Jeff Smith with Fins and Feathers Tackle Shop recommends ice fishermen head to Fernan Lake if they're hankering for perch.

"The ice so far has held up good, it's about 6 inches," Smith said.

Perch from Fernan will vary from 6 to 10 inches, he added, "depending what kind of batch you get into."

The swedish pimple with a dropper on it has been popular, Smith said, recommending a moon glow glitter jig below it.

He had success with a white glow hot head jig, he added.

"The fish seem to want a lot of bait on there, so load that hook up with maggots," he said. "If you have just one or two on there, they wouldn't take it. If you have three, four or five, they'll be more interested."

Smith said his two poles didn't take a break snagging bluegills at Avondale Lake on Sunday.

"We caught a few other fish, but it was onesies, twosies of anything else, perch or crappie or bass," he said. "We loaded up on bluegills. We must have caught 50 in an hour and a half."

Also with 6 inches of ice, the lake is particularly slippery these days, Smith cautioned, and advised wearing cleats.

Folks are still catching chinook salmon on Lake Coeur d'Alene, he added.

A friend of his snagged one 30 inches long and 10 pounds last Friday, Smith said.

His own trips out have been less successful, he said, adding that the salmon must be at least 18 inches to keep.

"What bites we had were at 109 feet, with black and glow mini squids behind a flasher," he said.

He also used a glow helmeted herring, he added.

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Despite drastic swings in temperature and precipitation levels, fishing has held steady throughout the winter.

So keep par for the course as perch, trout and pike are still active in Twin, Cocolalla and Fernan lakes, said Blake Becker, of Black Sheep Sporting Goods.

Trout and perch are going after similarly loaded lines - mostly smaller-sized jigs, around size 8 or 10, tipped off with a maggot.

"As long as you're slow and steady, you'll catch them," Becker said.

Twin, Cocolalla and Fernan lakes are the best bets for perch.

But Fernan and Hayden lakes are also producing a lot of pike. Fernan has a foot of ice covering it at last report, Becker said.

Use a steel leader with smelt to land pike. Let the line sit, anywhere from a few feet off the bottom of the lake to middle depths, and the pike should hit, Becker said.

Smaller lakes such as Hauser are active as well.

Bluegill and crappie fish are chasing small Ratso jigs, size 10 or so. Add a maggot on the end of it too for the best bet. Overall, the smaller the better, Becker said, so if you can find 1/32 ounce or 1/64 ounce sized jigs.

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Corey Shamburg of Cabela's said the weather will dictate how successful ice fishing will be from now until spring.

"It's been a weird winter and next week is supposed to warm up," he said. "With the weather we've had, people are starting to itch for spring. Usually this time of year there's plenty of snow on the ground to get us through February."

Shamburg said some anglers are still buying steelhead supplies, signifying fishing is still going steady on the Clearwater River.