Anglers experience fishing frenzy as Ririe Reservoir freezes over

“Ririe froze over last night,” Bob Johnstone, host of the Juniper Campground, let me know Wednesday morning.

“Jim and Verl are fishing the area between boat ramp and the dam that froze over earlier in the week and they have each caught about a dozen kokanee. The ice south of the boat ramp where you like to fish is way too thin to fish yet.”

Being so warned, Thursday morning I joined about 20 other fishermen on the four-inch-thick ice north of the Juniper boat launch and found the fishing for kokanee spotty. The schools of kokanee that came through between 10 to 20 feet below the ice were ready to feed. A group of six fishermen, including Jim and Verl, were treated to a feeding frenzy as each of them caught between eight to a dozen kokanee between 10 to 13 inches long.

“We haven’t had this kind of fishing for the last two seasons,” said one fisherman as he landed a 13-incher. “As soon as the ice gets thicker so we can get south we are going to have some really good fishing.”

During the 20-minute frenzy, the kokanee were taking lures even without bait. Once they were done and had moved on came an hour without much action.

“It will be a few days before we can get there as there were geese enjoying the open water there yesterday,” replied Verl. “That is unless we get a minus 10-degree night and then it will build enough ice in one night.”

This past summer, the Department of Fish and Game ran a gill net survey for the kokanee in Ririe and predicted that the reservoir was well stocked with the salmon and that ice fishing this winter would be very good. Ice fishermen have been dreaming and hoping for early ice and it was an early New Year’s present.

During the fishing on Thursday, I witnessed four times that fishermen experienced a feeding frenzy. Last year, many fishermen went from targeting kokanee to fishing for perch. There were huge schools of six-inch kokanee and a few larger ones from 17 to 22-inches long, but not enough to keep fishermen interested. It will really be interesting to see what the reservoir produces after the ice develops up to the powerline area.

Fishermen looking for perch have had a great four weeks being able to drive into Blacktail but that area was closed on Wednesday. For good perch fishing from the Juniper area, we will have to wait for the ice to get thicker to get to those favorite spots.

On Thursday, fishing the 60 to 70 reservoir depth was the most successful as the kokanee seemed to find a rich plankton line in the 15- to 20-foot level. Those fishermen fishing the deeper water, over 90 feet depth did not have a defined feeding line and the kokanee were often found scattered from 40 to 70 feet below the ice. Those fish were not aggressive feeders and fishermen found those scattered fish difficult to hook and those that were hooked usually came off before they reached the surface.

In a week or two, we should have about eight inches of ice and then we will be able to get to all of our favorite spots to fish. I remember years that Ririe did not freeze over and we were trolling for kokanee at the end of January. That will not be the case this year. Many of us are thankful to start the new year out with the reservoir being capped over.

Be safe and healthy out there and we are hopeful for more fish feeding frenzies along with many enjoyable meals.