Northwest Fishing Reports

Man...that was quick. thanks Mike and Aaron.

Alright, being a westsider, i have no clue what the eastside ice is like. yes, I HAVE ICED FISHED HERE ON THE WESTSIDE. I have a small 7" two piece auger that i pack up to alpine lakes in the winter. very simple. I know it's 5 months off, but what are the most popular eastside lakes to fish through the ice?? mostly around spokane i'm guessing. If i were to try and plan a eastside trip in late Jan., where would be my best option?? I remember reading some reports last year, i guess i'll have to search through them....any advice??

Oh man,this is what I'm talk'n about.
Hey Rolland,sounds like we'll have to meet up this winter and start some great threads in here.

if not before, kb.... (pike trough the ice.....unbelievable!!!)

Just to throw down some info, and not be greedy....

on the westside here, the ice can be very tough and challenging.

#1....BE CAREFUL!! i've been ice fishing since i was 8 years old, so 22 years. (man i feel old). Learning ice structure is crucial to being safe. the westside is EXTREMELY dangerous and i would not suggest venturing onto the ice without much research, experience , and caution. Over here, snow will stratify layers of ice, making ice layers weak. i once drilled down 6 ft. with about 1" of ice between each 12" of snow...very unsafe!! This is called "White Ice", which has a lot of air bubbles trapped within the ice. "White Ice" is weaker than "Black Ice". Black Ice (bubble free ice) is more common on the east side, where temps stay cool and precip is minimal. much safer. if you can see through the ice, it is much more dense and thus can hold more weight.

If anyone ever wants to give this a try in my area, (PM me) you will not be disappointed. Now back to the EASTSIDE....popular lakes for panfish/trout??

Well, the Eastside doesn't have the winter temperatures of the Westside. I've lived here for maybe 7 years, and this last winter was the iciest I've seen. Even then it was only safe on small lakes for a week or two. Usually not even the whole lake will ice up around where I live. But, I've never tried ice fishing more than 10 miles away.

Fourth of July Lake, which is very close to the small town of Sprague, WA has good trout ice fishing. It bites best from the time the lake freezes and is safe to walk on till a month or or later, then it really slows down. A downside to the lake is you can only keep two trouts over 14". Most are over 14", very easy to get limited in an hour with 5 fish.

For panfish, Eloika lake can be good at times. Its has lots of perch. Read through the reports and look at the dates for January, and Febuary and get an idea of what people are using to catch them. I went two times to Eloika this last winter, I caught a dozen or so perch, which is slow, so I quite fishing there.

Fish Lake right next to Lake Wenatchee has great ice fishing if fished at the right time. It has some pretty respectable rainbows, perch that average about 8-13" and a few bass and brown trout thrown in the mix. This is a fun lake and doesn't have near the drive to get to for us westsiders.

Awesome mallard83....i have actually fished Fish lake once about three years ago, and i had no idea it froze over. Ya, there are tons of fish in there.....thanks for the tip. I could be there in about two hours i think.... (is that lake year round??)

Rollin with Rolland wrote:Awesome mallard83....i have actually fished Fish lake once about three years ago, and i had no idea it froze over. Ya, there are tons of fish in there.....thanks for the tip. I could be there in about two hours i think.... (is that lake year round??)

As far as I know it is, I don't think that it has any split seasons or anything.

Nice...I'm there this winter for sure....(if it's a cold one)

I just checked the rules on the wdfw website and it is open year around. There is a rule on trout in there that you may want to look into a little more for yourself.

Kfedka wrote:Fourth of July Lake, which is very close to the small town of Sprague, WA has good trout ice fishing. It bites best from the time the lake freezes and is safe to walk on till a month or or later, then it really slows down. A downside to the lake is you can only keep two trouts over 14". Most are over 14", very easy to get limited in an hour with 5 fish.

For panfish, Eloika lake can be good at times. Its has lots of perch. Read through the reports and look at the dates for January, and Febuary and get an idea of what people are using to catch them. I went two times to Eloika this last winter, I caught a dozen or so perch, which is slow, so I quite fishing there.

Good info Kfedka, and glad to hear you're one of the brave (or crazy, depending on how you look at it :jocolor:) anglers to hit the ice. I'll be PM'ing you later this winter....

Hog canyon, and fourth of july are winter only. Fourth Has big fish hog has small fish.

ive done alot of ice fishing i go with kfedka on fourth of july for trout and eloika for perch and the occational bass eloika is my favorite though if you catch a blue now and then you can toss one out 30 feet away and watch bald eagles drop down and get them its pretty cool and i have caught 5 pound bass out of there in the winter and once one so big couldnt get it out of the 8" hole

travislikesfishing wrote:ive done alot of ice fishing i go with kfedka on fourth of july for trout and eloika for perch and the occational bass eloika is my favorite though if you catch a blue now and then you can toss one out 30 feet away and watch bald eagles drop down and get them its pretty cool and i have caught 5 pound bass out of there in the winter and once one so big couldnt get it out of the 8" hole

nice travislikesfishing. good to hear you hit the ice as well. what is this..."if you catch a blue".....catfish, oh..bluegill??? I'm not doubting you, but that would be one HUGE bass to not fit through an 8" hole. Remember that pi times diameter equals circumference?? that would be roughly a 24" girth bass.....HUGE. I can see where any large fish would be tough to get through the ice though.....

I think Silver Lake in Spokane County could be alot of fun.

kevinb wrote:I think Silver Lake in Spokane County could be alot of fun.

They have very steep limits on crappie.

On the other hand, Sprague Lake used to be a great place for ice fishing. Did really good with perch and crappie in the past years before they poisoned the lake. They were easy to catch and very big in size.

Maybe I'll will mention another lake that has AWSOME ice fishing as well for crappie and perch, but requires a fairly long hike.

Rollin with Rolland wrote:

travislikesfishing wrote:ive done alot of ice fishing i go with kfedka on fourth of july for trout and eloika for perch and the occational bass eloika is my favorite though if you catch a blue now and then you can toss one out 30 feet away and watch bald eagles drop down and get them its pretty cool and i have caught 5 pound bass out of there in the winter and once one so big couldnt get it out of the 8" hole

nice travislikesfishing. good to hear you hit the ice as well. what is this..."if you catch a blue".....catfish, oh..bluegill??? I'm not doubting you, but that would be one HUGE bass to not fit through an 8" hole. Remember that pi times diameter equals circumference?? that would be roughly a 24" girth bass.....HUGE. I can see where any large fish would be tough to get through the ice though.....

Bass aren't perfect circles through. More like ovals girth-wise. So my rough estimation would be a 18" girth. Still a huge bass!

yeah, i guess your right iPodrodder...probably only 18" girth. Here is a little trick though travislikesfishing.....if it ever happens again, let the fish (whatever it is) swim down to the bottom or off to one side, and TRY to drill a second hole next to the first one. easier said than done, i know, but i have done this ONCE successfully for a friends 36" pike!!! Two people is a lot easier...

fyi...
Black/Blue ice = Bad ice, (soft)it appears at the end of the season when its melting.

Yep, as several other guys mentioned, Hog Canyon and Fourth of July are "winter only" lakes that can produce a lot of trout. Hog has mostly small fish, Fourth of July has larger fish. A 6" or 8" auger is all you need. Our winter was so hard last year that the road to Hog was closed due to snow drifts, and it went nearly unfished for several weeks (except for those hard core few who hiked in!). Keep it small and simple on these lakes....small teardrop jigs and Swedish Pimples with a couple salmon eggs are all you need. I've tried crawler chunks and meal worms, too, but they weren't nearly as effective as the salmon eggs. On both lakes, be prepared for hours of inactivity. When the "magic hour" arrives you'll know it! Also, fishing shallow water, say 5-8 feet, seems to be most productive.

Eloika has tons of dink perch, and the occasional bass that can liven up your jigging rod and day!

Further out, near Coffepot, there's the Twin Lakes (Upper and Lower). Upper Twin has some large rainbows that can be caught in the shallows. Finding these areas is tough, for the lakes is quite deep. Rumor has it (I've had several folks tell me this) that Lower Twin is mostly shallow and is full of big crappie. One of these winter days......

On all these lakes, I wait until lots of braver people have already cut holes before I venture out. Being originally from northern Pennsylvania, I'm accustomed to 24-36" of ice, not the 4-10" we get around here (if we get any at all).