{"id":1024,"date":"2020-12-14T11:27:45","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T18:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2020-12-14T11:29:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T18:29:04","slug":"ice-report-december-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/14\/ice-report-december-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Ice Fishing Report: December 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has been a chilly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahostatesman.com\/outdoors\/fishing\/article247492020.html\">holiday season<\/a> thus far, but those bitter mornings and frosted windshields do come with a benefit\u2014we have safe ice on several fisheries, a few weeks ahead of what we\u2019d see in a typical year. Here are some pointers on where and how to enjoy the early ice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As always, safety should be top-of-mind when <a href=\"https:\/\/idfg.idaho.gov\/press\/here-are-top-reasons-go-ice-fishing-winter\">ice\nfishing<\/a>. The minimum thickness required for fishing is four inches, and while\nwe have that on several lakes, anglers should proceed with caution early in the\nseason. Be careful around the edges, drill test holes as you go and use the\nbuddy system. Here are some reports as of this writing: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Henrys Lake is completely safe\u2014it has been\nfrozen for a month. It\u2019s a nearly six-hour trek from Boise, but the trophy\ncutthroat, brook and cutbow hybrid trout that live there make it worth the\njourney. On my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahostatesman.com\/outdoors\/fishing\/article247363349.html\">annual\nHenrys ice trip<\/a>, my group had success using small jigs tipped with worms\nand\/or Power Bait. Note: New Year\u2019s Day marks the end of ice fishing season on\nHenrys. <\/li><li>Horsethief Reservoir has 6 to 8 inches of safe,\nsolid ice. Stay away from docks and other obstructions in the water, which\nprevent safe ice from forming. Anglers at Horsethief can expect good catch\nrates on small to medium-sized rainbow trout and occasional Kokanee salmon. Big\nfish are hard to come by, but it\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahostatesman.com\/outdoors\/fishing\/article240483321.html\">good\nplace to take kids<\/a> and beginners. Small, brightly colored jigs tipped with\na night crawler or mealworm have been productive for me in the past. <\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/idfg.idaho.gov\/press\/anglers-will-get-new-ice-fishing-access-lake-cascade-winter\">Lake\nCascade<\/a> is capped and building safe ice across much of the lake. The north\nand south ends of the lake often have the thickest ice first. Access points\ninclude Blue Heron, Van Wyck, Poison Creek and the new Boulder Creek access.\nThe schools of big perch are mobile and can be difficult to find, but Cascade\nis a world-class fishery if you locate the elusive jumbos. Big rainbow trout\nand other bonus catches are always possible, too. For the latest reports and\nconditions, call Tackle Tom\u2019s at (208) 382-4367. <\/li><li>Magic Reservoir and Mormon Reservoir both have\nabout eight inches of ice. Both lakes are home to trout and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahostatesman.com\/outdoors\/fishing\/article240134408.html\">yellow\nperch<\/a>. I would anticipate moderate catch rates on pan-sized rainbows at\nMormon, with an occasional keeper-sized perch in the mix. Magic has bigger\ntrout and a much larger perch population, but fishing is restricted to the southern\nhalf of the lake because of low water conditions. I recommend setting out a few\n\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahostatesman.com\/outdoors\/fishing\/article198569584.html\">dead\nstick<\/a>\u201d bait rods and moving around with a jig tipped with worm or perch meat\nto try and locate fish with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahostatesman.com\/outdoors\/fishing\/article238983248.html\">flasher<\/a>.\n<\/li><li>With cold temperatures, ice has formed earlier\nthan usual. That also means fisheries that don\u2019t usually freeze might come into\nplay this season. I recommend staying off city and neighborhood ponds, which\noften have soft spots created by inflows and aeration pumps. As of this\nwriting, C.J. Strike has ice beginning to form around Jacks Creek\u2014it remains to\nbe seen if it will build enough ice to fish (but if it does, it should be\nawesome). Wild adventures onto the ice can pay off big time if you stay safe.\nJust remember: four inches of clear, solid ice is the minimum for safe fishing.\n<\/li><li>If you want to learn more about hardwater\nfishing, check out my <a href=\"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/product\/ice-fishing-101\/\">Ice Fishing\n101<\/a> class in January! <\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has been a chilly holiday season thus far, but those bitter mornings and frosted windshields do come with a benefit\u2014we have safe ice on several fisheries, a few weeks ahead of what we\u2019d see in a typical year. Here are some pointers on where and how to enjoy the early ice. As always, safety&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1027,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions\/1027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}