December 30, 2007 - Hidden Lakes, Yukon Ice-fishing Report

I am embarrassed to say, but I have my first ice-fishing post of the year.  We’ve had two feet of ice for a while and I am just getting out.  I was thinking about fishing Squanga Lake again to get into some Pike and Burbot but decided to stay close to home and fish Hidden Lakes for Rainbows.  My buddy Carl and I drove the Chadburn Lake Road and pulled into the parking lot.  We decided to cut across the valley and get into the back end of Hidden rather than the standard front end.  I usually like to fish the narrows on the front end of the lake but have had good luck on the back end.  We picked a spot that I knew would have some structure and depth.  I don’t own a power auger yet to picking my spots are important. The first hole took forever as my auger needs a good sharpen.  We got through it and were surprised to see we were over 30 feet in depth!  Knowing this we could comfortably punch some holes in closer to shore. We dropped in a tip-up and kept on drilling.  That is one of the greatest benefits of a tip-up, you begin fishing right away while you focus on other holes.  We drilled three more and turned around to see the tip-up flag trip.  I ran to the hole and pulled out a feisty little one-pound Rainbow.  Easily released I dropped it straight back into the hole.  It was chilly with the holes icing over in a matter of minutes.  I tried something different and brought a wind-up radio along.  I listed to CBC’s Quirks and Quarks, caught up on the news with Carl and froze my butt off.  It was a good time but the fishing was slow.  I did have a few more fish on while jigging a little shrimp but was unable to keep them on. I am convinced that Hidden Rainbow are some of the smartest and toughest fish to catch.  On our way out we ran into some Japanese tourists that wanted to ice-fish as well.  They went shopping and had all the right gear but could not find an auger in town.  I lent them my auger, sled and a couple more lures, suggesting I could pick it up later at the Westmark.  I’ll write about them later as they promised to send a couple of photos.  Unfortunately my camera is not working so no photos :down: 

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