I have fished Ririe Reservoir five times since it froze over.  Fishing has been fair but pretty tough.  Kokanie seem to be hitting the lures really light.  But enough schools come through that you have a chance to catch your limits.

The ice has been good, but very slick at times after the rain removes the snow off it.  On Saturdays, the area around the boat dock area.  Here was the scene last Saturday as I was leaving.

The lake should be good fishing until mid March. 

Ice fishing Mackey Res

After two weeks of no fishing at all, I just had to find some hard ice - thick enough to hold me and allow me some chance at success.  I found it by traveling to Mackey Reservoir about 110 miles from home.  Thick fog made the travel over difficult and very slow.  But the fishing was good.  It was my first trip ever fishing this small reservoir.  The sun was just touching the tops of the mountains surrounding the town of Mackey as I pulled in.

I was the third person on the ice and set up too close to the shore.  After an hour of fishing with no bites, I noticed two fishermen catching a few out further in the reservoir.

I moved further out and soon started getting a few hits.  Some were very light and I thought they were probably minnows or crayfish playing with my bait.  The solid hits produced rainbows like this one.

 

I visited with a local fisherman and he explained the light hits were the kokanee, the fish I wanted to catch.  He explained that they hit most bait light, but they hit rotten corn or wax worms harder.  I did not have either, but used smaller hooks and pieces of bait.  I then started catching some of them.

It was a very enjoyable day - cold as the devil, but fun.  Another wild day in Idaho.

Ririe is iced over and fishing well

Today I fished Ririe Reservoir with about four to five inches of ice. I didn't get there until the afternoon, but at 3 the kokanee came through and I limited out quickly. One kokanee was 15 inches, but most are around 10 to 12 inches. The kokanee came through between 10 to 20 feet under the ice.

I also saw perch, trout and suckers caught near the rock pile.


Yesterday I traveled to Carey and fished Fish Creek Reservoir for two hours. I caught 11 brook trout between 10 and 14 inches and two rainbows about 17 inches.

But with Ririe Reservoir now frozen over, I will fish it about twice each week.