Bonneville WF - finally got 'em!

[BearLakeFishGuy]

Well the Bonneville WF at Bear Lake have been a tough nut to crack this year.  Not the fish's fault though.  We tried last Tuesday and caught one CT, one WF, and one Laker.  Just a wee bit early.  Then the weather turned to CRAP up in Cache Valley/Bear Lake.  Wind, snow, sleet, unfishable for the most part.  I tried to go Thursday but we had 6" of snow in Cache Valley and there was about 3' or more in Logan Canyon.  NO GO.  I left the boat hooked up to try again on Friday morning last week (12/8) but my local-yocal called me at 0530 and said they had 2-3' waves and a north wind.  NO GO again.  So I left the boat hooked up to try again on Saturday but I started feeling crappy on Friday night so I cancelled Saturday due to the crud.  Sunday I went to the nutcracker in SLC (I thought it might be WWE wrestling with a name like that, but it was a ballet.  Actually, not too shabby).  I still felt crappy on Monday so another NO GO.  Tuesday, my friend could not make it.....Another NO GO.  But today the stars aligned, and the Fish Gods felt that I paid my dues......

So we headed out about 0630 from Cache Valley and were fishing by 0730.  The first WF was landed about 10 min later.  We (two of us) limited on WF by noon and had a couple of CT to boot.  Then we tried jigging for CT and Lakers on the rockpile.  Notta.  Moved to the front of the State Park marina and completed our limit of CT.  Called it a day about 12:45.  

Tomorrow the Camp Chef Smoke Vault will be rolling with an annual load of WF and CT.  No lakers were harmed today!  The females were running ripe with eggs, so the run is peaking.  Should last another week if the weather will let us fish.  

[Kent]

How was the ramp?

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Scott, now you make my decision more difficult.. If I can get away with it, I'd like to try a trip Friday, I was figuring on Willard, since Bear Lake was a little rough on my last trip... Now I'm going to have to flip a coin again... Thanks for your report... Jeff

[gmwahl]

Thanks for the update Scott. Jon and I are going out this morning. We will hit the East side this time since in front of the marina didn't pay off. Our last time out we only got 2 WF.

Mike

[Bduck]

Thanks Scott, now you make my decision more difficult.. If I can get away with it, I'd like to try a trip Friday, I was figuring on Willard, since Bear Lake was a little rough on my last trip... Now I'm going to have to flip a coin again... Thanks for your report... Jeff

Jeff, maybe this can help with your decision. The wind is practically non-existent.

    

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks that does help, now if the fog don't show up, it is pretty interesting... Be nice to see Mike's report, I might have to go try it again and see if I do better on the next trip... Thanks Jeff

[BearLakeFishGuy]

How was the ramp?

paved, docks, no snow, 43 degrees.  I almost thought about going for a swim to wash off the WF gametes that were everywhere.

---

Thanks that does help, now if the fog don't show up, it is pretty interesting... Be nice to see Mike's report, I might have to go try it again and see if I do better on the next trip... Thanks Jeff

I can tell you it was rough today (Thursday) on the rockpile, but I heard it was nice on the east side.  I didn't fish but had some friends who tried for trout on the rockpile in the morning.  They could not hold anchor and gave up fighting the wind.  He said it calmed down about noon and was flat.  This is a guy who fishes the lake a lot and lives in Garden City.  Only one boat on the rockpile at noon.  I'm headed up tomorrow again.  I wanna try 2nd Point but plan on launching from the marina since it is so nice with heated restrooms, docks, protection from wind, etc.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Scott I may see you there. I’ll probably try outside marina to start and see what Mike thought about the east side. Good luck. J

[gmwahl]

I gave it my best yesterday. The day was perfect, sunny, no real wind to speak of and the fishing was great....the catching, however, was about as bad as I've ever experienced during the whitefish spawn.

We started at 2nd point and I immediately caught a nice 19" whitefish and then only had one other bite by 11:30 when we decided to give it up there.

We moved over to the marina and started fishing there by noon and fished there until 3. We got one cutthroat and I had about 6 small bites and lost 1 10" whitefish at the boat and that was it.

I don't know what was going on yesterday, but other guys I know struggled to get a fish yesterday. Maybe the fish were having a lakewide fast yesterday, haha!

Mike

[wiperhunter2]

I gave it my best yesterday.  The day was perfect, sunny, no real wind to speak of and the fishing was great....the catching, however, was about as bad as I've ever experienced during the whitefish spawn.

We started at 2nd point and I immediately caught a nice 19" whitefish and then only had one other bite by 11:30 when we decided to give it up there. 

We moved over to the marina and started fishing there by noon and fished there until 3.  We got one cutthroat and I had about 6 small bites and lost 1 10" whitefish at the boat and that was it.

I don't know what was going on yesterday, but other guys I know struggled to get a fish yesterday. Maybe the fish were having a lakewide fast yesterday, haha!

Mike

Thanks for the report Mike, too bad the catching wasn't better but it seems just about everywhere has been a little off this year, hears hoping next year will be better.

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks for the heads up Mike, I hit Willard instead. Slow start but nice finish got 11 over 11.5”. Fun day thanks for the heads up. Jeff

[gmwahl]

Lucky call Jeff! Good job!

Mike

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Mike you put me in the right spot, I was headed to Bear Lake. Must admit those perch eat really well. Think I’ll try a midweek trip again. Kind of nice having leave left this time of year. Thank you. J

[BearLakeFishGuy]

We fished on Friday.....again. It was slower than Wednesday, but I managed to get a limit and one cutthroat. My friend who I fished with did not do as well. He ended up with one WF and one CT. We were using the same thing, in the same spot, with the same set ups. It was fishing at it's finest. The fish I smoked from Wednesday are like smoked candy! What a wonderful treat at this time of year.

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks for the report Scott, I've really been wondering how you did... sounds like you did well again... congrats... I do like smoked fish, but now I'm not in the office everyday I don't get it all used up as fast... (My co-workers used to help me get a batch taken care of pretty quick) Do you have a way to preserve it if you need it to last for awhile? Does it still taste good if you freeze some smoked fish and use it later? Wish my wife would eat fish, but she won't even try it... I did get my daughter to try perch the other night and she didn't mind it... I think that's the first time she tried fish with an open mind, so hopefully I'll have someone else who enjoys it... I really like fish, but since I've been the only one in the family I don't get to eat it very often so I usually just catch and release...

How do you prepare your whitefish to smoke? Do you use the brown sugar and salt type brine? I started using Pat's cat spice recipe dry rub on most things lately so I don't have to go through the brine mess and I've really liked that, but I miss the brown sugar flavor on whitefish and trout... Does a dry rub of brown sugar and salt work so you don't have to soak them? I need to broaden my smoking ability so looking for some good ideas... Thanks Jeff

[BearLakeFishGuy]

Thanks  for the report Scott, I've really been wondering how you did... sounds like you did well again... congrats... I do like smoked fish, but now I'm not in the office everyday I don't get it all used up as fast... (My co-workers used to help me get a batch taken care of pretty quick)  Do you have a way to preserve it if you need it to last for awhile?  Does it still taste good if you freeze some smoked fish and use it later?  Wish my wife would eat fish, but she won't even try it... I did get my daughter to try perch the other night and she didn't mind it... I think that's the first time she tried fish with an open mind, so hopefully I'll have someone else who enjoys it... I really like fish, but since I've been the only one in the family I don't get to eat it very often so I usually just catch and release...

How do you prepare your whitefish to smoke?  Do you use the brown sugar and salt type brine? I started using Pat's cat spice recipe dry rub on most things lately so I don't have to go through the brine mess and I've really liked that, but I miss the brown sugar flavor on whitefish and trout... Does a dry rub of brown sugar and salt work so you don't have to soak them? I need to broaden my smoking ability so looking for some good ideas... Thanks Jeff

I wrap 4 smoked fillets in foil and then refrigerate.  It will last up to a month, but it is usually eaten by then.  20 fillets don't last long even with 2-3 of us munching on them.  I have tried everything in smoking fish.  The brine is the only way, in my opinion.  I don't think it is much work.  In fact, I think it is easier than applying dry rubs.....and definitely less messy.  My brine has been perfected over the years by myself since I don't like  the fish so salty.  I also smoke at 170-190F on a Smoke Vault smoker.  I find they work better than electrics, especially in cold weather.  

My recipe is:
2 quarts of water
3/4 cup kosher salt
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons each of black pepper, onion powder

I soak fillets for 24-36 hours.  Then I dump fish into a colander and rinse with water.   Spray racks with Pam, put fillets on racks, not touching.  If you really like brown sugar, then sprinkle brown sugar on wet fillets.  I do NOT wait for a pellicle to form on fillets.  I just smoke 'em.  I don't like leather fish, so I watch them carefully after the first 2 hours.  Typically takes me about 3-4 hours to get them to the "done-ness" that like I like them.  I use a 5 gallon bucket, affectionately known as my "Brine Bucket".  If you use a bowl, I just don't feel there is enough room in the bowl to have the fish exposed to the brine.  I stir fish a few times while they are brining.  No mess, pretty dang simple.

[SkunkedAgain]

Scott, do you refrigerate the brine and fillets while they are brining? Maybe that is part of my issues with putting brine and fish in the fridge while they are processing... Thank you so much for your process I'm going to try this next time I get a batch to smoke up... I think the 5 gallon bucket and if I had a garage to keep it cool, but not freeze would be the way to go... Thanks for the tips.. Jeff

[BearLakeFishGuy]

Scott, do you refrigerate the brine and fillets while they are brining?  Maybe that is part of my issues with putting brine and fish in the fridge while they are processing... Thank you so much for your process I'm going to try this next time I get a batch to smoke up... I think the 5 gallon bucket and if I had a garage to keep it cool, but not freeze would be the way to go... Thanks for the tips.. Jeff

I put my bucket in the garage.  It won't freeze due to the salt and sugar in the water.  I've left it out there in some single digit temps and it was good.

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Scott, thats great info to know... Going to try it next time, sounds better than making a mess in the house... Later Jeff