Page 53 - Flathead Beacon // 2.10.16

OUT OF BOUNDS ROB BREEDING THE ALLURE OF
MOUNTAIN EXPOSURE
Tester Hails Increased Public Access at Glacier Park
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester on Feb. 1 hailed two grants that will increase public access to Glacier National Park and spur economic growth in northwest Montana.
The National Park Service announced that it’s awarding the Glacier National Park Con- servancy nearly $100,000 to conduct campground and trail maintenance.
“Glacier National Park is one of Montana’s best treasures,” said Tester, a member of the Inte- rior Appropriations Committee. “Investments like this strengthen our economy, create jobs, and increase public access to some of the most incredible places in Big Sky Country.”
The grants will be matched with more than $150,000 in pri- vate funds to increase public access to Avalanche Campground and Swiftcurrent Lake Trail.
The National Park Service esti- mates there is $11.9 billion worth of maintenance that needs to be done across all 58 national parks.
OUTDOORS IN BRIEF
Flathead Land Trust Receives $5,000 Grant
The Flathead Land Trust has received a $5,000 grant to help fund two local conservation easements totaling 671 acres in Bigfork.
The grants were awarded by Travelers for Open Land, a Mon- tana program that allows visitors and residents to contribute to con- servation projects on open land. The program recently awarded $18,000, which will help fund ve conservation projects on private land.
They include the well-known Darrow family properties near Bigfork in the Flathead Valley.
The proposed projects include conservation of the Swims Creek riparian area, wildlife winter range, forested habitat and pri- vate working agricultural lands. The projects would also provide open land conservation and scenic views, including prominent ridge- lines and hilltops.
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SOLID WATER
I’VE NEVER BEEN MUCH OF AN ICE sherman. My problem: hitting a small hole in the ice with my y on a consistent basis has always been tough for a dude with my limited casting skills.
I know, lame joke. Sorry. But ice sh- ing just isn’t my cup of tea. I like shing in winter, but I prefer y shing. It’s not that I dislike ice shing, which is, after all, shing. It’s just not in my repertoire of frequent winter sporting activities.
The few times I’ve played on the ice have been fun. There’s no casting, but jigging or dangling bait has its appeal. Unfortunately, I’ve never iced shed when water clarity allowed me to observe sh as they approached my bait. That sounds like a hoot.
Trout and perch are popular targets. And in northwest Montana, deep water ice shing for Kokanee salmon has become something of a high-tech arms race, with electronic ashers that pin- point the precise depth where the sh are schooling. The salmon feed on zooplank- ton, which often suspend in the water col- umn. You have to know where the food is to nd the salmon, and that’s why the ashers ( sh nders) are so important.
Salmon baits are tiny and delicate, the lines are light, and soft tipped rods are necessary to keep from ripping hooks out of the tissue-like mouths of Kokanee.
Less high tech, or maybe I should say completely no tech, is the sh some would call the region’s No. 1 ice shing target: northern pike. These sh are a di erent game entirely. Ice shing for pike requires short, stout rods with the power to set hooks and turn angry sh away from weeds and other structure, and back toward the hole in the ice. The toughest of pike anglers don’t bother with rods at all, instead hand lining the beasts through the ice.
For those of you not familiar with pike, here’s the basic biological description: a
large mouth lled with sharp teeth con- nected to a body designed to keep that mouth lled with food.
Some folks don’t bother with hooks at all. Instead, they cut large squares out of the ice and dangle sh decoys, lures or dead bait below their ice shack. When a marauding pike shows up to investigate, they harpoon the toothy monster with a spear that resembles Poseidon’s trident.
I’ve never speared pike, but after watching a few videos on YouTube I’m seriously considering ditching my 10-foot winter nymphing rod altogether. Spear- ing pike takes sight shing to a whole new level.
I’ve caught pike before, on ies, and found them entertaining. I recall once on a trip in Canada we had a great morning catching walleye and pike and our guide fried llets of each for shore lunch.
The pike was every bit as tasty as wall- eye, the freshwater sh generally consid- ered the gold standard in culinary terms. Sadly, there was one problem with the pike: bones. Our guide didn’t know how to deal with the Y bones that run threw the middle of a pike llet, so each tasty bite was interrupted as we picked the ne pieces out of our teeth.
There are countless recipes or other concoctions designed to deal with pike Y bones, pickling being the most common. But I’ve never seriously pursued the spe- cies since that day in Canada, precisely because I’m not fond of choking.
Serious pike anglers know how to llet out Y bones. It takes a little extra work, and it’s easiest if you’re dealing with a sh 4-5 pounds or more, but there’s not that much to it. Again, YouTube is your friend. The social media site is lled with instructional videos on how to properly llet a pike.
And I don’t care how you get ‘em through the ice, a proper pike llet is worth a day spent on solid water.
support support
Rob Breeding writes, teaches and watches his kids play soccer when he’s not shing or hunting. He lives in Kalispell.
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LOCATION
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