Fishing Forum

Monday, February 07, 2011:

Bear Lake Fishing Report:

Wow! is all I can say about the weather at Bear Lake this year. Last week was bitter-cold weather and the lake capped with ice for the first time in two years. However, on Friday night last week we had a major wind storm and it warmed up to the 30's and Bear Lake is now only about 50% ice covered. Boats cannot be launched anywhere on the lake at this time due to floating ice and capped ice. There were a few die-hard ice anglers fishing today off the east side at the pump house and 1st Point, but the ice is looking pretty scary at this time. The area along the shoreline at Cisco Beach is frozen, but not safe for fishing. Be extremely careful if venturing out on the ice since there are many weak spots from springs and methane gas vents on Bear Lake. The weather has been windy today and that can break ice and move it around in a hurry.

Ice fishing last weekend was good for cutthroat trout and a few lake trout. The best depths were from about 45-65 feet. Fishing should continue improve over the next few week as the cisco disperse and the trout begin to feed again.
There is no snow along the east side of the lake at this time and about 8” of snow along the west side of the lake.
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wow... was hoping it was going to freeze hard and stay that way. Really sucks if you cant launch or ice fish[frown]
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With the cold temps forecasted for this week, do you expect to have some ice forming and more fishable ice by this weekend?

Also, do you know where we could buy or get some cisco for using as bait? We are planning to hit it on Friday for the first time ever as it is too far from Provo to come up for both cisco and ice fishing.
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You can't buy cisco for bait since they are classified as a game fish in Utah. However, sucker meat works very well. If it gets cold, it could refreeze. Last week it only took two days of sub zero weather to cap it off. The week before that I was fishing it from my boat!
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Why does Bear Lake have such a hard time freezing over regularly? Is it just non-stop wind?
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With all large, deep lakes there is a huge thermal buffering capacity so that adds to the difficultly and it takes forever ever to cool it down enough to freeze. (And conversely, it takes forever for the water to heat up in the summer time. Just ask anyone who trys to swim n Bear Lake in June!). It is also shaped like a bathtub with no bays, coves, etc. This also adds to it. Then there is the wind. Anytime a wind comes up, and with the lake being as open as it is, the winds put pressure on the ice and it causes a bouncing action. This can destroy ice in matter of minutes. The ideal conditions are a high pressure system (i.e. no wind) and extremely cold temps (below zero for several days in a row). This year (and for the last two before it) we just haven't had that combination of things happen. We will get a few days of sub zero followed by days in 30 and even 40's with wind.
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