Ice Fishing.

[j5ep00]

Alright so as far as ice fishing goes i know very little, i havent done it since i was maybe 12 years old and we fishing in saskatchewan fishign for walley and pike using bait. Im currently building an ice fishing shack with a wood stove etc...

I have a few questions for you guys.

lets start with ice saftey.

i belive that the ice needs to be 7" thick to drive on? what time of year does the ice get this thick?

obiously cracks etc are dangerous but is there anything else i should look for.

 

Now onto gear. im going to pick up some cheaper rods because i know they will get broken etc.

what kind of tackle works best? do you use flies or bait?

 

i would like to stick to a lake that is fairly close to the city.

within say 45 to an hour drive. i have thought about ghost and a few others. Are there any rules about using a shack on certian lakes?

i rember that people left there ice fishing shack on the lake for a long period of time.

does anyone know how long you can keep your shack on the ice? and is there a date that no more shacks are allowed?

 

When i get to the lake how do i find the fish!! where would be a good place to drill a hole?

are the fish in the deep water? all this is new to me sorry for all the questions but this is all stuff i need to know

[rusty]

Driving on 7" is a bad idea. I wait until there's 24", which is usually late Jan or Feb as long as the weather stays cold. There can be air pockets under the ice and a truck can go through easy. Throw your stuff on a sled and you don't need to drive.

 

Tackle will vary depending on what you want to do - light rods, tipups, hand lines, etc.

 

There are no good lakes that close - none that people will want to share, anyway. For whites/pike/'eyes, you can check out Crawling Valley, McGregor, Badger, Travers, Keho, Pine, Sylvan, Gull. For pike I like smelts or herring; whites can be taken on small flashy jigs or maggots on wire worms; walleyes like jigs with worms, minnows, or leeches.

 

Trout lakes are quite abundant - check out Chain, Severn, Upper/Lower K, Michichi, Fyten, Swalwell, and lots of others. The Alberta Fishing Guide is a great place to look for lakes. Trout can be taken on corn, cheese, mealworms, marshmallows, etc.

 

Check out some dedicated icefishing forums to find better info. Be careful out there and check those regs.

[EdB]

Rusty... i heard that swalwell winter killed a couple of years ago. Do you know anything about that? Used to fish there alot.

[ladystrange]

gear - i have a cheap ice rod and a spinning reel but can be done with a dowel and line. tackle - jigs, little frog legs, rattles, a bobber, power bait, corn, worms etc. (check regs for bait restrictions for the water you fish) you could probably use double bunnies if you wanted, but remember you are jigging up and down not swimming like a bait fish

 

personally i would not drive on 7 inches. definately wait until more than 18 inches, or just use a sled. i know there are some lakes in sask that you can leave your shack on, but here i have a strong feeling that if you left a shack on a public lake, it would not be there the next time you went out. it has been a bad past couple of years for ice. i dont think i have heard of shack limits on any of the lakes the last couple of seasons there has been open water on minnewanka, gap, ghost and lower k at some point in mid feb.

 

finding fish - probably best to fish a lake you are familiar with and know the structure of the lake floor. or get a fish finder, tap a few test holes and see what you can find, reed beds, structure etc. i can't remember how deep we were at chain but probably around 15 ft before we were at the bottom, but dont quote me on that. down at beaver mines we were around 8ft when we were in to fish but the fish were feeding towards the bottom

 

not much within 45 min of calgary. if you want pike, check Chestermere. if you dont mind the drive, go to chain, minnewanka, ghost, gap, wedge, upper/lower K, spray lakes, wedge. depending on the ice conditions and weather in the city you could try carburn park, and some of the community lakes if you have a friend who lives in the community.

 

go down to Wholesale and talk to the fishing guys. there are a bunch of them who ice fish. i've only done it a few times

[rusty]

TS - no, haven't heard much. That's a productive lake. I went there a few years back and a couple in a motorhome had two huge dead trout (they said 8 and 9, but tough to say) caught on bait.

 

Like Severn and so many other potholes around, the meat fishermen are supressing what could be stellar fisheries. It may sound hypocritical complaining about the meating while icefishing them, but the way I see it, if those firm red-fleshed beauties are going to get whacked and eaten, a few of them should get stuffed with fennel, rosemary, and lemon and popped in my oven.

[lonefisher]

Ladystrange minnewanka is not open for icefishing whatsoever. closed all winter unfortunately. However there is getting to be some serios ice out here on lakes like spray and the K lakes. I know you can leave shacks on spray for the winter if you call the canmore F&W number from he regs book they should tell you when shacks can go on and have to come off. Most people lock em and take valuables out...... no motorized vehicles allowed on spray so little chance of someone swiping a full shack...... But that also makes it tough to get the shack out on the ice and back off...... People usually take em on in pieces on sled or skis and constuct em on the ice..... Basically the only way to do it unless you want you shack to sit right off the boat launch..... To find fish in spray I usually try to get in water 60-90 feet deep and fish right on the bottom.... I am sure there is more productive ways like cameras and fish finders ect but I don't have em.....

[j5ep00]

thanks for the replys!

spray lakes seems to be perfect.

canmore is not very far seeing as i live beside the #1 at the edge of the city.

the shack will be able to be broken down and put onto a double wide quad trailer

it will also have skis on the bottom so that two of us can drag it along the ice.

has anyone ever fishing cochrane lake?

its in the regs says there are pearch and pike.

my boss lives on the lake out there and swears there are no fish...

its really close and i work in bears paw so it would be a hop skip and a jump to go sit in the shack and make some dinner after work.

i saw on ebay not that long ago a camera that plugs into your tv for fishing.

well i have a generator and a small tv so for 25$ it would be cool to see whats going on.

 

are shacks allowed on ghost? how about the kananaskis lakes?

taking down the shack each day will not be a problem

with the drawings i made it should only take 30 min set up and take down.

 

im going to buy everything i need from wholesale sports. and i will talk to the guys in there and im sure they will give me a hand with tackle etc.

 

as for an ice auger. can a gas fence post auger be used with a changed blade?

im sure it would be fine but still not to sure about all these little tricks.

 

im going to give the calgary f&w a call and tell them what im intrested in doing and ask for a place i can do it.

i let you guys know how i do! im sure we will pull some lunkers up this year!

[ladystrange]

hey LF, i didnt know that minnewanka was closed. i havent gone there to fish but the last time i was driving and stopped by to check the ice conditions there were people out there ice fishing just on the other side of the boat launch. next time i will give RAP a call.

[EvilWeevil]

and as far as ice thickness goes 4 inches is safe for on foot 5"for snowmobiles and quads 8" to 12 for small cars and small trucks 12 to 15 inches for half ton trucks and if you are in a place where alot of snow gets on the ice early it can insulate the ice and make it slower freezing

alot of higher mountian lakes are frozen over right now with about 6 inches of ice and one a new lake i always always check the ice thickness before i head out especially this time of year you need to drill a hole and measure it

 

usually here in Sylvan we are driving on the ice around christmas time but the ice is usually only 12 inches thick then

 

also if anyone here ever gets bored for a day and wants to do some ice fishing in a heated 8' x 12' shack give me a shout and i can either let you use it or I will join you for the day

 

its always on sylvan lake here stocked with wood and toasty toasty warm

[trailhead]

My two cents here. If you do drive out on the ice with any heavier vehicle, I'm not sure about snowmobiles but I would include ATV's. Do not drive fast, 10 Km/H should be about it. This is because ice is flexible and as you drive you are pushing a compression wave in front of you. If you drive fast the wave is shorter but higher, and the ice is only flexible to a point, and if you run into a ice fracture it doesn't flex, it breaks. That's the reason why some vehicles go through the ice in January and February.

[EdB]

thats good info trail. As a guy who has driven on ice roads being in the oil and gas ind i will add a little to that. Make sure you slow to a crawl when you hit the shore. Even stop for a few seconds a little ways back. The wave runs ahead of your vehicle and when you hit the shore it has no place to go so in shoots up and cracks the ice. I've seen trucks go in the water at the shore b-4. Taht said i'll still take drivin on ice over drivin on muskeg.

[birchy]

The only other places I might suggest are Crawling Valley Reservoir, Lake Newell, and the Chain Lakes.

 

They're a bit farther then you had mentioned (about 1.5 hours-ish), but I think they're definitely worth the drive. There's some big pike in both Crawling Valley and Newell..

 

Chain Lakes.. the sheer quantity of pan-sized trout will keep you busy for hours!

[trailhead]

I drove from just south of Wood Buffalo to Lac La Biche one memorable winter, so I have also driven on ice roads. They do build those up though so the ice is thicker and you can motor quite quickly, just watch for the corners. Oh and I just heard two guys who were trying to build an ice fishing shack in the NWT fell through the ice and managed to escape with frostbite, too bad about their buddy who went down with the truck.

[birchy]

Just did some searching around on some other websites.. Looks like the average ice thickness right now (based on other peoples reports) on the lakes is anywhere from 6 - 10 inches'. That's "good to go" in my books.

 

Reports since this past Sunday, Dec. 2:

 

McGregor - 7.5 inches (3 guys in 4 hours - 17 whities and two 5lb burbots)

Chain Lakes - 8 inches (2 guys - 20 fish each, no mention of time)

Blood Indian - 8-10 inches (1 guy - "excellent day", no numbers mentioned)

[troutlover]

That is awesome. If it's not chinookin during the christmas week i'm going to head out to mcgregor if anyone wants to come.

[ladystrange]

depending on the day, you might be able to sign me up for that...

[ham]

Chris, cochrane lakes is a shithole. Dont waste your time. It had fish like a million years ago apparently but its all *hit now and i think they developped all around that lake now too. My 2 cents, dont bother with that or so i've heard.

[j5ep00]

yah im going to stay away from cochrane lake.

thanks for all the help guys

i will post some pics of the shack when its done

oh and birchy where are you getting all this info from???

[harryarse]

This is generally where I dig up my ice-fishing info:

 

http://www.fishalberta.com/