Not everyone will buy a lift ticket or trudge to the top of a nearby peak to enjoy winter sports this year. A few hardy outdoorsman will grab the fishing gear and an auger, and head to the lake to ice-fish.
"I don't ski," says Ketchum bartender Mark Belanger. "I'm a flatlander. I play hockey or ice-fish."
Belanger is in Duluth, Minn., this week where he will trailer up a 6-by-5-foot portable shed, known as an "ice-house," and bring it to the Wood River Valley. He and fellow bartender Sean Buckley will situate the house over their favorite winter fishing holes on Magic Reservoir in the dead of winter and catch trout and perch. Lots of them.
"It's not boring," says Buckley, "We can catch more than 100 fish in a day. We keep a nice perch or trout here and there, but mostly it's for the fun of it."
Belanger and Buckley, both in their late 20s, grew up 60 miles away from one another on Lake Superior in Minnesota, where ice fishing is a well-established tradition.
While ice-fishing in Idaho is just catching on, thousands of ice houses appear on Minnesota Lakes each winter, some with bunk beds for overnight trips.
"I grew up ice fishing with my dad," says Buckley. "In college, when I finished studying I would go sit on a lake for a while."
Buckley is from Silver Bay. Belanger is from Duluth.
"We played hockey against each other for years, but didn't meet until we came to Ketchum," says Buckley.
Both men poured drinks at Whiskey Jacques' until recently, and now are planning to work at the Casino bar on Main Street. Buckley skis, but often prefers the more relaxed afternoons spent on Magic Reservoir, where he usually fishes until dusk.
"You hang out with friends. You have a few beers. It makes you feel like you are back home," he says.
This winter the two men will have the shelter of the ice house to keep them warm. For the past few years they have been standing over an 8-inch hole in the ice, waiting for a bite.
"It will be a luxury," says Belanger.
Ice fishing requires an ice auger to cut holes through thick ice, and tools to keep the hole clear when the temperatures drop. "Tip-ups"—levered gadgets that indicate when a fish is on the line—can be used for less attentive fishing.
The greatest danger to ice fishermen is going out too early, or too late in the season. Buckley says an ice thickness of 4 inches is required before venturing out on the ice.
"You need a couple of feet before driving a truck out there," he says.
Buckley and Belanger typically fish from January until well into April, when they stand on the ice in T-shirts. They say they have better luck than the few other ice fishermen they have encountered on Magic Reservoir. That could be because ice fishing is in their genes.
It could also be their choice of bait: meal worms from Guffy's gas station in Bellevue and the occasional "Swedish Pimple" spoon lure.
Their technique involves jigging the hook a few inches off the bottom to attract fish as they swim by.
Late this winter the two fisherman have plans to go after the game fish of their Minnesota youth—the Wall-eye Pike, which can reach 47 inches in length. The species was introduced to Salmon Falls Reservoir near Jackpot, Nev., in the 1970s.
"Its basically a freshwater barracuda," says Belanger.
Idaho Fish and Game regulations allow ice fishing through 8-inch holes only. Regular fishing rules generally apply to ice fishing. Refer to the "Idaho Fish Planner" and the Fish and Game Department's Web site for details.
Ice fisherman Mark Belanger pulls a trout from Magic Reservoir south of Bellevue
