Bear Lake ice report

[BearLakeFishGuy]

Anglers made it out on the ice to the rockpile on Bear Lake today (Thrusday).  The flood gates of anglers have officially opened.  We will try our luck tomorrow (Friday) and I'll report back on what we observe. There is a LOT of snow on the beaches, so it might be a tough hike until you get out on the ice.  Since there hasn't been much snow after it froze, the ice will likely be slippery in spots too.  Be careful out there!

[SkunkedAgain]

Scott, do you have an update on where anglers can park this year? I heard there was a big berm or snow filling the driveway where they usually let you park on the beach to access the rock pile.. Do you have an update on where folks can park? Thanks Jeff

[BearLakeFishGuy]

Well the wait for Bear Lake ice was worth it again.  Today three of us started about 0800 on the rockpile.  Ice was about 3-4" depending where you were at.  Spooky pressure cracks though on the hike out there.  Some snow on the ice so no need for cleats.  About 100 yards of pack ice close to shore which is a pain to walk over since it is rough.  The rest of the area looks like many big sheets (8'x10' or larger) frozen together the rest of the way out there.  Garden City plowed 250 E. Loop Street, but its treacherous to drive down on the beach.  Bring a logging chain so someone could pull you out if you get stuck.  We parked along the East Loop Road and there is only a spot for 3-4 cars there.  Maybe the beach area will freeze tonight so you can drive down on the beach?  They plowed a lot for parking, but getting down there is the issue.  Ideal Beach is charging $5 to access though their property and I highly recommend that place for access. 

Fishing was really good.  Cold (+3F) this morning but we took our jackets off by 10am since it was sunny.  I got one good mac about 16-17lbs estimate.  5 cutts, 1 WF and 1 cisco and my buddies did about the same but caught more WF and Cisco since they wanted some for eating and bait.   I think you should do well fishing for cisco on top the rockpile and even pick up trout (38-40' or so) and that is where we started. However, there were too many cisco and whitefish, so I moved out and targeted trout with big jigs in deeper (70').  Other anglers were doing well too.  Beware:  you cannot use whitefish for bait.....only cisco and suckers.  I overheard one guy saying he was going to keep WF for "bait" and that is simply illegal.  Anyway, I kept a couple of cutts for dinner and released the rest.

[Royal_Coachman]

I showed up to Bear Lake last year with my Medium-Heavy trout ice fishing rod and seemed like most folks had much bigger rods. Can I get away with my normal ice fishing set up or do I need something bigger?

[SkunkedAgain]

I showed up to Bear Lake last year with my Medium-Heavy trout ice fishing rod and seemed like most folks had much bigger rods. Can I get away with my normal ice fishing set up or do I need something bigger?

i think it depends, I've caught 27" cutties on my little ice rods, but now I'm using a short ugly stick that is rated for heavy fish, if I could ever get one to stay hooked up on it I'd let you know if it's better or not... Later J

[BearLakeFishGuy]

I showed up to Bear Lake last year with my Medium-Heavy trout ice fishing rod and seemed like most folks had much bigger rods. Can I get away with my normal ice fishing set up or do I need something bigger?

i think it depends, I've caught 27" cutties on my little ice rods, but now I'm using a short ugly stick that is rated for heavy fish, if I could ever get one to stay hooked up on it I'd let you know if it's better or not... Later J

Just curious why you might be having a retention issue on your hook-ups.
1)  Are you using a superline?  If not, I highly suggest doing so. The hook sets are much easier with superline in the deeper water, especially with short ice fishing rods.
2)  Are you using stinger hooks on your jigs?  I know the vast majority of people do not, but I sure do and I can say I catch at least 50% of the fish on my stingers.  I used a short piece of downrigger cable with crimp sleeves to a #4 red treble hook about 2-3" behind the main hook on a jig head.  
Anyway, just my thoughts.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Scott, thanks for the stinger hook tip, I'm not using one and I had two hits today down deep that bonked it pretty good and when I recovered from the shock and jerked they were gone... The other one was a big ole long Mac that took my tiny tungsten jig I was using for whitefish and I hooked it, but when I tried to readjust to fight it up it must have gotten just enough slack to shake the hook loose and then it just shook its head down there looking discussed at me... I was sight fishing in 10 FOW laying on my belly looking down the hole and trying to get ahold of my rod when this happened... I didn't expect a big fish in that shallow, but then again most of the whitefish I thought were 14"ers came in as 10", so the 40" Mac was probably a lot smaller... Got me excited though... I am using braid, so it's pretty much user error is all I can say.. But I did have a fun day... Later Jeff