FINALLY ice fishing bearlake !!

[fishing4thehog]

What a long day.. Left my house at 330 am and returned at 1000 pm.. I couldn't see if the whole lake was capped yet.. The sun wasn't up yet.. I could see the fog raising in the middle of the lake due to the temps being -8. Open water i would guess.. So we headed south looking for the ice.. Sun came up there it was..[] I would say south of the rock pile.. It didn't look to safe.. But couldnt be sure.. We drove around to the pump house and headed out.. Clear solid ice.. 4 inches.. Pucker factor 8.. Only because of the popping,cracking & moving.. But i know that means its growing.. We headed out about 200 yrds.. Take your cleats.. We used tubes,kastmasters,krocks,spoons & every thing we had.. Pearl tubes and silver kastmasters tipped with cisco worked the best.. We ended up with 18 cutts.. No lakers.. 1 guy to the south of us did ice a 10lb laker.. We took 3 for dinner.. Not a lot of fish coming threw.. Fished from 25' to 90'.. 60' was the ticket.. There were groups of fishermen at 1st point north to 2 point.. I couldn't see how far the ice continued north and we didn't get off the ice till after dark.. Not sure how long the ice will be there.. looks like warmer temps this week end..
be safe & good luck
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[BearLakeFishGuy]

Its been pretty good fishing the last few days. Even the area on the west side just north of the "rest area" has been producing some nice fish. Glad you did well.
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[kochanut]

lol the hat matches the face 'stash
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[Mackman]

thanks for the report, I think I will try on sunday.
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[ReelMasta]

Not to be too nosy but.... You can only keep Cuts that have at least one fin clipped/removed and healed. Can't really see the the top 2 fish but that one one the bottom looks like a native IMHO... just saying....

Bear Lake, Rich County ▲
• See Fishing Across State Lines on pages 6–7
for license requirements.
• Limit 2 trout.
• Cutthroat trout or trout with cutthroat
markings with all fins intact must be immediately
released. Only cutthroat trout that
have had one or more healed fins clipped
may be kept.
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[Fishrmn]

They usually clip the adipose fin on fish that are headed for Bear Lake. You can't see them in the picture.
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[Mackman]

I cant see them either, maybe they just aint there[:p]
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[RILEYFISH]

Dave, that makes you a sexy beast!

Love that hat, dont leave it laying around or it will look even sexier on my bald head
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[fishing4thehog]

[quote ReelMasta]Not to be too nosy but.... You can only keep Cuts that have at least one fin clipped/removed and healed. Can't really see the the top 2 fish but that one one the bottom looks like a native IMHO... just saying....
• Limit 2 trout.
• Cutthroat trout or trout with cutthroat
markings with all fins intact must be immediately
released. Only cutthroat trout that
have had one or more healed fins clipped
may be kept.[/quote]
Yes im aware of the state regs.. All fish had there adipose fin clipped.. Our limit was 4 fish.. There were only 6 fish that were native.. But thanks for staying on top of things for us all..
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[chugg]

Not to be nosy but..... Do you work for the DWR?
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[ReelMasta]

All thanks for the education... We just starting fishing BL last year and caught quite a few cuts with fins that appeared clipped on purpose (not the adipose fin). I catch a lot of trout in other reservoirs with both front fins rubbed down to a snub that I presume come from rubbing off at the hatchery. The fish we caught at BL only had one clipped. I thought that was the tell tale mark. So sorry if I sounded like a know it all, and again thanks for the honest and not feedback. Maybe the regulations should actually reflect that it is the Adipose fin that gets clipped so as to avoid any confusion and keep honest anglers from getting into trouble. Glad I haven't kept any fish from that beautiful lake as I may have been the one in the wrong. Here's a shot of one of them....
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