Bear Lake Fishing Report – Thursday, February 10, 2022
Bear Lake is entirely frozen and anglers are doing well ice fishing. On the east side of the lake, from the pump house north to the state line the ice is about 8-11 inches thick. Ice on the west side of the lake from Garden City to the south end of the lake, the ice is averaging 7-8 inches thick. Be aware that ice conditions on Bear Lake can be very variable in many places due to springs and methane vents on the bottom of the lake. If you are planning to ice fish, be extremely careful. You should always wear a set of rescue ice picks around your neck. The picks will give you a better chance of pulling yourself out of the water if you happen to fall through.
Parking and Access to the rockpile is through the Garden City public access on 250 East Loop Street. Garden City has plowed out a parking lot on the beach in this location. Use the UDWR webpage for Bear Lake and click "Info" and then it will show the access sites. Just click on each access site and it will describe how to find them. Here is the inital link: https://dwrapps.utah.gov/fishing/fStart
I spoke with the people who run Ideal Beach and they will not let people in during the weekend, so use the public access sites! PLEASE DO NOT TRESSPASS THROUGH PRIVATE PROPERTY TO ACCESS THE LAKE!
The Bonneville cisco run is over with. As of today anglers are jigging up whitefish on the rockpile in 39-43’ of water and off the weedbeds south of Gus Rich Point in 25-38’ of water. Use a 1/8- to 3/8-ounce vertical jigging spoon (such as a Kastmaster or Swedish Pimple) and tip the spoon with a salmon egg or a mealworm. Whitefish feed on cisco eggs, so jig the spoon right on the bottom. You can also use 1/8-ounce jigs in a variety of colors (white, black and yellow are all popular) and tip the jig with a piece of worm or mealworm. It really helps to use a braided line/super line with a 4- to 5-foot long monofilament leader in order to feel the bottom with the lightweight lures and to detect the whitefish bites. Don’t be surprised if you hook into a big cutthroat and/or lake trout while fishing for whitefish. Remember, all foul-hooked sport fish, other than cisco, must be immediately released.
Fishing for cutthroat trout and lake trout has been very good too. Target 40-70’ of water off the rockpile and Cisco Beach. Other areas on the lake have slowed down, but these two areas are producing good catches. Use a 1/2- to 1-ounce tube jig or jigging spoon tipped with cisco meat and jigged close to the bottom. If you don’t have cisco for bait, sucker meat or even just scent works really well. A 1/2-ounce jigging spoon such as a Kastmaster or Swedish Pimple tipped with bait is also working at this time. Jig right on the bottom, bumping bottom and coming up about 12 to 18 inches. Many of the strikes happen when the lure is falling back to the bottom, so pay attention to your line. If you notice the lure/line stops sinking, set the hook and hold on!
Reminder: The trout limit is two fish. The fin clip regulation for cutthroat trout changed in January 2022 and any cutthroat trout can be kept up to the two fish limit. Lake trout take a long time to reach a large size. While large lake trout are legal to keep, many anglers are encouraging other anglers to release them.
More information: If you’re looking for fishing information between the emailed reports, you’re welcome to call our Bear Lake office answering machine at 435-946-8501. We try to provide updated weather and fishing condition information as conditions change. The next update will take place on Monday, February 14th. Please call after 5 p.m.!
Bear Lake is entirely frozen and anglers are doing well ice fishing. On the east side of the lake, from the pump house north to the state line the ice is about 8-11 inches thick. Ice on the west side of the lake from Garden City to the south end of the lake, the ice is averaging 7-8 inches thick. Be aware that ice conditions on Bear Lake can be very variable in many places due to springs and methane vents on the bottom of the lake. If you are planning to ice fish, be extremely careful. You should always wear a set of rescue ice picks around your neck. The picks will give you a better chance of pulling yourself out of the water if you happen to fall through.
Parking and Access to the rockpile is through the Garden City public access on 250 East Loop Street. Garden City has plowed out a parking lot on the beach in this location. Use the UDWR webpage for Bear Lake and click "Info" and then it will show the access sites. Just click on each access site and it will describe how to find them. Here is the inital link: https://dwrapps.utah.gov/fishing/fStart
I spoke with the people who run Ideal Beach and they will not let people in during the weekend, so use the public access sites! PLEASE DO NOT TRESSPASS THROUGH PRIVATE PROPERTY TO ACCESS THE LAKE!
The Bonneville cisco run is over with. As of today anglers are jigging up whitefish on the rockpile in 39-43’ of water and off the weedbeds south of Gus Rich Point in 25-38’ of water. Use a 1/8- to 3/8-ounce vertical jigging spoon (such as a Kastmaster or Swedish Pimple) and tip the spoon with a salmon egg or a mealworm. Whitefish feed on cisco eggs, so jig the spoon right on the bottom. You can also use 1/8-ounce jigs in a variety of colors (white, black and yellow are all popular) and tip the jig with a piece of worm or mealworm. It really helps to use a braided line/super line with a 4- to 5-foot long monofilament leader in order to feel the bottom with the lightweight lures and to detect the whitefish bites. Don’t be surprised if you hook into a big cutthroat and/or lake trout while fishing for whitefish. Remember, all foul-hooked sport fish, other than cisco, must be immediately released.
Fishing for cutthroat trout and lake trout has been very good too. Target 40-70’ of water off the rockpile and Cisco Beach. Other areas on the lake have slowed down, but these two areas are producing good catches. Use a 1/2- to 1-ounce tube jig or jigging spoon tipped with cisco meat and jigged close to the bottom. If you don’t have cisco for bait, sucker meat or even just scent works really well. A 1/2-ounce jigging spoon such as a Kastmaster or Swedish Pimple tipped with bait is also working at this time. Jig right on the bottom, bumping bottom and coming up about 12 to 18 inches. Many of the strikes happen when the lure is falling back to the bottom, so pay attention to your line. If you notice the lure/line stops sinking, set the hook and hold on!
Reminder: The trout limit is two fish. The fin clip regulation for cutthroat trout changed in January 2022 and any cutthroat trout can be kept up to the two fish limit. Lake trout take a long time to reach a large size. While large lake trout are legal to keep, many anglers are encouraging other anglers to release them.
More information: If you’re looking for fishing information between the emailed reports, you’re welcome to call our Bear Lake office answering machine at 435-946-8501. We try to provide updated weather and fishing condition information as conditions change. The next update will take place on Monday, February 14th. Please call after 5 p.m.!
![[Image: Scott-cisco-with-TDs-lure.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/Sc0QLy5/Scott-cisco-with-TDs-lure.jpg)
