12-05-2004, 04:09 PM
I fished Devil Creek Reservoir yesterday (12/4/04) from 2:30 until dark. I fished close to the dam and measured the ice in my holes 3" to 3 1/2" thick. The ice was clear and had less than 1/2" of snow to insulate it. If you go to Devil Creek sometime soon be extremely careful especially around the inlet and springs. If you were to fall through there is a very real chance that you would die of hypothermia. The ice was also popping a lot, which made me nervous because I normally like to have at least 6” of clear ice. I just had to keep reminding myself that guys fish on half this much ice without falling through. I saw a total of three other ice fishermen and several other spots that ice fisherman had drilled holes. One of them was just as crazy as me and was fishing by himself. Within a week or two ice fisherman should be able to fish most of the other popular ice fishing lakes and reservoirs in Eastern as long as the temps stay cold (this is just my opinion).
I wouldn't say the fishing was red hot but was good enough to keep me and my 4 ice poles busy. The fish didn't seem to key in on one jig or bait. As long as it was scented they weren't too picky. Jigging the pole didn't really seem to help either. The smaller jigs and baits seemed to catch the most fish. The best lures seemed to be the glow in the dark tub jig, 2" Chartreuse Gulp minnow (fished on a 1/8 oz red jig head), #14 red hook and 1/84 oz ice jigs. I was impressed with the Gulp maggots and minnows as they seemed to catch fish about as well as night crawlers. I would have preferred meal worms over night crawlers but it is still a little early for most places to have meal worms in stock. My night crawlers were also frozen solid. It was cold enough that it would take less than 5 or 10 minutes for thin layer of ice to cover my holes but not cold enough that I felt like I needed to wear gloves
I probably hooked less than 1/4 of my bites because 4 poles were too much for one guy to handle when the fish started biting and some of them would only bite once an then go away. I didn’t have very many really light biters. I think that if I was ready I could have hooked a large majority of my bites. All of the fish I caught were rainbows and within 18" of the bottom. I did fish for suspended fish with one pole for almost 2 hours but didn’t get any bites. My holes were between 3 feet and 20 feet of water and I caught at least one fish out of all of my holes. I didn't have a depth finder with me but measured the depth in my holes by the length of my line. I only kept 3 fish and all of them had food in their stomach. Not enough to make them fat but enough that you wouldn’t have to worry about them starving to death. The mostly had what looked like small nymphs (or possible freshwater shrimp) size #20 and smaller.
I took a couple pictures with my phone. The quality isn't that great but I think it is better than nothing.
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This is a picture of my 4 ice fishing poles after I got set up. It is hard to see all of the poles in the picture but the closest one is about 5 yards from the bank the farthest one just beyond the blue ice auger and is about 30 yards from the bank.
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This is a picture of one of rainbows that I caught. I think that he was around 13” but I don’t think I measured this one before I dropped him back in the hole.
If I thought Devil Creek was the best place to ice fish this winter then I would be keeping my mouth shut. There also aren’t very many fish over 18” in Devil Creek when compared to other reservoirs in Eastern Idaho. Many of the other reservoirs in SE Idaho were planted this fall so if you are looking for some trout for dinner, Devil Creek isn't your only option.
This turned out to be much longer of a report than I planed but I guess this is what happens when I get excited about the beginning of ice fishing season.
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I wouldn't say the fishing was red hot but was good enough to keep me and my 4 ice poles busy. The fish didn't seem to key in on one jig or bait. As long as it was scented they weren't too picky. Jigging the pole didn't really seem to help either. The smaller jigs and baits seemed to catch the most fish. The best lures seemed to be the glow in the dark tub jig, 2" Chartreuse Gulp minnow (fished on a 1/8 oz red jig head), #14 red hook and 1/84 oz ice jigs. I was impressed with the Gulp maggots and minnows as they seemed to catch fish about as well as night crawlers. I would have preferred meal worms over night crawlers but it is still a little early for most places to have meal worms in stock. My night crawlers were also frozen solid. It was cold enough that it would take less than 5 or 10 minutes for thin layer of ice to cover my holes but not cold enough that I felt like I needed to wear gloves
I probably hooked less than 1/4 of my bites because 4 poles were too much for one guy to handle when the fish started biting and some of them would only bite once an then go away. I didn’t have very many really light biters. I think that if I was ready I could have hooked a large majority of my bites. All of the fish I caught were rainbows and within 18" of the bottom. I did fish for suspended fish with one pole for almost 2 hours but didn’t get any bites. My holes were between 3 feet and 20 feet of water and I caught at least one fish out of all of my holes. I didn't have a depth finder with me but measured the depth in my holes by the length of my line. I only kept 3 fish and all of them had food in their stomach. Not enough to make them fat but enough that you wouldn’t have to worry about them starving to death. The mostly had what looked like small nymphs (or possible freshwater shrimp) size #20 and smaller.
I took a couple pictures with my phone. The quality isn't that great but I think it is better than nothing.
This is a picture of my 4 ice fishing poles after I got set up. It is hard to see all of the poles in the picture but the closest one is about 5 yards from the bank the farthest one just beyond the blue ice auger and is about 30 yards from the bank.
This is a picture of one of rainbows that I caught. I think that he was around 13” but I don’t think I measured this one before I dropped him back in the hole.
If I thought Devil Creek was the best place to ice fish this winter then I would be keeping my mouth shut. There also aren’t very many fish over 18” in Devil Creek when compared to other reservoirs in Eastern Idaho. Many of the other reservoirs in SE Idaho were planted this fall so if you are looking for some trout for dinner, Devil Creek isn't your only option.
This turned out to be much longer of a report than I planed but I guess this is what happens when I get excited about the beginning of ice fishing season.
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