Ice fishing in Idaho.....

[DocSpotty]

Had been scheduled for a couple of weeks to go ice fishing with a friend but we kept getting weathered out. Anyway this last weekend the trip was finally a go and my college daughter decided she wanted to go too. So early in the morning we headed north to Cascade Lake.

A little sidenote…..late the night before as we were breaking out the ski bibs, etc.., it was made known to me that my other daughter’s boyfriend had borrowed mine and my gloves and evidently they perished in never never land. So I had to jury rig for the cold weather and it was freaking cold!!

When we arrived in Cascade it was a balmy -14……and I forgot to bring the coconut oil. We ate some breakfast with the group (there were 8 of us) and then set out for a lovely 40 minute snowmobile ride with fog and two feet of snow and slush over the ice. And me……I had on my waders with a pair of tennis shoes over them because my Sorels wouldn’t fit over the neoprene booties. Well at an average speed of 25 mph on the machines it worked out to about -40 to -45 for the nice ride. It was unbelievably freaking cold but my daughter took it like a trooper. Fortunately when we arrived at our “spot” I was able to break the snow bonding my eye lashes together so they would open and I my glasses were coated with a thick layer of ice…..pleasant.

We had a tent up pretty quick and the propane heater a going……then it got very pleasant for the fishing part. My daughter unthawed and even smiled for me:



Flashers were hooked up (this is my friends set-up, he is the expert) and we dropped down and started fishing with jigs and maggots…..my daughter really loved the maggot part…..not.



You could see the bottom, your jig and when a fish showed then you attempted to tease him into eating those scrumptious maggots. I hit a nice one right off the bat, around 11+ inches. But overall the bite was really slow for everyone. We spent about 6 hours fishing and took home 4 perch, releasing some midgets. My daughter needed to go potty and I told her to just piddle in one of her ice holes. She found that abhorrent and went outside in the sun to relieve herself. A few minutes later I hear her start to holler cause she fell butt first in the snow…..hahaha. Evidently she had a tough time getting up in the snow. The last few hours we had absolutely nothing and the kid began to doze off….but never let go of the rod….that’s my girl:



We headed back to the car, nice ride in the bright sun and it was nearly 9 degrees, heck I was thinking about taking off my coat. The kid wrapped up in her blanket and slept the whole 90 minutes home. She did manage to catch the biggest though:



Gave her a 100 bonus daughter points for being such a stoic. Fun trip, coldest she’s ever been, even if the fish didn’t cooperate so well.

Brian

[Calicanuck]

Brian

Thanks for the report seems like lots of slower reports this year not sure if do to difficult travel with ice and snow. Still got some nice perch!

[troutdog]

Brrrrrrr

Beautiful perch, nice gut on that fatty!


TD

[Brent]

Great job getting the daughter out in those conditions. Nice tent and set up though.
That perch is a toad!

[Marky]

Those Yellow Perch are great eating!

[Calicanuck]

Im Headed down there tomorrow for the week Doc! Can't wait!!!