This time of year there are so many places to fish, and so many types of fish to fish for.  Everything is biting everywhere – it’s one of the most under-utilized seasons for fishing. 

Just a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I spent the better part of Saturday out on the 12 inches of ice on Lake Mary Ronan, jigging for perch and salmon.  We could hardly get our jigs to the bottom for the perch before the salmon would grab them up half way down.  It’s rare that you’re faced with the problem of having to throw salmon back, but with a limit of only 10 each, it became a reality within an hour, when we realized we already had 20 laying on the ice.  By the time we left we had a 5-gallon bucket full of good-sized perch as well, and that was after throwing back anything under 9 inches.

As we were driving home we were looking out at Flathead Lake, trying to see if we could spot our friends who had taken their boat out for some lake trout fishing.  Although we couldn’t spot them, we heard later that they’d caught over 75 fish that day, and 3 that were over 20 pounds.

Sunday afternoon we went fishing on the river with my dad and a couple of friends.  In just a few hours they caught a nice array of pike, lake trout and bull trout.  The wind was more than a little chilly, but the weather’s steadily improving, and it won’t be long before we can shed our coveralls!

We’re also planning on spending a weekend or two at a friend’s cabin out on Bitterroot Lake, ice fishing for salmon, where the limit is 20 per day per person.  It’s fun to get a bunch of people together and pool your efforts in the salmon slaying.  I was concerned that we needed to get our weekends set quickly, but my husband reassured me that the ice only gets better as this month progresses.  As the chance of snow is slimmer, it reduces the possibility of the messy slush on top of the ice, but it still gets below freezing at night to keep the ice solid.  Some years he’s been able to ice fish as late as May!

This time of year, it certainly seems that the biggest decision to make is how to squeeze a 40-hour week into the fewest number of days, so that you have more days open for all the possibilities.

Don’t forget fishing licenses expired February 29th!  You can apply for your 2008 fishing license and printout a temporary license immediately at https://app.mt.gov/Als/Index.