CASCADE, Idaho (KBOI) — I was so thankful that Bill with Southern Idaho Fishing Excursions had a last minute cancellation for ice fishing. Bill typically takes groups to Poison Creek just outside of Tamarack Resort to go fishing on Lake Cascade.
You usually have to book this kind of excursion far in advance, but I must have had some lucky timing. After crab fishing in Oregon, spearfishing in Hawaii, deep sea fishing in the Bahamas, river fishing all over Idaho and Wyoming, I was used to fairer conditions and never thought I’d find myself ice fishing in a snowstorm! This was one for the books.
Again, I found myself on a snowmobile. Slightly more seasoned this time, I knew appropriate signals but was still slightly under prepared without a face mask, which felt like flying through a cloud of razor sharp snowflakes rendering me envious of the bearded lady at the circus. Note for next time. It was 24 degrees out, snowing, wind was blustery, a complete whiteout with visibility no more than 10 feet in front of us.
Just inside the line of sight we saw quite a few other people speckled in the white with their fishing equipment and tents. We made it to our spot thanks to the 30 years experienced human shield driving my sled, accompanied by modern technology that pinged our destination on iPhones.
Bill and his team had everything set up when we got there but they could not keep me from operating the ice auger seemingly attached to a drill battery, I had to taste the power of drilling through a lake. We hunkered down in the tent and they took out the bait - white maggots - aka spikes! Beginners luck wasn’t on my side this time around.
When I looked down the hole I saw Nemo and Dori laughing at me for being such an amateur. 15 minutes in I got a nibble, but lost it, and during the first 2 hours I had nothing. For everyone else it was like shooting perch in a barrel. Something must have been fishy with my maggots. It was most likely my technique. Regardless, everyone around was eager to help fulfill my experience and reel a few in. After four hours, the excursion group had 9 perch and 2 trout. I would call that a swimming success!
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