{"id":1042,"date":"2021-01-08T10:59:07","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T17:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/?p=1042"},"modified":"2021-01-08T11:05:01","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T18:05:01","slug":"ice-fishing-report-january-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/08\/ice-fishing-report-january-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Ice Fishing Report: January 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Hardwater fishing is in full swing! Ice fishing is a unique and awesome Idaho adventure that can lead to some memorable catches. As of this writing, the following lakes have safe ice across southwest Idaho: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Lake Cascade<\/strong>. Home to famed jumbo yellow\nperch, rainbow trout and usually a few surprises, Cascade is perhaps the most\npopular ice fishing destination in our region. It\u2019s also one of the most\nchallenging\u2014catch rates can be pretty slow, especially when hunting the elusive\njumbo perch. Most of the best catch rates are found in deeper water around\nSugarloaf Island. The lake currently has more than 10 inches of ice, making it\nsafe for snowmobiles and ATVs.&nbsp; <\/li><li><strong>Horsethief Reservoir<\/strong>. Just a few minutes\ndown the road from Cascade, Horsethief is a smaller and more family-friendly\nlake. Steady catch rates of rainbow trout, along with an occasional Kokanee\nsalmon or brown trout, make Horsethief an ideal destination for kids, beginners\nand those who are fishing on foot. Small tungsten jigs tipped with a wax worm,\nmealworm or chunk of nightcrawler usually produce at least a handful of trout. <\/li><li><strong>Warm Lake<\/strong>. Located 30 miles from the town\nof Cascade, Warm Lake is a unique fishery that contains rainbow trout, Kokanee,\nbrook trout, bull trout and even a few Mackinaw trout. The species variety is\nthe main draw, and if you stay at North Shore Lodge, you can walk out onto the\nice first thing in the morning. Warm Lake\u2019s remote location makes it difficult\nto pull off as a day trip, but the road is regularly plowed, so access is\nusually not an issue. Expect lots of snow! <\/li><li><strong>Magic Reservoir<\/strong>. A reliable fishery for rainbow\ntrout, perch and an occasional brown trout, Magic is one of the most popular\nlakes for ice anglers. Unfortunately, Magic is only accessible on the southern\nend because of low water this year. Catch rates around the dam have been\ndecent, but the lake is under a lot of angler pressure because of the limited\naccess. Perch fishing at Magic traditionally picks up later in the season,\naround February. <\/li><li><strong>Mormon Reservoir<\/strong>. Mormon is smaller and\nless popular than Magic, but it can be a sneaky-good ice fishery for rainbow\ntrout and perch during good water years. This year\u2019s fish class mostly consists\nof 12-to-15-inch rainbow trout, but there are a few big fish mixed in, along\nwith some really nice perch. Small green jigs tipped with perch meat work best\nfor targeting perch, while trout hit on the usual assortment of spoons and jigs\ntipped with worms or Power Bait. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Because ice formed earlier than normal across much of\nIdaho, some bonus lakes and reservoirs may freeze over this year. Should you\ndecide to venture out and test new ice, remember to use the buddy system and\ndrill test holes as you go. Four inches of clear ice is the recommended minimum\nfor safe fishing. If you\u2019re interested in learning more, I recently added a few\nseats to my sold-out <a href=\"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/product\/ice-fishing-101\/\">Ice Fishing\n101 class<\/a> on January 28. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hardwater fishing is in full swing! Ice fishing is a unique and awesome Idaho adventure that can lead to some memorable catches. As of this writing, the following lakes have safe ice across southwest Idaho: Lake Cascade. Home to famed jumbo yellow perch, rainbow trout and usually a few surprises, Cascade is perhaps the most&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1042","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\/1042","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=1042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1044,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions\/1044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}