Montana Ice Fishing

[mjhowe]

Well, there aint much ice but some huys are out there. Rogers Lake in Kila had some guys fishing it the weekend, even tho there cant be any more than 3", according to some lake residents, and they didnt seem to be icing any trout or grayling. Oh well, just good to be out, I guess.

As of last Thursday Smith Lake in Kila had about 2 1/4" of ice and Blanchard in Whitefish had about the same, with 2-3" of snow on top. WE DONT NEED ANY SNOW, until we get some more cold. If we do, we will have conditions like last year with ice then snow, then half and half, then more ice etc. NOT GOOD.

Heard about a guy going thru on the east side last week but not cinfirmed.

Hey Thin Ice up in Olney, whats the word up there? You guys must be close if not fishing already, so bring us up to speed.

I will post the up coming tournaments this week so we can all start making plans and prefishing those waters as soon as we know where and when.

If there is enough interest, I will set up some "meet and greets" for users of this forum at the events. Be nice to put names to faces etc.

My goal for this forum is to post the most ACCURATE and up to date info I hear about and Im gonna count on the users to help supply that info. This is OUR resource and we can make it good or let it die. Me personally, I like to have as much info as I can before heading out and I think I am not alone there, so lets help each other out!!

Be safe out there on the early ice, too cold to get wet!!!

[mjhowe]

Ok, we have ICE on many local lakes, finally but many still have open water. Smith Lk as of 12-12 had 4- 4.5 inches of ice, Rogers Lake about the same, Blanchard lake a little behind. I Know many of the small private land lakes are iced, Monroe, Little Mac etc are fishable but be careful.

They are catching some greyling on Rogers, thats just gotta be a fun fish to catch thru ice...No reports on the trout bite there. Of course they are catching perch at Smith, and I just found out this AM that FWP put about 100 brood stock rainbows in there, these fish run from 5 Lbs all the way up to 14 POUNDS!!!! Between trout that big and the rumored 30 pound pike that came from Smith this year, those perch should be HAPPY to get out of the water and into our buckets!

I'll be fishing Blanchard this weekend, trying out my new Fish-N-Chum and the rest of the new goodies this year.

On a side note, went to Great Falls last weekend and saw quite a few of the smaller Swan Valley Lakes had iced over, and Salmon Lake wwas iced over but has a bit to go I would think.. Picked up 3 of the Silstar Tiny 20 reels, awesome little 3 bearing reel, and a very trick little handle makes these reels stand out. AWESOME anti reverse and a nice price. They had Scheels name on em but they were 14.99 each. A 50 dollar gift card was burnin a whole in my pocket so I couldnt resist. 2 of those reels on 2 new Lightning Rods bought this year are gonna make a nice upgrade for panfish this year.

Tune in Monday for a full report on Blanchard Lake and maybe one other.