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Bear Lake with pics of access - Sat 1/14/12
#1
January 14, 2012

Bear Lake Fishing Report:

Some ice is beginning to form along the shoreline areas of Bear Lake which has made access to the lake in some areas more difficult. Boat launching is available at the Utah State Park marina, 1st Point, and the Rainbow Cove ramp. All boat ramps have courtesy docks in place at this time, but they can become iced over and slippery so extra caution is needed. The ramp at Cisco Beach is not usable since the concrete portion of the ramp is well underwater and with the soft sand and loose rock, you can easily get stuck while trying to launch a boat. Some ice has formed off the Utah State Park marina, Gus Rich Point, and some areas off the east side, but the ice is not safe and the vast majority of the lake is open water and only fishable by boat. Anglers are catching cutthroat trout by trolling and jigging. Best luck has come off the Gus Rich Point/rockpile and along the east side at 2nd Point and the pump house. Good depths to target have been about 40-50 feet on the west side of the lake and 75-85 feet on the east side of the lake. Minnow type lures, flatfish, and spoons are all working for the anglers who are trolling and jigs tipped with cisco have been best for those jigging. We talked to a few anglers today who were able to jig up a few cisco, but the run has not started and the cisco success was still slow. Jigging for cisco should begin to improve over the next few days. Jigging for cisco should be good this year in about 40-50 feet of water right on top of the rockpile. The cisco run updates will begin on January 16th and continue until the run is over. You may call the Bear Lake office answering machine for the latest report and lake conditions after 5pm. 435-946-8501. Remember, if you launch, boat or fish on the Idaho half of the lake you MUST have an Idaho mussel certification sticker on your boat or you will be ticketed.


Overlooking the Utah State Park marina. You can see the trail broken through by one boat. The ice was there today, but if there is any wind, it could be moved around or destroyed. This makes it treacherous for fiberglass boat hulls. Access at your own risk! The inside of the marina is almost 100% ice free. They are running double the number of deicers that they ran last year to keep it open as long as possible!
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Picture looking out towards the "rockpile" notice the boats, but also notice the ice. It is about 1/4 mile out from shore and very clear.
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Right in front of the Utah State Park marina. I looks like there is some open water, but there is about 1-3" of ice with only one small trail where a boat broke through on the way in today. [inline DSCF1592.JPG]

Spinnaker Point Ramp just south of Gus Rich Point. Some ice near shore, but not too bad. Someone left their tractor/trailer right on the ramp. Please don't do this or they may shut off this access to fishermen. Please pull up and out of the way to park!!!
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#2
Well today is Sunday 1/15/12. Its been blowing like hell all night and it continues into today. I can't imagine there is ANY ice left out on the lake! Now I just hope it calms down so I can fish tomorrow!
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#3
Nice picture of my truck loading up and our trail through the ice. That was us plowing through the ice in the fiberglass boat with my brother up on the bow beating the ice with an oar. Can I add lesson learned. We had gone through thin stuff before and the ice didn't seem to be too thick initially but once we were out the marina 50 yards or so there were slabs 4-6 inches thick. Slow and easy we made it in and out. We did manage a couple nice cutts but it wasn't worth dealing with the ice. No damage to the boat, it just took forever getting in and out. Is the marina right off of Gus Rich point private? or pay to use? That would make things a whole lot easier.
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#4
Marina area is ice free as of Sunday at 11:30 am. No problem with any ice. You can also launch easy from Steinakers with no ice. The wind blew hard at bear lake today. West side is ice free, 47 degrees when I left garden city today at noon time.
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