Smoke lake

[nube]

Wondering what you guys have experienced with Smoke lake near Fox creek for ice fishing? I want to try and see if i can find a few spots to fish on there for whitefish. Any ideas of which part of the lake is decent for whites?

[ROA]

Not sure but I always hear that lake is bad for weak ice due to springs.

[SNAPFisher]

Nube, I've only been out there ice fishing once. Just out from the launch. Saw a couple of whites while fishing for walleye to the right be the reeds. Nothing small about them. They made the walleye look like perch. I would guess 7 lbish... Tried for a bit but no luck on getting a white to bite. It has made me think of going back though.

P.S. It was a really cold day, we were the only ones out, and we got checked by the F&W officer. I've been there 3 times - 2 open water and 1 ice fishing and have been checked every time. They must have a decent budget for the area

[keepingthefreezerfull]

Worms in the white fish. They say they don't hurt you.... So gross!! Never waste my time again

[nube]

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

Nube, I've only been out there ice fishing once. Just out from the launch. Saw a couple of whites while fishing for walleye to the right be the reeds. Nothing small about them. They made the walleye look like perch. I would guess 7 lbish... Tried for a bit but no luck on getting a white to bite. It has made me think of going back though.

P.S. It was a really cold day, we were the only ones out, and we got checked by the F&W officer. I've been there 3 times - 2 open water and 1 ice fishing and have been checked every time. They must have a decent budget for the area

Good info thanks. Marc is the only fish cop in town there. Surprised he would be out there so much. He swings by my cabin every once in a while and leaves me the odd note at my marten boxes. He's a good guy and I imagine keeps a good eye on the lakes. I think I will try it out there once or twice this year and see how things go.

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by nube

Good info thanks. Marc is the only fish cop in town there. Surprised he would be out there so much. He swings by my cabin every once in a while and leaves me the odd note at my marten boxes. He's a good guy and I imagine keeps a good eye on the lakes. I think I will try it out there once or twice this year and see how things go.

Cool. Yeah seemed like a very nice guy. He measured our wallies which was good. He also mentioned handing out 2 tickets that week for over limit infraction. Sounds like he is doing good up there.

[Red Bullets]

When I used to go to Smoke lake I would go to the south side of the lake on Smoke lake road and go to the south east side of the lake. Where the lake narrows down on the SE side, out in the middle is only a couple feet deep.

For walleye, the NW side of the lake has good structure and some deeper spots. Fairly close to the shore.

I caught quite a few big whites in 2 to 3 feet of water. They come through really fast and smack your lure hard so be prepared. You wouldn't see many but they liked feeding in that shallow water.

From Smoke my best whitefish were over 9 lbs.

[neilsledder]

Thanks for the info!


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[nube]

Thanks Red and others as well. Seems like some decent whites in there but hard to catch is what I am told

[Red Bullets]

All I can say is have a 10" hole and 10 or 12 lb. line. And strong hooks. An 8" hole won't work. And don't use little wireworms so much... the big whites like bigger lures and like to eat 1 to 2 inch dacy or spottail minnows. Big russian minnow shaped hooks worked good.

A person could try long jigging a silver castmaster over deep water too.

The whites can be elusive but are there. My best day there was 4 whites. Almost 30 lbs. of fish. Very nice quality fish. Some other lakes' big whites are more oily.

[ROA]

How long ago was that? Since the over population of the walleye it seems the whites are not as big or plentiful. Just a casual observation as I have only ever looked at them swimming and not biting. Never had much luck ing catching them over the years.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by ROA

How long ago was that? Since the over population of the walleye it seems the whites are not as big or plentiful. Just a casual observation as I have only ever looked at them swimming and not biting. Never had much luck ing catching them over the years.

That would have been about 5 years ago. Went there quite regularly back then.