Primo sturgeon bait

[Kent]

Kory and I fished the Rockpile, at Bear Lake, today.  Not too surprisingly, with the weather in the valley, we had it all to ourselves.  It took 3 1/2 hours (typical drive is 2 1/2 hours) to get there.

We tried for macks or larger cutts for awhile, without success, so I headed into 37' of water to fish for whitefish.  Kory joined me for awhile and then tried for macks and cutts again (not sure for how long) without success.

Whitefish were thick on the bottom and by watching on my camera I learned why they are so difficult to hook.  First off, almost all of them were the smaller whitefish, which means they have tiny mouths.  Secondly, they would just pick at the bait (a small chunk of crawler, wax worm, or 1/2 of a mealworm) instead of grabbing the bait.  The camera helped me hook some, but the battery only lasted 3 to 3 1/2 hours (I wish I knew how to connect another battery, because they don't sell the batteries separately.).  I also learned that any jigging action spooked the whitefish and they would scatter.

I managed to catch plenty of primo sturgeon bait (aka whitefish), 3 cutthroat, including my largest to date of 31 inches.  Kory caught some whitefish, a cutthroat, and a Utah chub (I didn't know there were any in Bear Lake).




Primo sturgeon bait.




My 31 incher.




What I caught it on (1/16 ounce jig).






A couple of shots from my underwater camera.  Almost all the time I could see at least 5 or 6 whitefish.  I saw 3 or 4 cutthroat and I believe I saw a couple suckers (I was expecting to see several more suckers.).