Ice Reports 2013-2014

[jbball50]

Fished Moses Lake today. Got limitby10am.

How much ice is on Moses? What were you catching? I've never tried ice fishing and I was thinking of maybe heading up there once the ice was good.

[juggalo]

fished Moses through ice?limit of what?

[Jay K]

Fished Moses Lake today. Got limitby10am.

How much ice is on Moses? What were you catching? I've never tried ice fishing and I was thinking of maybe heading up there once the ice was good.

I'm guessing limit of walleye.

[fishinChristian]

Crappie?

[Jay K]

North end of Silver 3-4" clear ice, open water over the 40' depths.

Only caveat is it's dink city and that's the females, males are even smaller. I don't know what happened to this perch fishery; Sizes had improved 2 years ago, but it's back to tiny fish. Apex predators aren't doing their job culling the herd.

[Kfedka]

North end of Silver 3-4" clear ice, open water over the 40' depths.

Only caveat is it's dink city and that's the females, males are even smaller. I don't know what happened to this perch fishery; Sizes had improved 2 years ago, but it's back to tiny fish. Apex predators aren't doing their job culling the herd.

Fished Silver on Saturday afternoon from 2:30-4:30pm. Bite was very hot from 3-4pm and where catching as quick as you could drop your line to the bottom. I've been ice fishing the lake for about 5 years and this is the smallest in size that I have ever seen them. Out of the 20 perch I took home, over half the fish were full of eggs. I released the majority of the fish back because there were so small. The small Perch remind me of Eloika Lake, that I why I quite fishing it. Ice is as Jay stated 3.5" to 4", and will get thicker as the cold temperatures continue.

[aaron42ash]

Test drilled a few holes on Eloika. 5" near shore and 6.5-7.5 on the main body of water. Took home a few fish. Nice and cold all day and should have even more ice by the time the snow hits us.

[Jay K]

I've been ice fishing the lake for about 5 years and this is the smallest in size that I have ever seen them. Out of the 20 perch I took home, over half the fish were full of eggs. I released the majority of the fish back because there were so small. The small Perch remind me of Eloika Lake, that I why I quite fishing it.

3 yrs ago I was pulling some OK-sized bluegill during the summer. I wonder if the gills are outcompeting the perch for food, although it seems like they'd be eating different things.

Another oddity, I've never been able to find gills or crappie through the ice on Silver. Wonder where they're all hiding? Wouldn't mind pulling some big gills instead. I know people in the midwest go nuts ice fishing big gills during the winter. Wonder where they are in Silver, granted I've never wandered too far from the north end.

[romanfishing]

Saturday and Sunday we were limiting perch. We had many walleyes but kept only a few over 15-16 inch. Most eyes were in 12" range. Fished Scootney after limited at Moses Lake. Lots of small perch, one crappie and 4 16" walleyes.

[Wheezzy]

Fished Hog Canyon on Fri for a few hrs. ice was over 4in. thick, but the bite was non-existant. and the wind chill felt like 20 below.
Was able to get out on Silver for Sunday sunset bite. North end near launch had about 4in of ice but the rest of the lake just barely froze over Fri night so i didnt venture far from the launch. As earlier reported very many dinks were caught.
I was catching some decent size perch on Silver in early fall this season so I know their in there its just gonna take some searching once the whole lake gets solid enough to journey beyond the launch.

[ncwflounderer]

Fish lake looks like it will be fishable very soon, the cove might even be ok to get out on- who is going to make the first report from Fish lake?

[fishinChristian]

And Banks is in that awkward stage, thin sheet of ice shallow. Just talked to a friend near there. Apparently some small lakes North of there on the plateau or Res have ice, but he didn't know how much. The Seep lakes have thin ice, but none fishable, according to Mardon Resort. Potholes similar to Banks, with a little less ice at the edges. Still boatable, by their report. Thinking of pontooning the Columbia down from Grand Coulee, and I can check the area around it if I get away. I'll let you know if I do. Odessa area has some small water that usually freezes fairly early. Haven't heard about ponds 1 or 4 yet near Yakima.

[Anglinarcher]

Sprague is fully iced over, but thickness is tough to tell at 70 MPH from the freeway. Moses Lake had tons of ice fishermen near the West bridge.

Remember, two inches of clear bubble free ice is enough to support an ice fisherman, without major gear. I prefer three inches of clear bubble free hard ice, more is always better.

[romanfishing]

Sprague is fully iced over, but thickness is tough to tell at 70 MPH from the freeway. Moses Lake had tons of ice fishermen near the West bridge.

Remember, two inches of clear bubble free ice is enough to support an ice fisherman, without major gear. I prefer three inches of clear bubble free hard ice, more is always better.

Don't worry, I tried them all and ice was holding my 200lbs without cracking.
Banks lake also has 4" ice in the shallow bays and about 2" in the deep South end.

[fishinChristian]

Cool. Literally.

[Jay K]

Just want to warn my fellow ice fishermen to be vigilant of suspicious individuals if fishing alone.

At Silver today, I was approached by two somewhat strange people on the ice, neither of which were fishing, scouting the lake or sight-seeing. One I had serious vibes that he was up to no good, the other seemed a little strange but may have been a blessing in disguise as it might have dissuaded the first from trying anything. I left early anyways, because I didn't want to get caught at sundown if the fellow came back with buddies. I was in a similar situation out at Newman ice fishing solo one time.

All I wanted was to enjoy an hour of fishing to let off some steam from work, only to encounter a possibly negative and/or dangerous situation. I might be paranoid, but it's kept me safe from a few instances where I thought bad things might happen.

I'd advise people to fish with a buddy or if you're proficient, open carry when you're fishing. Also, I wouldn't wander from line-of-sight to your vehicle. It's a sad state of affairs, but I'm pretty certain I've met some bad people while I was outdoors and gotten lucky because they perceived I was paying attention.

[fishinChristian]

Awareness will keep people out of more trouble than anything else they can do. Thanks for the heads up.

[aaron42ash]

Jay- I was in a similar situation at the I-82 ponds near Yakima last winter. Three men put down their gear and rushed me while I was alone. If it weren't for my friend trailing 20 yards down the path I would have been in trouble. Thanks for letting us know about that, and glad nothing came of it. fishinChristian is right, awareness about this sort of thing is the best way to prevent any problems.

How was the fishing though? Anything better than your last outing?

[Anglinarcher]

Now you guys know why I open Cary when I can and concealed when necessary. Awareness does not preclude but requires preparation.

[Kfedka]

Sprague is fully iced over, but thickness is tough to tell at 70 MPH from the freeway. Moses Lake had tons of ice fishermen near the West bridge.

Remember, two inches of clear bubble free ice is enough to support an ice fisherman, without major gear. I prefer three inches of clear bubble free hard ice, more is always better.

Saturday this thickness of the ice was 4" at the WDFW launch. But I was told fishing was slow.