Snow creates flooding woes for ice anglers

Where is global warming when we need it?

Our weather over the last couple of weeks has not been conducive to ice fishing. Deep snow, high winds and subzero temperatures do not make for ideal ice fishing conditions. As the weather warms, ice fishermen will flock to our lakes but then will face the problem of flooding.

I was fishing about three weeks ago after a new snowfall. There was plenty of safe ice, probably 12 to 14 inches thick. But the new snow weighed heavily on the lake ice, forcing water up through cracks in the ice. This fresh water spread out under the new snow. Fishermen refer to this as flooding.

The top of the new snow looks perfectly white and benign but underneath it can be several inches of water-soaked snow or slush. Partway through my fishing day, I decided to walk across the lake to fish a point, looking for some nice perch.

As I approached the far shore, I began to encounter slush. As I walked on, the slush got deeper and deeper. Just ahead I could see a 5-foot-wide puddle of open water. A large crack in the ice ran 100 feet in both directions from this open water. That crack was flooded with open water about 2 feet wide. I was 99 percent certain that I was only looking at a thin layer of surface water with solid ice underneath. So it was probably perfectly safe to walk across those open water stretches supported by the ice under the surface water.

But what would happen if the open water had no ice under it? If I fell through, my heavy clothing would quickly soak up tons of icy water. I doubt that I could pull myself back on the ice with waterlogged clothing. No one else was on the lake to help me. Caution won out over the urge to reach my fishing spot. March is my favorite time to ice fish because of our normally warm 40- to 50-degree days, but fishermen must use caution when on the ice.

I have often commented in this column about the never-ending flow of new fishing technology. During a recent ice fishing trip, I felt like a stone-age fisherman because I didn’t have a Vexilar fish finder. Every fisherman on the lake seemed to have one. Instead of looking at the winter scenery they had their eyes fixed on the Vexilar screen — but they were also catching more fish than I was.

We were fishing for kokanee. Schools of kokanee were coming through at depths ranging from 15 to 45 feet. With my line fixed at one depth, I only caught an occasional fish. My partner, Gary, had his Vexilar humming. The Vexilar not only showed fish at various depths, but also showed his lure depth. As a school of kokanee came through at 40 feet, he would drop his lure down to 40 feet and catch fish. When the next school came through at 20 feet, he raised his lure to 20 feet and caught fish. He invited me to fish by him, so I could duplicate his lure depth. Suddenly my fish-catching success increased. Technology does pay fish dividends. I figure that fishing trip cost me $600, the price of a new Vexilar.

Hunters, don’t forget you need to apply for those special mule deer buck and bull elk permits by March 15. Stop in at Fish, Wildlife and Parks headquarters at 490 N. Meridian Road in Kalispell or go online to get your application information.