Bear Lake Ice Fishing

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]This winter is one of the few in Utah cold enough to put a good ice cap on the giant Bear Lake, on the Utah-Idaho border. This normally beautiful blue lake is now plain white. It is also a great place to ice fish...for lake trout, cutthroat trout and a few rainbows. It also hosts several species of the whitefish family found nowhere else in the world. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Couldn't go tubin' so [/#0000ff][#0000ff]TubeBabe and I joined kentofnsl, another BFTer (not a tuber) on Thursday the 25th for some drillin' and chillin'. It was a cool 4 degrees when we hit the ice about 8 but warmed up to a balmy 29 by the time we left about 4. Nice and sunny all day and no wind.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Had a bit of a twinge in my back so we stayed in one area and fished our first holes. Ended up catching three indigenous species...bonneville whitefish, bear lake whitefish and bonneville cisco. The ciscos are spawning and the other fish are in vacuuming up the eggs left behind by them.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We were fishing in 50 feet of water with casting spoons. Many anglers simply snag the fish but they were hitting the red treble hooks we added to our spoons.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There was ice in our guides and our fishing holes all day. The "snow flowers" on the ice never did melt and seemed to just keep growing. Made for some neat pictures. Also including a pic of a methane "bubbler". Bear Lake sits over ancient volcanic activity and there are numerous thermal gas vents throughout the lake. They keep the ice open, or very thin in some areas and can be dangerous if one does not watch where one is going.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[signature]

[Fishheiser]

Cool pics TD thanks for sharing. How do those different whitefish taste?
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The simple answer is that since they are closely related to trout, they do not taste too much different than trout of the same size. They smell stronger, but that is in their skin slime. If you scale or skin them, they are very mild.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The more complex answer is that they taste however you prepare them. If you scale them and fry them whole, you get crunchy fried skin and soft flesh full of small bones...just like trout. If you fillet and skin them, they can be fried, sauteed in garlic butter or oven broiled...and are mild tasting.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]One of my favorite ways to cook the small ones is to scale them, fillet them and then deep fry the thin fillets until they are crisp. Layer them on toast and crunch away. It is more like eating fish-flavored potato chips than any kind of fish. Any small bones are crisp and edible.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The larger Bonneville whitefish have two rows of flesh bones that you need to remove during the filleting process or you will be picking a lot of bones out of your dinner. they are very good eating, though. But, don't freeze them. They are much better fresh. Keep only what you will eat within a day or two.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Everybody seems to have their own favorite recipes. Maybe you will get a couple more here.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[zonker]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

Looks like you all had a great time. Not being an ice fisherman I was fascinated by the "snow flowers." Cool.

That bubble up spot looks kind of menacing. How far around one of those things do you encounter thin ice? How do you avoid one that hasn't quite melted through to the top?

z~
[signature]

[bdn06]

Now you're in my kin's country...did you hear banjo music while on the lake? []
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Yeah, those bubblers can be hazardous. Many of the more sensible "regulars" on the lake wear PFDs when they trudge off across trackless ice. There can be very thin ice, covered by snow, and you would never know it until you were taking a cold bath. It has happened a lot over the years on Bear Lake.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you see or suspect a bubbler, it is wise to give it as wide a berth as you can. On some of them, with minimal upward flows, the ice thickens quickly as you get away from the center. Others push up a greater volume of warming water and it spreads out over a wider area on the surface.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Glad you like the snow flowers. The esoteric nature lover in me has always enjoyed looking at them...and wasting a little fishing time in taking some pictures of them. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I am attaching another pic of a couple of perch I posed on ice flowers over 25 years ago. The novelty and the beauty have still not worn off.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000bf]No banjos. Just the sound of power ice augers.[/#0000bf]
[#0000bf][/#0000bf]
[#0000bf]Kinda hard to pick a banjo or guitar while wearing heavy gloves.[/#0000bf]
[signature]