Tuesday 2/1 - Bear Lake ice conditions/cisco update

[Boundless Bryce]

Well the ice fishing season lasted two days and was looking good this morning.  People were dipnetting limits of cisco through the ice at Cisco Beach and ice fishing from First Point north to Cisco Beach.  Then about 11am the wind came up!  In less than an hour it opened up more than a mile of water off the marina and much of the south end of the lake.  Several anglers were stranded on ice flows and literally lost some of their equipment and were lucky as heck to not have lost their lives.  They were swimming across the open water while towing their ice sleds (I can't make this up folks).  So, I have no idea of if or when Bear Lake may or may not re-freeze, but it's supposed to be cold and calm the next few days, so we'll see.  I would not plan on fishing Bear Lake from a boat or attempting ice fishing until it either opens up or locks up.  Don't shoot me for being the messenger.....But hey....at least I let the cisco out of their cages so they could "run" for a few days this year!

Oh man I can't believe it's gone already, I was planning on taking one of the next days off to come fish... I should have known better it just doesn't last on Bear Lake... Thanks for the update Scott, please keep us informed of any changes... So where were the fishermen that got in trouble at? Man I'll bet that was a cold swim... Glad to hear they got out okay.... I was just about them five years ago, the last day I was on fishable ice at Bear Lake... Big wind came up and after I gathered my gear and headed off I had to jump an 18" gap between me and the shore... Glad i got off as soon as I did I'm like a cat and don't like cold water... Thanks for the timely report... Jeff

Dang, I was on the ice for almost 12 hours. I'm lucky that didn't happen to me.