Northwest Fishing Reports

ive never ice fished before but am thinking of trying elton ponds sat and sun, does anyone know the ice status and have any pointers on gear and tactics? any help would be grreatly appreciated

I was told the ice was good, around 4". There were folks fishing when I went by. Real standard gear for trout, jigs with plastic bodies, eggs, powerbait, worms, maggots on a weighted fly. Check out Panfisher's mods on plastics for through the ice, or Jigmeister's lures, which both work well, but seriously, these are planter trout.

The ice was a nice 4" the other day should be more now. Use white/pink/red/ any brite colors. Drop the jig to the bottom reel tight with the tip of the rod to the ice. this will tell you exactly were the jig is by using the the top of the ice as the bottom of the lake/pond. jig from near bottom to several feet up and then jig back down to the bottom. You (will) catch trout on Elton and most any other pond/lake doing this with out any bait. If you do use bait on Elton you will only be able to catch 2 trout weather you keep them or release them. But you can CNR all day long until you retain two trout which is the limit for this pond. Be shure you read the regs for the waters you are fishing. They do check this pond Quite often and Glass everyone before they come out.

Ice is 4 -5" Caught 2 Doz today in a few hours fishing a good day and the shows that it should be good this weekend. Have more fun "don't use bait" You can CNR till you retain your 2 fish limit. Several People have already been ticketed catching more than 2 trout using bait ( that includes scented/ power bait lures.)

Where is elton ponds? Is it private? I'd like to try ice fishing being from Arizona we didnt do ice fishing. Lovea good trout spot tho! Id like to find one close to my home.

Elton is a pond off I-82 in Selah next to Yakima

46° 39.481', -120° 29.645' Google maps Elton location.

Ya'll seem a bit brave hitting the ice at 4" lol!

I spent 4 years in Minnesota, and people where I lived didn't go out on the ice until it was at least 8" thick.

Of course they were driving on it when it was 8" thick

Haven't driven on the lake in WA since I was a teen. Banks lake was almost 2' thick with ice. My relatives came from ND, so I was one of the first out there. WA fishermen thought we were nuts! 4" clear ice is real safe, but I don't go with less, unless it's to help rescue someone. That happened twice. Hope that's the end of those adventures!

I was fishing pond 4 and 5 Sunday for some crappie or perch ended with one single yellow fin perch. Terrible day ice was good about 5 inchs thick.I was thinking about hitting the pond in selah but don't know if it holds any crappie.

Ice on 4&5 are a good 5 thick tried for crappie and perch got one yellow fin. Was thinking of hitting Elton tomorrow if the ice is still good. Looking for some crappie info as well like are there any in Elton and what type of jigs to use maybe what for bait any would be much appreciated!!

Elton used to have spiny ray, but all I've heard in recent years is trout.

First ever time I went ice fishing was on North Elton ponds-- December 2006 if memory serves... At any rate I caught a few pumpkinseeds around the shoreline, none of size though.