Bear Lake

[Kent]

I am considering trying Bear Lake on Thursday from my boat. The forecast is windy from the south. You who have fished Bear Lake -- would I be wise to go there with that forecast?

Kent
[signature]

[BearLakeMack]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Stick to the west side of the lake when the wind is blowing. USUALLY, when the wind is blowing from the south or southwest, the waves have not had a chance to build on the west side whereas the east side can have a little more swell and white caps and be unfishable. Take two anchors to stablize your boat and minimize the swing off the anchor. This will help you keep your jig vertical, that is if you plan on jigging. Use heavier jigs if you have to. [/size][/font]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]I'd chance it and go. You may luck out and if you don't, you head home. If it's windy when you get there go have breakfast and try and wait it out. I've seen it go from heavy winds to a light breeze and calm water in less than an hour. Yes, by all means go and check it out.[/size][/font]
[signature]

[PREDATOR]

kent, your boat is big enough you shouldnt have a problem even if the waves get going a bit. Let us know how it goes.

[BearLakeMack]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Kent:[/size][/font]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Did you go out today? How was it? Did the wind get the best of you or were the conditions good enough to enjoy a day chasing macks? Where did you fish and what did you try?[/size][/font]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]I'm going to get up there one day this weekend. The snow and the rain don't bother me but the wind is another story. You can bet I'll be watching the weather closely.[/size][/font]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3] [/size][/font]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3][/size][/font]
[signature]

[Kent]

Yes, we made it up there yesterday. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It started to blow at 2:00 PM, while we were at Cisco Beach (of course we had launched at the Utah State Park). After crossing the lake the wind died down again! The fishing was another matter.

Our plan was to try trolling first, and then if that didn't work to try jigging. We started fishing at 9:15 AM and trolled in front of the Utah State Park and saw a few fish on the finder, but no bites. There was one other boat trolling there, and they said that they had caught two fish trolling. We then went to The Rock Pile. I'm not exactly sure exactly where it is, but based upon previous information I am certain we were fishing the general area. There was one boat anchored in about 45 feet of water and they were jigging. They said that they had caught 4 fish. We marked many more fish on the finder there, but again no bites. We then went to Cisco Beach. We saw a few concentrations of fish there, but not as many as at The Rock Pile. Again no bites. We finished up at The Rock Pile and in fron of the Utah State Park again. We probably should have tried jigging earlier, because in the afternoon we couldn't find any concentrations of fish, so we didn't think jigging would work. Great weather, great company, boat ran flawlessly [only mishap was having the line snap on the downrigger (my fault) and loosing one ball and snap] but I wish that we could have caught one more fish!

Kent
[signature]

[BearLakeMack]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Thanks for the report. Sorry you didn't get into the fish. Just remember just because you don't see fish on your sonar, doesn't mean there are no fish on the bottom. Most macks hug the bottom and are invisible until you see them come up on a jig. You also have to know what to look for. Lumps on the bottom can be fish. I never run the fish id mode on my sonar. Anything the sonar picks up is automatically assumed to be a fish. You will get a lot more deatailed information running the straight sonar and learning what it's telling you. Also remember that sonar is cone shaped and picks up the first contact and reads that. What does this mean? It means that if there is any slope on the bottom, the sonar picks up the highest point and the lowest point is NEVER seen. We'll be jigging on a very sloped bottom contour, which is very normal to Bear Lake's eastside. The sonar reads, say, 80 ft. You drop the jig to the bottom and have to reel up 4 ft to see it on the sonar! That means that the actual depth is really 84 ft and 4 ft of fish holding area is never seen by sonar! So don't let you fish finder fool you. [/size][/font]
[signature]

[PREDATOR]

I am here to tell you kent, I cant do the vertical jig thing. I have no skills. But I am here to say once and fro all, that Bear Lake Mack knows his stuff. An aspiring lake trout fisherman would do very well to tie a rope to that guy and record all his thoughts. Theres just something about certain anglers, you can just tell that they know thier stuff and when they talk it is time too listen. BLM is one of those anglers. I am not trying to kiss his butt, although he is one of the beautiful people, I am just saying I think we have an incredible resource here on the board.

[BearLakeMack]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Listen to you! Thanks for the compliment but there are a lot of talented fishermen on this board and I'm here to tell you I've learn a lot from the the information they post. So it's all good.[/size][/font]

[font "Vivaldi"][#ff0000][size 6]But please! Don't hate me because I'm beautiful![/size][/#ff0000][/font]

[font "Vivaldi"][#ff0000][size 6][/size][/#ff0000][/font]
[signature]