BuzzH
Well-known member
I've caught several thousand through the ice in Montana...haven't fished them much in Wyoming, yet.
Ice fishing
- Thread starter Bigjay73
- Start date
Gellar
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the boy and I went out for an hour before he was ready to go get a snack, aka chips and koolaide from the gas station. 
duckhunt
Well-known member
When my boys were younger we used to bring the Coleman camp stove and do hot dogs or soup or whatever is easy to warm up.
Gellar
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We had a bag full of snacks including doritos and cheetos but I promised him we'd stop for snacks and he didn't let me forget.
Don Fischer
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That's interesting. I used to catch kokanee out of Flathead lake when I lived in Lakeside. Moved to oregon many years ago and couldn't catch them. So took a class in it and still have never caught one, not even by accident. Kokanee and Steelhead in Oregon both have me spoofed!
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Northwoods
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theat
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Since it was such a nice day I decided to spend the evening out on the ice in front of the house. Glad I made that decision as I caught this big girl along with a few other small ones. It has been quite a few years since I have iced one this big. She is back under the ice and hopefully resting up for another catch.
OpenSeason
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Deer Creek Reservoir outside of Park City Utah has been packed with fishermen since the snow storms.
theat
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Sure did! Had a little hammer handle on it. I've switched over to circle hooks when I'm not planning on keeping any. That little bugger had swallowed the smelt enough to where I couldn't see it down his throat. When I pulled on the leader it slid right out. He was never even hooked even though it took me forever to check it.
Sask hunter
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I haven’t tried circle hooks yet. I have had good luck with quick strike rigs and placing the two trebles in the middle of the smelt like just in front and through the dorsal fin and have had very few deep hooks
seeth07
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catch and release is for the fancy pants trout fly fisherman
oops, did I say that outload?
oops, did I say that outload?
theat
Well-known member
In the past I have always used 2 trebles on a quick strike rig or something similar. I used to hook them closer to the front and back of the smelt but tried moving them closer to the middle like Sask hunter mentioned. It helped a bit, but I still get about 50%-60% of the fish swallowing the smelt resulting in having to kill and keep them. Im not sure if it has something to do with the fish in this water body but they like to inhale them. Haven't had that problem nearly as much in the few other places I ice fish for pike.
I have only been using the circle hooks for a couple outings so far this winter and have mixed feelings. I've caught about a dozen on them so far and have yet to have to kill one of them. I did initially have a decent amount of fish get off, but that sometimes happens with 2 trebles too. I started inserting the hooks higher in the smelts body so more of the hook is exposed. That seemed to help and didn't loose any yesterday. I definitely think a quick strike rig is the way to go if you are planning to keep them.
theat
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I eat plenty of fish, but can only handle cleaning and eating so many pike. This water is also fairly polluted with old mine runoff and it is highly recommended not to eat large pike. The river has been contaminated with heavy metals since way back in the late 1800's but it got way worse after they took out an old dam about a dozen years ago and a bunch of the sediment caught behind it washed downstream.
Birdbander
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Yooper906
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No fish yet, just getting walleye thirty though! Dog is little disappointed how slow it is!
