Bear Lake

[Kent]

Headed to Bear Lake in the morning. Does anyone have any recent fishing reports?
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[kj]

No, but I will... come about 8 am in the morning. (heh heh heh). See you at 4:30.

kj
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[wiperhunter2]

Hey Kent, did you make it to Strawberry today? How was the fishing? Good luck tomorrow. WH2
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[mtnman]

I live near Bear Lake. At 4:00 AM, the weather was ugly. Hope it clears out for ya.
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[Kent]

Ugly weather is an understatement. Left my house at 4:20 AM, started fishing just before noon! First Logan canyon was closed. Took the northern route to Bear Lake. Everything was fine until we actually almost reached Bear Lake and was headed to Garden City. It was a white out, and they closed the road just behind us. We finally turned around and stopped and had breakfast. After breakfast, we decided to try the east side of Bear Lake. Fished Cisco Beach, and the weather over there wasn't too bad, but the catching was really poor. Four fishermen, and two small whitefish for our efforts (I fished most of the time for macks, and didn't get a bite). We did get a good laugh however. Two men, in their twenties came dragging a sled out on the ice. They both were pulling on the sled and were just about to us when they started asking how the fishing was. Suddenly, they both stepped on a pressure ridge at the same time, and went in to about the middle of their chests. We tried not laugh, but after they got out quickly we couldn't help laughing. They took their experience good naturedly, and just added it to the disastrous day that they had already experienced (similar to ours, but they also got stuck). Amazingly, they stood and visited with us for five or ten minutes and then turned to head back up to their vehicle. We all watched in astonishment as one of them stepped on the pressure ridge again and fell back into the water! A game warden stopped by a little later and said another man had also fallen through the pressure ridge, just down the lake from us, just a few minutes before he came out and checked us out.
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[IdahoNative]

I just talked with my friend who was at BL today. He said it was just miserable and the wind blew real bad. How thick was the ice that these two broke thru? What are you calling a pressure ridge? Is is where the ice is stacked up on top or a crack in the ice. Just curious falling thru just freaks me out.

[mtnman]

Sounds like the wet guys are slow learners. Twice???
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[Kent]

I didn't measure the ice, but it appeared to be about 15" thick and was good solid ice. A pressure ridge is as you described it, where a crack is formed in the ice and the ice stacks up on the crack. There is one pressure ridge that went on for miles on the east side of Bear Lake. We didn't have any problems crossing it, but would step entirely over the ridge. I believe that they stepped right in the center of the ridge. There are some places along that ridge where there is even a few inches of open water. Also, one must be aware of those bubbling springs at Bear Lake, where there is often a large pool of open water, or sometimes they are small, but still open.
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