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My buddy and I have been planning a trip up to Island Park Res. for the 1st of the new year, and we were planning on heading up early in the morning.
The problem we just thought about though, was that we both will need new fishing licenses with it being a new year!
Any info on where to get a fishing license in Island Park area, and preferably early in the morning, would be great!
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Only place you may have a chance is the gas station just north of Ashton....I know they used to sell licenses there...
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Elk Creek Station has licenses.
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i think the one by macks inn will be open tomorrow luckily i bought mine today so im ready to rock
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Let me know how you do. I am wanting to head up there Saturday. I've never fished there before thought I might give it a try.
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Thanks to everybody for the suggestions. The Phillips 66 gas station just past the turnoff to the dam sold them and they opened at 7a.m. That is pretty cool that they can be bought online now!
As for the Island Park Res. trip...
We were the first to arrive on the ice at 7:45. We fishing by the dam for a while. Not a single fish landed in the first couple hours, and only one single bite. Other people had shown up about an hour after my buddy and I got there and they all fished around us, but nobody was catching anything.
After about four hours, we caught a little planter right up next to the bank in about six feet of water. We were debating whether to head to Ashton or not, but we persevered and were rewarded. We moved into one of the coves and started catching a little planter here and there just off the bottom, about 20 or so feet from the shore. We hunkered down and tried all over the little cove to see if we could locate any bigger fish. We eventually landed a couple 2+ lbers. The biggest fish of the day was a 3.5lber. Had another one, at least as big, to the top of the ice, but broke off when trying to ice 'em. We also lost about three or four jigs to some other big fish.
The bite didn't kick on until some time after noon, and shut off around 3ish. The fish came in waves, they would be on and then off for another 30-45minutes. They were coming in right up next to the banks to snack on some scrumptious crawdads. The biggest fish were taken about 5 or 6 feet from the bank and in about that same depth of water. We brought the jigs about a foot off the bottom. Pink and orange jigs did the trick. We also had luck on a little glow-in-the-dark ice fly. They didn't take meal worms. They were hitting our jigs when tipped with a little night crawler. The fish might have been feeding sooner, before we located the area, but I can't be certain.
Lots of detail here, all preciously earned info. Most people gave up and took off. Good luck to those who go and let us know how you do.
Oh yeah, and the ice conditions... there was around a foot of slushy snow, with a thin layer of ice on top, and then under that was about 4-8 inches of ice depending on where you were fishing.
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Thanks for the info. I think we'll give it a try tomorow, I'll let yah know how badly we do.
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Hopefully you'll hit it when the fish are a bit more active! Good luck and I can't wait to hear how you do.
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Sounds like you paid your dues, and the fishing gods finally recognized your efforts. I appreciate the report. My experience with the dam is it is good for a couple of weeks and then you have to locate the fish like you did.
Thanks for all the info,
OvidCreek
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