East Kootenay Icefishing Get Together

[TPB]

Just curious if there is enough interest to have a get together on the ice. It was mentioned on the other thread " HBC East Kootenays Get-together" that a day ice fishing might be a good plan. So basically just let me know if it is worth the time to set a good date, lake and make a plan. Either way im sure sawmill will be interested and i'll be going out irregardless.

[Poguebilt]

I would like to go.... My schedule is so up and down right now though.... see what the date is!

[rocksteady]

Make a plan and see how many are available....

I think one of the local lakes (St. Mary's) would be good...Close to both towns, good sized lake with good fishin....

[sawmill]

Yup,I`m sure in,there`s some serious big ass fish there.Would be nice to have a skidoo or quad though,they don`t plow down to the lake anymore.I might be able to borrow something.

[Mikey Rafiki]

I was able to drive to the shore with my pickup last week, but I was chained up. The wind has been really bad there so far this year, but the fishin has been decent, catching a couple small cutties or bullies each time out.
Went out to White Swan this weekend and got skunked Friday and Saturday. Tried for an hour on the way out Sunday and landed my 2, one over 4 pounds, and had a bunch of bites.

[Kody94]

My schedule is pretty hectic, but if it lands on a day that I'm free, I'd definitely be interested in attending.

[TPB]

Well im thinking that the lake would be St Marys (like you suggested) and because im doing not to bad there :D for are date i will have to look, anymore interest?

[bforce750]

The sooner the better LET'S GO, how thick is the ice at the St.Mary L.K.? Yesterday I was on over 1ft of ice on Lisben Lk. just up Perry Creek and almost lost my quad :eek: Almost had to change my pants not to mention my wife's and my two little girls. I should have taken pictures the tires were gone down 10" Damb spring fed Lk.

[TPB]

The sooner the better LET'S GO, how thick is the ice at the St.Mary L.K.? Yesterday I was on over 1ft of ice on Lisben Lk. just up Perry Creek and almost lost my quad :eek: Almost had to change my pants not to mention my wife's and my two little girls. I should have taken pictures the tires were gone down 10" Damb spring fed Lk.

We had a trike on the ice the other day but 50 ft to the right of where the trike was, and 15 ft to the right of where we were fishing the day before, i went swimming.... Like Joe told me not to get to close to the goddamn logs because they don't let water freeze very well especially where the river moves through, i thought i could move 10 ft to the right of where i was because it was atleast 12 inches of ice there. WRONG the ice was 2 inches deep and i went for a swim up to my stomach, after an hour around the fire we were back at it. Learned my lesson through the school of hard knocks. So the ice is 1ft deep in the "safe zone" if not more.

[bforce750]

I thought I was safe and have been on that lake a few times now with 8" and never had that problem.

[TPB]

Well how does February 12th sound? Or February 5th they are both a saturday and its a couple weeks away so you can plan ahead

[Mikey Rafiki]

12th is good for this guy. The ball and chain is gone for the weekend so I will probably be up there anyways :)

[rocksteady]

No preference here, as long as I am not out trying to shoot a cougar, I will be there.....

"Like Joe told me not to get to close to the goddamn logs "........Listen to the old fart, he has been around since Ice was invested....:mrgreen::mrgreen: Always listen to your mentor Grasshopper !!!! You are probably too young to know what show that's from, ask Joe, he will explain it all...

[sawmill]

12 of Feb. works for me.I`ll bring a life jacket for the grasshopper.:wink:

[sawmill]

And a pebble he can try to snatch from my hand.

[bozzdrywall]

I will be there and i will bring the sled out for some fun if the fish are not going to bite

[TPB]

Alright so the 12 it is i guess just to make that clear

[TPB]

Just a reminder that the icefishing get together will be on the 12th of February it is a saturday and hopefully a few people can make it. The place has been set to St Mary's lake and im hoping the wind will die down and the sun will shine.

[sawmill]

Sounds good to me.

[TPB]

Just another reminder that this Saturday a few of us will go out for the day to catch some fish (hopefully.) Just curious who is all going? I know me and Sawmill are guaranteed to go so we will be out there :D anyone else coming?

[J_T]

Would love to join you guys but I'll be in Kelowna http://www.sparklinghill.com/gallery Enjoying a spa weekend. (I know, it sounds soft)


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[rocksteady]

I have a real hard time imagining you laying there in a lounge chair, in a terry robe with crap all over your face, cucumbers stapled to your eyelids, toes spread with cotton balls and some poor gal digging out the toe jam from under your nails.:confused:.....Make sure you tip her well....

Not sure if I will be attending or not, waiting to see if all of the planets come into alignment for a cat hunt or not....

[GoatGuy]

Would love to join you guys but I'll be in Kelowna http://www.sparklinghill.com/gallery Enjoying a spa weekend. (I know, it sounds soft)

Something like 3.5 million swarovski crystals on the place.

Sheep count Sunday, you should be there.

[sawmill]

Me and T will be out by the pilings by 8`ish hopefully.If any body shows up I expect we`ll have a couple lunkers for you to drool over.:mrgreen:

[Mikey Rafiki]

Me and T will be out by the pilings by 8`ish hopefully.If any body shows up I expect we`ll have a couple lunkers for you to drool over.:mrgreen:

Just make sure you don't step on any of my fish on yer way in, as I intend to be there before sun up for some early mornin' whitefish!

1. Is anyone bringing a stove/sled unit?

2. Can you drive in there yet? I could with chains a couple weeks ago, but it was a lot of bouncin' on the way out. Gotta leave the grader operator a case of beer and a note at the road entrance I guess.

[TPB]

Just make sure you don't step on any of my fish on yer way in, as I intend to be there before sun up for some early mornin' whitefish!

1. Is anyone bringing a stove/sled unit?

2. Can you drive in there yet? I could with chains a couple weeks ago, but it was a lot of bouncin' on the way out. Gotta leave the grader operator a case of beer and a note at the road entrance I guess.

No sled or stove that i know of and all of my buddies drove in there last weekend but it has snowed 6 inches more since then so i can't quite tell you.

[J_T]

Sheep count Sunday, you should be there.
Well, count one for me. How do you count sheep in the Okanagan? Slow down on the highway on the way to the pub? JK

[Slime green cat]

See you guys in the morning :-D I will be in a white F150 with a canopy... if you can see me cross the bridge from where your fishing ?

[TPB]

Sure can, sounds like a good day tomorrow with a few people coming out. 5 degrees tomorrow- cant complain

[sawmill]

See you guys in the morning :-D I will be in a white F150 with a canopy... if you can see me cross the bridge from where your fishing ?
Hey Bud!sure glad you finally made it here.
We walk in from the main road at the turn into the pilings.Bit tight there because they don`t plow the road anymore past the bridge.There is the loop road just before the bridge,it`s plowed.You could park there and walk an exta 100 feet.See ya tommorow.:mrgreen:

[Mikey Rafiki]

Looks like I'm heading up to the Swan instead. Had some great luck there a couple weekends ago landing a few big rainbows.

Good Luck Fellas!

[TPB]

Looks like I'm heading up to the Swan instead. Had some great luck there a couple weekends ago landing a few big rainbows.

Good Luck Fellas!

That is very weak...... But who cares more fish for me :mrgreen: i hope you don't regret it to much when i post up some photos.

[Mikey Rafiki]

That is very weak...... But who cares more fish for me :mrgreen: i hope you don't regret it to much when i post up some photos.

We'll see...

We're gonna have fresh coffee and smokies cookin' on our two stoves. And I'm bringin the digital scale with camera for proof of that 8 pounder :-D.

Heading out.

[Mikey Rafiki]

I haven't seen any pictures yet! :-D

No worries though. I didn't have any luck other than escaping disaster on the drive up to the lake. I was smart enough save some gas money and take my car since the road is usually plowed and sanded. This time though it looked like the zamboni just got finished and I got stuck in the middle of the road going uphill around a corner.
I stepped out of my car and started sliding down the road. I reached out and grabbed the rear door handle to stop and now the car was sliding down the road with me towards the ditch.

Next time I will just bring the truck and chains.

[sawmill]

And that`s why I hate going there in winter.

[rocksteady]

So here is the summary, as I recollect from that day....

I showed up about 08:00 at the lake, Sawmill and TPB had the truck stuck sideways on the road....Pulled them out with the Jimmy:mrgreen:

We got on the ice, Joe fired up the auger, had lines in the water by about 08:30....

Slime Green Cat and his boy Cole showed up, joined the crowd for a few hours....Oh yeah, he got stuck too....:mrgreen:

For the fish, IIRC, the tally was:

- Sawmill - 1 small Bull trout
- Sawmills bud Blaine - 1 Nice Dolly +/- 2 lbs or so
-Myself - 1 whitefish, 2 bullies and 2 dollies....2 went back in the whole (too small) and 2 went home with Cole (AKA "The Little Osprey"...Loves fish)
- Slime Green - Did not fish but visited...
- Blaines wife - Nada..1 big bite about 5 seconds before it bit Blaines hook...:confused:
-TPB- SKUNKOLA !!!!!!!! But he did get a beer from a neighbouring party of fisherpeople cause it looked like their auger was about as dull as a sock full of cold soup....So he augered them some holes...I think he also got a couple phone numbers of some "ladies"...He was "cougar hunting" without a tag !!! Mind you he did it at the encouragement of all present (Got to love fishing with an impressionable young man....."T - Go did them some holes, maybe they got hot daughters!" )

Overall it was a blast, weather was above freezing, very little wind, sun tried to poke out a few times....Lots of good BS and funning going on...Was great to meet Slime green and his boy.....And TPB too....

To get out of the lake, we had to winch another guy, not with us, who got stuck and blocked the road....

As far as pics....SLime Green took some pics with his phone, maybe he is willing to post them up....


Hopefully we can do it all again, except the getting stuck part...

[bforce750]

Too bad I couldnt make it AGAIN!!! I had to go to a course at UBC for a week, make sure we plan before the ice comes off.