Bear Lake

[MACMAN]

Random observation on Bear Lake on this forum. When I joined back in 2003 there was non stop reports and chatter from Bear Lake, especially this time of year and continuing through the white fish season. I’m talking like 4 out of 5 posts were BL related. Now, with the exception of a few great reports from the local die hards, it’s pretty much crickets. Is that a function of the demographic of guys on this site now or a result of the current fishing status on the lake?  I also notice the pressure has correlated with that as well. Through the early 2000’s, it would be common to have 20-25 boats on the Rockpile. Now I usually see 8-10 this time of year. It is odd considering the exponential growth in the area over the past twenty years. I would agree with the fishing being tougher now than it was then, but it is only incrementally worse (for me).  Bear Lake is a tough nut to crack now as it was then as well. What is your thoughts?

[wiperhunter2]

Random observation on Bear Lake on this forum. When I joined back in 2003 there was non stop reports and chatter from Bear Lake, especially this time of year and continuing through the white fish season. I’m talking like 4 out of 5 posts were BL related. Now, with the exception of a few great reports from the local die hards, it’s pretty much crickets. Is that a function of the demographic of guys on this site now or a result of the current fishing status on the lake?  I also notice the pressure has correlated with that as well. Through the early 2000’s, it would be common to have 20-25 boats on the Rockpile. Now I usually see 8-10 this time of year. It is odd considering the exponential growth in the area over the past twenty years. I would agree with the fishing being tougher now than it was then, but it is only incrementally worse (for me).  Bear Lake is a tough nut to crack now as it was then as well. What is your thoughts?

For me there are several factors: one, there just isn't as many Macks in the lake like there once were and it seems every lake has cutts, so that has no appeal to me.
Two, the most direct route is through Logan canyon and after having been with three different people and hitting the black ice there, I have no desire in driving up that canyon when it's icy.
Three, as I get older, I'd just as soon fish closer to home, with less driving time.

[RILEYFISH]

Random observation on Bear Lake on this forum. When I joined back in 2003 there was non stop reports and chatter from Bear Lake, especially this time of year and continuing through the white fish season. I’m talking like 4 out of 5 posts were BL related. Now, with the exception of a few great reports from the local die hards, it’s pretty much crickets. Is that a function of the demographic of guys on this site now or a result of the current fishing status on the lake?  I also notice the pressure has correlated with that as well. Through the early 2000’s, it would be common to have 20-25 boats on the Rockpile. Now I usually see 8-10 this time of year. It is odd considering the exponential growth in the area over the past twenty years. I would agree with the fishing being tougher now than it was then, but it is only incrementally worse (for me).  Bear Lake is a tough nut to crack now as it was then as well. What is your thoughts?

Yes. Old Bear lake can be pretty fickle and is not very generous. I have my opinions on some things at BL. I feel the lake gets hit really hard when the hard deck happens up there. With ice tents up all over and more people out, I feel that the masses are harvesting plenty of fish out of there. This lake only has a few places that fish well and they get hit hard when thing s ice over. Our game and fish folks dont check many folks up there, or many other places for that matter. yeppers, she is a tough one up there. my last trip up produced a beautiful day of boating, bull shitting and good memories. but, i didnt leave with a fishy smell on me!

[TubeDude]

Another potential reason for a downturn in reporting, etc., is that our BFT contact...BearLakeFishGuy...is no longer on site up there and we get no regular reports from him.  I am sure his regular informative and positive input helped send more folks in that direction.

[Lundboy54]

Random observation on Bear Lake on this forum. When I joined back in 2003 there was non stop reports and chatter from Bear Lake, especially this time of year and continuing through the white fish season. I’m talking like 4 out of 5 posts were BL related. Now, with the exception of a few great reports from the local die hards, it’s pretty much crickets. Is that a function of the demographic of guys on this site now or a result of the current fishing status on the lake?  I also notice the pressure has correlated with that as well. Through the early 2000’s, it would be common to have 20-25 boats on the Rockpile. Now I usually see 8-10 this time of year. It is odd considering the exponential growth in the area over the past twenty years. I would agree with the fishing being tougher now than it was then, but it is only incrementally worse (for me).  Bear Lake is a tough nut to crack now as it was then as well. What is your thoughts?

I agree fishing sucks canyon is scary and no macs best to stay away

[gmwahl]

I live in Garden City and can probably offer a local perspective.

First thing....
The laker fishing is increasingly spottier than it used to be this time of year. The laker fishing is best starting about December 1st through ice up. With no ice up then it stays good through the end of February or March. Many of us that used to report on the fishing up here have not posted as much and don't follow BFT as often after the switch over of the forum a few years ago. It was harder for me at first to even get on the local forum, and I am no longer on the premium members forum as a result. I check in and try to update the forum when I think about it, but like I said, I'm not on here as often.

Second thing...
Facebook has local groups now, some specifically for bear lake, northern utah, southeast idaho, etc., that are probably taking some of the members and reporting that they would have done on BFT. I could be wrong, but it is possible.

I try to update when the whitefish are running, when the Cisco are running, when we have safe ice, and if I see any questions on this forum, I try to answer them.

I don't think secrecy is part of the downturn in reports about Bear Lake, but rather I think BFT lost a lot of member posts when it switched formats.

Mike

[Kent]

My interest in fishing Bear Lake has decreased because the number of macks appears to have dropped significantly. I still enjoy fishing it, but not to the level that I did in the past. Another factor has been me becoming aware of places that I can do one-day sturgeon trips.

[SkunkedAgain]

Random observation on Bear Lake on this forum. When I joined back in 2003 there was non stop reports and chatter from Bear Lake, especially this time of year and continuing through the white fish season. I’m talking like 4 out of 5 posts were BL related. Now, with the exception of a few great reports from the local die hards, it’s pretty much crickets. Is that a function of the demographic of guys on this site now or a result of the current fishing status on the lake?  I also notice the pressure has correlated with that as well. Through the early 2000’s, it would be common to have 20-25 boats on the Rockpile. Now I usually see 8-10 this time of year. It is odd considering the exponential growth in the area over the past twenty years. I would agree with the fishing being tougher now than it was then, but it is only incrementally worse (for me).  Bear Lake is a tough nut to crack now as it was then as well. What is your thoughts?

I agree fishing sucks canyon is scary and no macs best to stay away

I see what you did there and I'm sure you never fish there anymore... Hopefully I'll get my boat trailer fixed soon and be over to watch you put on the clinic again this year... Later J

---

I live in Garden City and can probably offer a local perspective.

First thing....
The laker fishing is increasingly spottier than it used to be this time of year.  The laker fishing is best starting about December 1st through ice up.  With no ice up then it stays good through the end of February or March.  Many of us that used to report on the fishing up here have not posted as much and don't follow BFT as often after the switch over of the forum a few years ago.  It was harder for me at first to even get on the local forum, and I am no longer on the premium members forum as a result.  I check in and try to update the forum when I think about it, but like I said, I'm not on here as often.

Second thing...
Facebook has local groups now, some specifically for bear lake, northern utah, southeast idaho, etc., that are probably taking some of the members and reporting that they would have done on BFT.  I could be wrong, but it is possible.

I try to update when the whitefish are running, when the Cisco are running, when we have safe ice, and if I see any questions on this forum, I try to answer them. 

I don't think secrecy is part of the downturn in reports about Bear Lake, but rather I think BFT lost a lot of member posts when it switched formats.

Mike

Mike, I sure always appreciate your willingness to update us on BL conditions... If I get my boat trailer fixed I'll be bothering you again soon for a report... I'm hoping the ice season didn't hurt the fishing too bad... but I do know it has to make a big difference since there were so many people there and I think a lot do keep the fish including a lot of big macs that they filleted and left skeletons on the ice... Kind of poor choice I thought, but hopefully they were legal catches... Anyway I'm hoping when I get able that the fish will still be there waiting for me to show up... Later Jeff

[MACMAN]

Lots of good responses. I think the underlying factor is fishing for Macs has gotten tougher. From what I have seen, I don't disagree. Could be lack of planting, focusing management on other species, over harvested due to ice- not sure, probably all of it. I'm afraid the downward trend will continue. I believe there are people who are under the opinion, and who's opinion matters, want the Lake Trout to disappear from Bear Lake. I hope I'm wrong. Either way, I hope the DWR from Utah and Idaho see the value of the Lake Trout fishery and will preserve what is there and continue to replenish what is removed through angling. I will continue to fish them and with any luck, will have a successful report after this coming weekend.

[AFDan52]

I have to agree with Macman , I know the Lake Trout fishing has decresed a lot. I'm sure that there are many factors involved in this decrease , But I will still fish for them as much as I can and whenever I can. I still love that Tug on the line. I do hope that the Idaho and Utah Fish and Game folks can come up with something to to help.

[BearLakeFishGuy]

**I updated this post to show the angler pressure, catch and harvest of cutthroat trout and lake trout from the creel survey that covered Jan-Dec 2021 (all open water) and Feb/Mar 2022 (totally frozen).

I'd like to clear up a misconception or two about Bear Lake and try to answer/respond to the original question/comment.

The fishing success for lake trout at Bear Lake has not appreciably changed in the last 7+ years (as measured in the UDWR creel surveys which have been conducted approximately every 5 years or so).  This statement is backed up by the creel survey completed in 2021-22, which happened to be the last report that wrote while still working for the UDWR.  The catch rate for lake trout has been stable during the last 10+ years and has increased a bit in the last survey (2021).  It is less than what was happening the late 1990s and early 2000s, but that is a product of the UDWR adopting a fisheries management plan for Bear Lake where the management was more focused on native cutthroat trout than lake trout.  As most people recognize, there is only so much "food" (i.e cisco, sculpin, whitefish, chubs) in Bear Lake so the lake trout (a non-native fish) stocking was reduced.  During the same time, increased natural recruitment of cutthroat trout (likely due to several reason) necessitated reduced stocking of cutthroat trout, which was a pleasant surprise to the biologists.  With that said, the UDWR agreed to continue stocking sterile lake trout to provide for that popular fishery.  

Secondly, the comments about "overharvest" are simply unfounded!   The harvest rate for lake trout (and even cutthroat trout) is VERY low.  The overall annual harvest for cutthroat was a whopping 332 fish in all of calendar year 2021 (Jan-Dec) and harvest of lake trout was 316 fish during this same time.  This corresponds to about 3% harvest for both cutthroat and lake trout. This means that only 3% of the total cutthroat trout that are caught are then harvested and the same percentage for lake trout.  The creel survey was also conducted during a time (Feb and March of 2022) when Bear Lake was frozen so comparison to open water months (Feb and March 2021) could be made to frozen months (Feb and March 2022).   As most people would expect the angler pressure during frozen years (Feb/Mar 2022) is much higher than during open water (Feb/Mar 2021).  These two months in 2022 resulted in nearly the same number of angler hours (fishing pressure) that Bear Lake sees in an entire calendar year when the lake is solely open water (34,320 angler hours from Jan-Dec 2021 and 30,484 angler hours during only Feb and March of 2022!)    For those keeping track, angler pressure was 1,683% higher in Feb 2022 compared to Feb 2021.... and 219% higher in Feb 2022 compared to Feb 2021.  The catch and harvest of cutthroat trout and lake trout in Feb + Mar 2022 was 2,395 caught/371 harvested (cutthroat trout) and 1,655 caught/271 harvested (lake trout).  So, even in years when there is significantly more angler pressure on Bear Lake, the actual catch rate (number of fish/hour fished) is much lower.  Why?  Probably because there are many more inexperienced anglers fishing on Bear Lake through the ice than you would see from boats during open water years.  To me that is not surprising, since access to Bear Lake during frozen years allows for anyone to get on the lake; while it takes a special, dedicated (crazy?) angler to haul a boat up to Bear Lake in the middle of winter to fish out of during open water years.

Thirdly, it seems as if some anglers are simply not fishing during some of the most productive times of the year any longer.  This is from late August through the end of September.  The water is still quite warm but during that time, but the lake trout bite is on fire.  I had a couple of days in late September this year that were some of the best lake trout "catching" I have ever experienced.  I made a note that on both of those days, there were only two boats and one boat, respectively, besides myself....... and they were jigging when they should have been trolling.  As most people know, some anglers are stubborn, and this seems to be especially true on Bear Lake.  Some anglers refuse to jig when trolling is working significantly better....and vice-versa.   I also see some people troll and they refuse to jig, when the jiggers are hammering the fish and trollers aren't catching anything!   Maybe it is due to people not having downriggers or other anglers not even owning a jigging rod?  Finally, tishing during the middle of the lake trout spawning period (approximately Oct 15-Nov 15) is tough and fickle.  If you don't believe me, just ask Jim Williams on his impression of trying to catch lakers during the spawn on Flaming Gorge.  

Fourth:  I do not post nearly as much as I used to on BFT for several reasons.  Mainly, because the BFT site has chosen to go in what I feel is a much different direction than in the past.  Gone are the days of good-natured "arguing" (i.e. debating) since there are too many people with thin skin, so the mods just delete any controversial posts or remove pictures because  they "take up too much room"?  [That seems absurd, since BFT allows several ways to post pictures, yet if you do it the way a mod doesn't agree, they remove it?.....but that is another topic and I won't get into that here].  That is pretty disappointing since those debates used to be entertaining!  (The old BFT guys will remember "discussions" about Cliff and his so-called state record SMB debate....as just one example!).  Also, the guys who were hard core Bear Lake anglers are either not fishing the lake as much, have moved (Rich, Dan, Ralph, IFG, Rob, etc.) or simply do not post on BFT.   Also, Mike pointed out, there are other social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram) that have sites dedicated to Bear Lake fishing which are arguably easier to use than BFT and posts are rarely, or not, edited by the moderators who like to control things on BFT.  

Anyway, I wanted to try to stop some of the speculating about what is going on at Bear Lake.  The UDWR just recently had a public meeting at Bear Lake and that was a prime opportunity to learn more about the fishery, study results, etc.  It had several anglers in attendance.  I just wish UDWR would have recorded that meeting for later viewing, however, I don't get to control that.  Hope these comments are helpful.  I'm still around BFT here and there and I'll be fishing Bear Lake just as I have the last 30+ years.  However, I am now a lowly angler just like the majority of you guys.  Rest assured the UDWR does have Bear Lake as a high priority water and they do listen to angler's input, not only at Bear Lake but on other Utah waters.  

[SkunkedAgain]

I'd like to clear up a misconception or two about Bear Lake and try to answer/respond to the original question/comment.

The fishing success for lake trout at Bear Lake has not appreciably changed in the last 7+ years (as measured in the UDWR creel surveys which have been conducted approximately every 5 years or so).  This statement is backed up by the creel survey completed in 2021-22, which happened to be the last report that wrote while still working for the UDWR.  The catch rate for lake trout has been stable during the last 10+ years and has increased a bit in the last survey (21-22).  It is less than what was happening the late 1990s and early 2000s, but that is a product of the UDWR adopting a fishies management plan for Bear Lake where the management was more focused on native cutthroat trout than lake trout.  As most people recognize, there is only so much "food" (i.e cisco, sculpin, whitefish, chubs) in Bear Lake so the lake trout (a non-native fish) stocking was reduced.  During the same time, increased natural recruitment of cutthroat trout (likely due to several reason) necessitated reduced stocking of cutthroat trout, which was a pleasant surprise to the biologists.  With that said, the UDWR agreed to continue stocking sterile lake trout to provide for that popular fishery.  

Secondly, the comments about "overharvest" are simply unfounded!   The harvest rate for lake trout (and even cutthroat trout) is VERY low.  I don't have access to the exact numbers anymore, but I seem to recall the overall annual harvest was less than 1 or 2 thousand lakers and about 6K cutthroat.  This creel survey was conducted during a time (2022) when Bear Lake was frozen and there was 3-4+ times the angler pressure, due to ice cover.  It was very informative to learn that even with ice cover, the harvest of lake trout was VERY low.  

Thirdly, it seems as if some anglers are simply not fishing during some of the most productive times of the year any longer.  This is from late August through the end of September.  The water is still quite warm but during that time, but the lake trout bite is on fire.  I had a couple of days in late September this year that were some of the best lake trout "catching" I have ever experienced.  I made a note that on both of those days, there were only two boats and one boat, respectively, besides myself....... and they were jigging when they should have been trolling.  As most people know, some anglers are stubborn, and this seems to be especially true on Bear Lake.  Some anglers refuse to jig when trolling is working significantly better....and vice-versa.   I also see some people troll and they refuse to jig, when the jiggers are hammering the fish and trollers aren't catching anything!   Maybe it is due to people not having downriggers or other anglers not even owning a jigging rod?  Finally, tishing during the middle of the lake trout spawning period (approximately Oct 15-Nov 15) is tough and fickle.  If you don't believe me, just ask Jim Williams on his impression of trying to catch lakers during the spawn on Flaming Gorge.  

Fourth:  I do not post nearly as much as I used to on BFT for several reasons.  Mainly, because the BFT site has chosen to go in what I feel is a much different direction than in the past.  Gone are the days of good-natured "arguing" (i.e. debating) since there are too many people with thin skin, so the mods just delete any controversial posts or remove pictures because  they "take up too much room"?  [That seems absurd, since BFT allows several ways to post pictures, yet if you do it the way a mod doesn't agree, they remove it?.....but that is another topic and I won't get into that here].  That is pretty disappointing since those debates used to be entertaining!  (The old BFT guys will remember "discussions" about Cliff and his so-called state record SMB debate....as just one example!).  Also, the guys who were hard core Bear Lake anglers are either not fishing the lake as much, have moved (Rich, Dan, Ralph, IFG, Rob, etc.) or simply do not post on BFT.   Also, Mike pointed out, there are other social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram) that have sites dedicated to Bear Lake fishing which are arguably easier to use than BFT and posts are rarely, or not, edited by the moderators who like to control things on BFT.  

Anyway, I wanted to try to stop some of the speculating about what is going on at Bear Lake.  The UDWR just recently had a public meeting at Bear Lake and that was a prime opportunity to learn more about the fishery, study results, etc.  It had several anglers in attendance.  I just wish UDWR would have recorded that meeting for later viewing, however, I don't get to control that.  Hope these comments are helpful.  I'm still around BFT here and there and I'll be fishing Bear Lake just as I have the last 30+ years.  However, I am now a lowly angler just like the majority of you guys.  Rest assured the UDWR does have Bear Lake as a high priority water and they do listen to angler's input, not only at Bear Lake but on other Utah waters.  

Hey Scott, been a while since I've been a mod on this part of the forum, but I do know the mods don't really remove many posts.  In the 8-10 years I've been involved I only remember 2-3 posts that needed to be edited and softened.. Most of the time we just locked the thread was the most modifying I remember being involved with so I don't think that is a good reason, but you are entitled to your perspective.. 

I do recognize that BFT has lost a lot of it's viewership, which I'm not completely sure why since I think the forum is by far a better spot to learn and grow and develop as a fisherman... If you want to show off your catch then FB is a lot easier place to put your pictures and brag about your catch, but try to ask a question about where they caught it or what they were using and you tend to get ridiculed to no end.. maybe most of the new anglers are too proud to help another learn to fish, they just like the praise of their mighty catch... Maybe I'm off base since I got a bad taste of FB early on and I don't return much other than to see where the first ice is or what's being caught... but then I might need more help than others when it comes to learning how to fish...

Great perspective on the lake and liked the fall report, always seems like it's a tough time for me to get away, so I end up fishing the cold season, when I have time... What boat are you fishing out of these days since you're not in the state boat?  Probably the same one as before, but I only recognized you when you were in the state boat... Hope to see you on the lake this fall/winter...  Later Jeff

PS... I think the picture thing on the forum is one of its biggest problems that has chased folks away, they are hard to post and even harder to open and look at up close, especially from my computer... At least that is my biggest grip since the relaunch of the forum..

[BearLakeFishGuy]

My boat is a red 17.5 Lund Tyee with a Yamaha 150 and a Honda 8 kicker.  I used a state boat occasionally to check on the whitefish fishing or during the Bonneville Cisco run in December/January, but didn't use the state boat much since it was not set up for fishing (trolling or jigging deep water).  I've been out there, so keep looking and if you want to pair up for a day, lets do it!

As far as the BFT website, mod's job are not easy to keep the peace, but I feel people should be allowed to raucously debate on just about any topic...for as long as they choose.  Yes, I forgot about the locking of threads that you mentioned; and for the record I'm 100% against that move.  I do believe that cursing should not be tolerated, but calling someone out in a debate should be fair game.  I bet Craig Robin would have never had imagined this board would still be going after about 20 years or so.   Ahhh....the good old days!  LOL

[Kent]

"The catch rate for lake trout has been stable during the last 10+ years and has increased a bit in the last survey (21-22). It is less than what was happening the late 1990s and early 2000s..."

My problem is that I can remember "the late 1990s and early 2000s". I remember vertically jigging with Rich and we (more often Rich) would hook up with many macks and only a few cutthroats. Many of those macks were 10 pounds or larger. The last few years it seems that it is a rare experience to catch a decent mackinaw and most of the cutthroats are smaller than the ones that we catch at Strawberry. Bear Lake is 2 1/2 hours, sturgeon fishing is also 2 1/2 hours, and Strawberry is 1 1/2 hours from my house. I still enjoy an outing at Bear Lake, but I prefer to fish from the ice, up there. I also enjoy targeting whitefish when the mack bite is slow.

[BearLakeFishGuy]

Kent,
Yes, I understand. Back in those days, the UDWR (and myself) made it very clear that the lake trout numbers were at an all time high (as a result of big stocking during the mid-late 1980's. The UDWR held several public meetings at that time and used the information to develop a bi-state fish managment plan. This plan shifted the emphasis of Bear Lake management to native cutthroat trout as well as closely monitoring the endemic sport fish species (two whitefish and the cisco). UDWR and IDFG spent a lot of money on improving irrigation systems, screening irrigation diversion, working with water managers to prioritize water for fish (mainly cutthroat trout), etc. The shift of the fishery leaves some longing for the day of high lake trout numbers. But the UDWR is responsible for all species, and when it comes to endemic fish (of which none are on any Threatened or Endangered lists) and native cutthroat, those take priority over non-native species. SO, what did the UDWR do for those die-hard laker fanatics? They developed ways to sterilize lake trout prior to stocking to ensure the lake trout would not have the opportunity to explode like they have on other western USA waters. They also carefully modeled what the Bear Lake ecosystem could support as far as numbers of fish and then agreed with IDF&G to resume stocking lake trout as a trophy fish in Bear Lake. The cutthroat population has responded favorably to less lake trout and now we are seeing 50% of the cutthroat population is now coming from natural recruitment! I never thought I'd see the day that UDWR could cut back on stocking cutthroat trout, but it has happened! In fact, it would be nice to see anglers havest more of the cutthroat population to ensure healthy cisco and other native fish populations. Catch and release is a good thing, but in some cases harvesting is a method that UDWR can use to manage the populations. Thus, the regulation on keepining non fin-clipped cutthroat was dropped so anglers could take a few more. But right now the harvest rate is only about 3%! Anyway, I'm straying off topic. I hope that answer your question but I'm sure it might not be what you wanted to hear when it comes to the lake trout?

[Lundboy54]

**I updated this post to show the angler pressure, catch and harvest of cutthroat trout and lake trout from the creel survey that covered Jan-Dec 2021 (all open water) and Feb/Mar 2022 (totally frozen).

I'd like to clear up a misconception or two about Bear Lake and try to answer/respond to the original question/comment.

The fishing success for lake trout at Bear Lake has not appreciably changed in the last 7+ years (as measured in the UDWR creel surveys which have been conducted approximately every 5 years or so).  This statement is backed up by the creel survey completed in 2021-22, which happened to be the last report that wrote while still working for the UDWR.  The catch rate for lake trout has been stable during the last 10+ years and has increased a bit in the last survey (2021).  It is less than what was happening the late 1990s and early 2000s, but that is a product of the UDWR adopting a fisheries management plan for Bear Lake where the management was more focused on native cutthroat trout than lake trout.  As most people recognize, there is only so much "food" (i.e cisco, sculpin, whitefish, chubs) in Bear Lake so the lake trout (a non-native fish) stocking was reduced.  During the same time, increased natural recruitment of cutthroat trout (likely due to several reason) necessitated reduced stocking of cutthroat trout, which was a pleasant surprise to the biologists.  With that said, the UDWR agreed to continue stocking sterile lake trout to provide for that popular fishery.  

Secondly, the comments about "overharvest" are simply unfounded!   The harvest rate for lake trout (and even cutthroat trout) is VERY low.  The overall annual harvest for cutthroat was a whopping 332 fish in all of calendar year 2021 (Jan-Dec) and harvest of lake trout was 316 fish during this same time.  This corresponds to about 3% harvest for both cutthroat and lake trout. This means that only 3% of the total cutthroat trout that are caught are then harvested and the same percentage for lake trout.  The creel survey was also conducted during a time (Feb and March of 2022) when Bear Lake was frozen so comparison to open water months (Feb and March 2021) could be made to frozen months (Feb and March 2022).   As most people would expect the angler pressure during frozen years (Feb/Mar 2022) is much higher than during open water (Feb/Mar 2021).  These two months in 2022 resulted in nearly the same number of angler hours (fishing pressure) that Bear Lake sees in an entire calendar year when the lake is solely open water (34,320 angler hours from Jan-Dec 2021 and 30,484 angler hours during only Feb and March of 2022!)    For those keeping track, angler pressure was 1,683% higher in Feb 2022 compared to Feb 2021.... and 219% higher in Feb 2022 compared to Feb 2021.  The catch and harvest of cutthroat trout and lake trout in Feb + Mar 2022 was 2,395 caught/371 harvested (cutthroat trout) and 1,655 caught/271 harvested (lake trout).  So, even in years when there is significantly more angler pressure on Bear Lake, the actual catch rate (number of fish/hour fished) is much lower.  Why?  Probably because there are many more inexperienced anglers fishing on Bear Lake through the ice than you would see from boats during open water years.  To me that is not surprising, since access to Bear Lake during frozen years allows for anyone to get on the lake; while it takes a special, dedicated (crazy?) angler to haul a boat up to Bear Lake in the middle of winter to fish out of during open water years.

Thirdly, it seems as if some anglers are simply not fishing during some of the most productive times of the year any longer.  This is from late August through the end of September.  The water is still quite warm but during that time, but the lake trout bite is on fire.  I had a couple of days in late September this year that were some of the best lake trout "catching" I have ever experienced.  I made a note that on both of those days, there were only two boats and one boat, respectively, besides myself....... and they were jigging when they should have been trolling.  As most people know, some anglers are stubborn, and this seems to be especially true on Bear Lake.  Some anglers refuse to jig when trolling is working significantly better....and vice-versa.   I also see some people troll and they refuse to jig, when the jiggers are hammering the fish and trollers aren't catching anything!   Maybe it is due to people not having downriggers or other anglers not even owning a jigging rod?  Finally, tishing during the middle of the lake trout spawning period (approximately Oct 15-Nov 15) is tough and fickle.  If you don't believe me, just ask Jim Williams on his impression of trying to catch lakers during the spawn on Flaming Gorge.  

Fourth:  I do not post nearly as much as I used to on BFT for several reasons.  Mainly, because the BFT site has chosen to go in what I feel is a much different direction than in the past.  Gone are the days of good-natured "arguing" (i.e. debating) since there are too many people with thin skin, so the mods just delete any controversial posts or remove pictures because  they "take up too much room"?  [That seems absurd, since BFT allows several ways to post pictures, yet if you do it the way a mod doesn't agree, they remove it?.....but that is another topic and I won't get into that here].  That is pretty disappointing since those debates used to be entertaining!  (The old BFT guys will remember "discussions" about Cliff and his so-called state record SMB debate....as just one example!).  Also, the guys who were hard core Bear Lake anglers are either not fishing the lake as much, have moved (Rich, Dan, Ralph, IFG, Rob, etc.) or simply do not post on BFT.   Also, Mike pointed out, there are other social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram) that have sites dedicated to Bear Lake fishing which are arguably easier to use than BFT and posts are rarely, or not, edited by the moderators who like to control things on BFT.  

Anyway, I wanted to try to stop some of the speculating about what is going on at Bear Lake.  The UDWR just recently had a public meeting at Bear Lake and that was a prime opportunity to learn more about the fishery, study results, etc.  It had several anglers in attendance.  I just wish UDWR would have recorded that meeting for later viewing, however, I don't get to control that.  Hope these comments are helpful.  I'm still around BFT here and there and I'll be fishing Bear Lake just as I have the last 30+ years.  However, I am now a lowly angler just like the majority of you guys.  Rest assured the UDWR does have Bear Lake as a high priority water and they do listen to angler's input, not only at Bear Lake but on other Utah waters.  

Went out the last 2 days lake is still red hot fishing as it has been for the last 2 months. Very low preasure this year and in my experience the size of the macs is much bigger this year than last don't seem to catch the great big ones as often as i used to but the 10 to 15lbs are still dang good time.

[gmwahl]

Great info Scott!  That's the stuff we need to hear.

The "spottier" laker fishing I mentioned must be just me.  It comes and goes in waves for me, but I suck at trolling and am good at jigging, so that probably explains it, haha!

My personal, albeit anecdotal, experiences on the ice up here shows the same as your creel surveys.  Most ice fisherman I speak with are not getting many trout due to not being familiar with the lake and not having experience with how to fish it during the ice season.  Most seam to catch whitefish and a few token cutts while ice fishing, but lakers are not common for them due to lack of knowledge or first time fishing up here. Most fisherman I have spoken to on the ice that have been successful at catching trout are releasing them after a Pic and I'm not seeing many harvested.

BTW, the community here misses you!

Mike