Bear Lake Whitefish "walking"

[Roghet]

[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]My son and I were able to get out with Old Coot last Dec. and catch some whitefish at the Bear, so this year we thought we’d try it ourselves. It was very foggy when we hit the First ramp on the East side not long after sunrise. One side of the ramp was very nasty with piles of sizable rocks that my trailer couldn’t roll over, but the north side was at least manageable. Though the water was so high that I had to back my vehicle in the water practically up to the door frame to just get the boat in afloat...
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[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]I have no idea what the outside temps were as we headed north, but there was some wind and with the water splashing on the boat – and us - it froze almost immediately. Well before the time we got to our destination everything was covered in a layer of ice and it seemed like we were in some arctic disaster movie... I’ve endured some pretty chilly ice fishing trips, but we didn’t have anyone dumping freezing water over our heads! I had to wonder if this trip was such a good idea… Fortunately, once we passed out of a wall of fog the conditions changed for the better. (Water temp was 40.)
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[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]With so little experience on the lake, we didn’t deserve to do well, but we were sure hoping for some luck as we passed by the Second Point and the Scout Camp headed toward Cisco Beach as recent reports suggested. There were at least a half a dozen other boats in the area, so not having been there before I asked and learned that we were at the right place. (Say, there was a ramp not far north of Cisco bay, less than a half mile – that can’t be the Idaho State Park ramp is it? It was pretty small…)
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[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]We anchored up in a few spots in water in the mid teen depths as recommended and casted and tried a few different retrieves. We got nothing for about an hour. There was only one other boat that was anchored and casting, all others were trolling. (Does anyone troll for whitefish?) Those that trolled by and said they’d caught nothing, and we didn’t see a single fish caught by anyone else either. So I decided it was time to set aside reports and others treatises on how to catch whitefish and “just fish.” We moved south a ways and tried shallower. Fortunately, I coaxed this nice Bear Lake Cutthroat into joining us for a photo op.[/size][/#000000][/font]
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[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]We were grateful, because I wasn’t interested in writing a report that said “we got skunked but it was great to get out…” cuz the truth was I was feeling irksome to take so much time and expense when there are LOTS of other things I’d could be doing. However, once the sun finally crested over the mountain and the ice melted, it felt down right balmy. The water was calm as could be too. It was indeed wonderful to be out in such conditions, we just needed to find some more fish to make it perfect. Fortunately, my son caught this nice whitefish – the best one of the day.[/size][/#000000][/font]
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[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]We caught a couple more in a different places. If we couldn’t SEE rocks underneath us, we didn’t fish there. We picked up another by the Scout Camp before we called it a day. It wasn’t a day that filled the smoker like I’d hoped, but it was still a very memorable trip to add to the arsenal of experience. And, it's hard to put a price on quality time with my son. We added a pork roast to the smoker along with the fish we caught.[/size][/#000000][/font]

[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]We ran into a DWR fellow at the ramp and he asked us how we did. I asked him to take a picture of my son and I. [:p]
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[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]OK, thinking of the couple fish that were interested but we didn’t get hooked up, it was my experience that we did better by letting the fish take the lure in (and almost let it hook itself) rather than try to find the “right” time for a firm hook set. Does anybody have any good reasons to agree or disagree with this approach?[/size][/#000000][/font]

[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]I'll remember it for NEXT year. That was my last trip on the boat for this year! Now I can focus my thoughts ice adventures.
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[GoAggies]

We also hit Beatr Lake eary Saturday Morning. Sweet Moses!!! It was cold and foggy, -4 degree when we put in at the state marina. Used the gps to get to the rock pile, with the heavy fog things can get very disorienting in a hurry out there. Trolled for a while both deep and shallow. Caught a 4 lb. white fish trolling on a jointed rapala. Also caught a 4 lb. clipped fin cutt. Other than that, pretty slow. Jigged for a while at the rock pile, and nothing. Went back to the marina tried to jig up some white fish...nothing. We were sick of everything freezing up within 30 seconds so we shut it down around 11am. We're thinking the eclipse had something to do with the slow fishing. The cutt had a bunch of 2-3 inch black minows in it's belly. Couldn't tell what kind of fish they were though. Anyways we'll head back up in a couple weeks and give her another try, got to go cheer on the aggies next weekend. Wishing I had a jet boat or even an out board, I get sick of winterizing the inboard every other week. But fishing the bear is too addicting.
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[kochanut]

what color are cisco when they are very small? could they have been that? the minnows in the belly that is
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[Laroo]

I agree the full moon and eclipse screwed up all of my fishing this weekend also--------- anyway that's the story I'm telling, best excuse I got[pirate]
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[SkunkedAgain]

I'll agree with the moon thing to try and cover my Friday Bear Lake skunk. I ran over alone to give the motor a try and see if I could get something for the smoker. Ran into Springbuck at the ramp and took him along to see if we could figure out the whitefish. I ended up missing my only good hit while I was trying to put on a glove and couldn't reel up the slack as the fish ran at me. So I'm skunked again but it was nice to meet a fellow BFTer and hopefully I'll do better job next time getting on the fish. Later J
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[Roghet]

[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2][quote GoAggies]We also hit Beatr Lake eary Saturday Morning. Sweet Moses!!! It was cold and foggy, -4 degree when we put in at the state marina. [/quote][/size][/#000000][/font]

Glad I didn't know that, I might have felt less optimistic! [] Given the winds... "Sweet Moses!!!" indeed! Like you saw in the photo, that fog was pretty isolated.
If it hadn't improved enough to melt the ice where we were, it might have been a shorter day for us as well.

Congrats for doing as well as you did.

[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2][quote GoAggies][/size][/#000000][/font][font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]Trolled for a while both deep and shallow. [/size][/#000000][/font][font "Arial"][#000000][size 2] [/quote][/size][/#000000][/font]

I'm learning the ropes still as to the different methods of trolling for different situations. So be more specific please on how and what you did?

Also, I can't asked intelligent questions about down rigging yet (I don't have them, and have never even seen them in action), but what I was wondering is that the folks we saw withOUT downriggers slow trolling that had poles that were REALLY bent. I'd love it if someone would chime in on explaining this.

[font "Arial"][#000000][size 2][quote GoAggies][/size][/#000000][/font][font "Arial"][#000000][size 2]We're thinking the eclipse had something to do with the slow fishing.[/size][/#000000][/font] [font "Arial"][#000000][size 2] [/quote]

[/size][/#000000][/font] Y'know, this occurred to me the night before, but I was way more concerned that there wouldn't be precipitation or high winds. [] I also am slow to make lame excuses, and most of the fishing I've done after full moon has NOT made a difference. I'd like to believe that it's just a matter of finding fish, and if you can - often they won't turn down a meal. BUT I've been to the Berry enough to know that a full moon IS a factor there. So, this will go into my notebook for future trips. [cool]

I don't fish the Bear cuz it's just too darn far for me. There and back is 5+ hrs in time and gas - and that's 5+ hrs I could be getting better at fishing somewhere closer! But, it's a gorgeous lake that I can't ignore learning to fish - that is, when the wind ain't 'a howlin' sumthin' fierce! [laugh]
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[crestliner]

We hit Bear Lake also on Saturday. We were one of the several boats trolling out from Cisco Beach. All in all we had a pretty good day. We boated 10 cutts and two lakers before leaving around 230. Most of the cutts were in the 4 to 5 pound class and the macs were both around 9 pounds. never tried for any white fish but there were several smaller boats anchored and casting towards shore but I never seen any hook ups. Did see quite a few snag ups though. Thinking about hitting it again tomorrow if I can find someone to brave the cold with me. Here are a couple photos of our fish from the day

[Roghet]

Those are some nice fish!

I remember a Crestliner boat, and coveted it a bit from my humble old star craft.

There were so many boats in the area, I wondered if it was mass delusion of wishful thinking, or that somebody was catching! []

Please chime in with your tactics if you will. The weather doesn't look much different this wee than it was on Sat, and I'd join ya if I could! []
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