I've seen a solid ice cap on Banks Lake so I'm willing to wait on the walleye hunt until others have ventured out and I hear that they survived their trip.

[Kfedka]

Coulee City Boat Basin on Banks Lake.
I didn't have time to stop and fish but was told by several fishermen that the Perch bite was off the hook (No pun intended)

Excellent picture truly. How thick was the ice on the basin? Any reports on Whitefish?

[Big D]

Excellent picture truly. How thick was the ice on the basin? Any reports on Whitefish?

LOL that's kinda funny. I was more interested in how the fishing was going and forgot to ask about ice thickness.

[ice seaker]

i just talked to the woman at the cove resort, she said that 2 days ago there was several people on the ice but that they (the cove) ran them off due to the quality of the ice. i asked her how deep the ice was she said she does not know and she would never get on the ice........................... so that kind of tells me that the ice is solid enough to fish but its fish at your own risk. with the temps getting colder this week hopefully it helps make ice.

[aaron42ash]

Good ol Eloika is up to 9 inches in most areas. I will post a report later tonight.

[lonnie197272]

Stopped and talked to the guys fishing the marina at Coulee City and they said it was about 7 in of cloudy ice. There were 4 fishing at the time and all of them had a dozen or so perch. Most were pretty small 6-8in. Just a heads up right out from the opening of the marina is open water. Not ideal conditions but hey its on the ice at least. Be safe and be smart.

[Jay K]

How does Jerry's charge for using his parking area? How "early" can you arrive and how late can you park till? How much? Just curious in case I don't want to make the trek all the way from the public launch.

[aaron42ash]

Jay- It's 3 bucks a car, and I've never been too early or stayed too late. We have night fished in the past. Ya with all of the snow it was a tough walk today. I'm just glad I made it out there. Hopefully with a few clear days the roads will be good enough to try again. Check my report later.

[Jay K]

Silver's north end is iced from the launch to Ruby's, however it's 1" frozen slush, 1" water and 1" clear ice confirmed through multiple holes drilled along the fishing pier, launch and off the launch dock. Additionally, the parking area's got 8-12" of snow, so unless you've got the right vehicle, you're gonna get stuck. Saw lots of test holes. Probably one more week of freezing temps and we'll be able to fish the north end. Open water beyond that imaginary line from launch to Ruby's. Lots of test holes, so somebody's out there checking other than me. Was planning on doing some open water fishing, but now can't fish ice or open water at Silver.

[dougw]

Theres a report on the fishing reports that Silver has 5-7 inches of ice. Here is the posting....

http://washingtonlakes.com/ReportCommen ... lid=16&t=1

[MarkFromSea]

Fish Lake near LK Wenatchee, 3-6 in of ice(1-2 of clear), just depended on where you punched the hole, some double crust heading towards the middle of the lake, use good judgement, I and 50+ other people out on the lake today. I only know of one guy, walking thru the cat tails, that fell thru. ouch! Great weather, no wind, sunshine! People ice skating. Occasional growing ice groans, that sounds so cool! The Cove charges $5 to park a car, bring an envelope and coffee, store isn't open! LMAO Either 4 wheel drive or chains to get out of the Cove, icy driveway, I used the chains on my white work van, no biggy. Awesome day on the ice plenty of fish, perch and trout,,,,, oh and LOTS of bullheads! The birds wouldn't even eat them... LOL After 5 hrs of driving and 9 hrs of fishing, I'm exhausted, report tomorrow. Tried to post these pics with report, failed after several attempts, guess just you special ice fishers get to see them on here!

[Jay K]

@dougw - Silver is indeed iced. I didn't see the report, but ventured out today as well. 6" of ice near the public launch. Ice is still growing, growning and cracking. The sounds I was used to from last year, the slight shifting of your seat while you're on the ice I was not; Sorta like when you experience slight tremors in earthquake prone areas. A tad surreal to feel the "ground" shifting while you're sitting there. Still, it's safe ice and I'm quite glad my favorite fishery's iced.

[Kfedka]

[quote="Jay K"]@dougw - Silver is indeed iced. I didn't see the report, but ventured out today as well. 6" of ice near the public launch. Ice is still growing, growning and cracking. The sounds I was used to from last year, the slight shifting of your seat while you're on the ice I was not]

You ventured out and didn't bring a fishing pole to test the bite.

[Jay K]

@dougw - Silver is indeed iced. I didn't see the report, but ventured out today as well. 6" of ice near the public launch. Ice is still growing, growning and cracking. The sounds I was used to from last year, the slight shifting of your seat while you're on the ice I was not]

You ventured out and didn't bring a fishing pole to test the bite.

Oh, I brought my gear out alright. My report was completed after 2300, so hadn't been "approved" yet. I had a good day on the ice.

[Kfedka]

I'm looking to possibly venture out today. How did you do overall, lure, depth, fish, etc?