OK so here I go...I know I will get an ear full. But what the H**. I have lived in Utah all my life. I know Bear Lake well...but never have been out after the CISCO. What are they good for? Bait? This is a very serious question...are they good to eat? I know what they are just have never been there to net them or catch them through the Ice...
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Hi Rooster2020
Cisco are generally used for bait in catching big macks(lake Trout).
They are also eaten. At the Cisco disco it is one of the high lights of the party... eating the catch. Catching Cisco is kind of a social event,get togather with a group of friends net a bunch of cisco and have a Cisco fry. The run is a short lived event only lasting a couple weeks as they spawn then dissapear into the depths of Bear lake.
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Thanks for the post...and thanks for not giving me crap. I am advid fisherman. But have neve been after the Cisco... I will go try it. Have you ever gone after them through the Ice? If so where? How deep do you fish and what do they take? I am not so interested in catching them with nets...due to the fact that I would not use them for bait. But I always like to catch new fish through the Ice.. Funny thing is my best friends Grandpa use to own Blue Water Beach way back when...he was the one that sold the land where Sweetwater is now. Went up there all the time and we still do...but just never went after the Cisco...
Doug
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Think pink. they like small pink jigs. rig a 2 jig set up,on top a 1/16 oz chartreuse whatta cricket, 8" below that a pink rat finki tip both with wax worm. the Whatta Cricket is to catch Cutthroat and whitefish and the rat finki is to catch the Cisco.
If you just want to catch the Cisco do a spoon attractor 8" above rat finki.
for the next 2 weeks they will be in just a couple feet of water and just do the Cisco set up. a couple weeks from now use the first set up at cysco beach in 18' of water.
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I watched TubeDude catch a bunch of them through the ice on the Rockpile a few years back and he didn't snag them -- all caught in the mouth.
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Cisco are great to eat but they are an aquired taste to some. I grew up in Maine and we used to fish for smelts and have awesome fish fry's. Cisco are similiar in taste (to me at least) and something to look forward to as they are hard to find anytime of the year other than during the spawn run.
Funny thing is they are also the best bait to tip your jigs with (you can only use them at bear lake though) and have been the difference of catching fish or not.
Yup, I eat the bait I fish with!!!! LOL
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