I've switched from ice fishing to kayak fishing

I could probably squeeze in another week or so of ice fishing before the ice poops out, but I've switched to kayak fishing for lake trout on Flathead Lake.

Note the water temperature on my fish finder:35.6 degrees F.

I still have a solid 15 inches of clear ice on my kokanee lake and around town the stocked trout lakes have 24 inches yet. BUT the Kenai River ice went out at my house in Soldotna during the past 2 days so there is at least some moving water to look at with abundant flocks of Goldeneye piling in to the new open feeding grounds.

Our ice is also pretty much gone.  Beautiful pictures and thank goodness for drysuits.  Is that an attractor "light" above your jig?  How's the PA14 working out?

Is that an attractor "light" above your jig?  How's the PA14 working out?

I do a lot of fishing for lake trout on the bottom in 160-220 feet of water.  It's dark down there, so I always use lead lures with glow paint.  In addition I often add an LED blinking lure above the lead lure, which I hope brings in lake trout from further away than the glow lures. 

Here's what I like about my 12' Pro Angler 360 kayak: I do a lot of jigging, and the 360 drive is awesome for holding myself stationary over the bottom, and for moving small distances in any direction.  Here's what I don't like about the 12' Pro Angler 360 kayak:  It's slow, especially in waves and headwinds.  It's a lot of work to travel long distances from fishing spot to fishing spot, and it isn't a good choice for trolling.  It's heavy and a chore to move around and car top.  It's horrible to paddle in those situations where you need to paddle. The H Bars interfere with getting into and out of the kayak.  I wish Hobie would produce an Outback with a 360 drive.  I'd buy one instantly.  I don't know why it can't produce an Outback 360 - the Outback is only two inches narrower than the Pro Angler.

Flathead Lake was calm last night and the temperature dipped below freezing.  In the morning there were some thin layers of ice floating on the lake, so I got to go kayak ice fishing.

Beautiful pics!

It looks like you have a lot of calm days with no wind at Flathead....More than we have in Oregon....

It looks like you have a lot of calm days with no wind at Flathead....More than we have in Oregon....

I wish that was the case, but it isn't.  Flathead is a big lake, 29 miles north to south, and can brew up big waves real fast.  We get long periods when the weather is too windy and the waves too rowdy for safe kayak fishing.  So when we get two days in a row of calm weather, I'm up there.

As always, beautiful pics.

Kayaking on ice can be sketchy... Learned the hard way to avoid it in touring kayaks. Ice was only a couple mms thick but didn't break till it was under my body, I came real close to capsizing when the first ~10' of my boat was sitting on top of the ice. Was like trying to balance in a kayak sitting on land.

Prolly not a concern in tank kayaks, but can ruin your day in skinnier/lighter boats.