Life and Such: Solid Effort on the Ice

February 27, 2018

Solid Effort on the Ice

Ryan and I took the four boys for an epic journey to look into a tip about a 'secret spot' for ice fishing northern pike. We packed about 500 pounds of gear and bait into the back of his truck, strapped Elias, Westin, and Carson in the back seat and Ryan, Finn, and me in the front seat, and pointed the truck to the northwest and Noxon Reservoir.

Recognizing the importance of fully stoked furnaces for such adventures, we stopped at the Butcher's Nook in Plains to cram our gullets with giant breakfasts and fresh baked goods. Continuing out Highway 200, we finally made it to the area and took only one wrong turn - which started us up in into the mountains where some elk had come down to nibble lichen off the low hanging fir branches. Tough times to be an herbivore in Northwest Montana.

We were thrilled to find that our planned access road was snowed in and only accessible to the snowmobiles in area, but we did find a good access point down to the hard water. Problem was, the water wasn't all that hard. The ice was a good safe 8 inches thick, but it was under a very messy and wet 6-8 inches of slush and water ponded on top. Still we pressed on and managed to drill some holes and get our rigs down to the lair of the ravenous finned alligators. Sadly, we wouldn't approach our limits of 15 pike per person per day... Only Carson, the youngest and fishiest among us, would produce, and he produced one single beauty of a six inch yellow perch. Our quarry was released unscathed after we debated how we could split it 6-ways and still not get more than a bite each.

We gave it a good shot, and made it back to the truck. With soaked boots and socks and snow pants pulled off, we found the boys all soaked to their knees or more. Luckily we had some extra baked goods, pretzels, cheese, and other goodies. For now, this spot remains safely a secret...!