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Bear Lake Report 12/17/03
#1
BEAR LAKE FISHING REPORT 12/17/2003



Fishing for both cutthroat trout has been good for both shore and boat anglers. Boat fishermen are jigging in the rockpile area, off the east side along Cisco Beach, and off the Utah State Park marina. The best lures have been tube jigs tipped with cisco in the 2”-3” size. These same anglers were also picking up some nice sized whitefish along with the cutthroat trout. In past years jigging from boats in the weed beds off the pump house on the east side has produced some excellent catches of cutthroat trout, but there hasn’t been any boats fishing this area. The shore anglers off the marina are still catching some nice cutthroat trout by casting spoons or jigs tipped with cisco. There have not been many boats trolling this past week, so there is no report for trollers. Lake trout fishing has been slow, however, some fish are still being caught by anglers jigging off the Gus Rich Point area.



The Bonneville whitefish run has peaked and the fishing should remain good for another week or so. Again, anglers fishing from boats or shore along Cisco Beach are having the best success by jigging small jigs in the 1/16 to 1/8 ounce size tipped with worms. Make sure to fish the jig right along the bottom. If you have a boat, try anchoring in about 15 feet of water and casting towards shore or vertical jigging right under the boat. If you’re fishing from shore let the jig hit bottom then bump it in along bottom trying not to get snagged in the rocks. Finally, for those with boats, some other good spots to try are along the weed beds on the west side of the lake in about 15-20 feet of water south of Gus Rich Point to the rest area or off the "pump house" area south of 1st Point on the east side of the lake.



Bonneville whitefish put up a scrappy fight and can run up to about 3 pounds, but average about 1 pound. The whitefish meat makes excellent eating either fried or baked or you can even smoke whitefish for a great holiday treat. The limit on whitefish is 10 fish, don’t feel guilty about keeping a few to make a good meal. Finally, if you are fishing from a boat and there are shore fishermen present, be courteous and give them enough room to make their casts. Boats are a lot more mobile than anglers fishing from shore.

The Utah State Park will not be plowing the boat ramp at the marina since it is too steep for the plow. You may consider bringing some rock salt or sand just in case you cannot get your truck and boat back up a snowy or icy ramp. The State Park has de-icers running in the marina and the boat ramp is open for all sizes of boats. Smaller boats may be launched off the shore at several points around the lake, however, a 4-wheeled drive vehicle is recommended. The new "low water only" concrete launching ramp along South Cisco Beach has been a good spot to launch smaller boats in that area.
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#2
BLFG,

In your posts you mention all these great spots to fish, is there a map of there locations that you may no of to share with a new Bear Lake fisherman like me! I am familiar with the marina but the names of all these spots for fishing off a boat are new to me. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!
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#3
That's a great question and you are not the first person to ask about site locations. I really don't know of a specific fishing map that lists all the spots, however, the Utah State Park has a flyer that they will give out for free that has a map of Bear Lake that lists most of the spots that I mention. One spot in particular that may not show up on their map and that many people know about is the "pump house" or "Val's pump". It is one and the same. It is located on the east side of the lake about 1/4 mile south of the 1st Point Boat Ramp. The 1st Point ramp is the first concrete ramp that you come to as you are going north on road that runs along the east shore of Bear Lake that begins in Laketown. It has a clearly labled sign. The pump house can also be found by going just north of the last lakeshore home on the south-east side of the lake. The pump house looks like a "Midwestern" ice fishing shack (like the kind in the movie Grumpy Old Men). It is located right along the road and you can easily see it from the lake. I'll see if I can get a copy of the state park map scanned into electronic form as a JPEG and then try to post it to my reports. Since we must shrink down the size of the figure, I'm not sure if you'll be able to see the names of the spots, but I'll give it a try tomorrow.
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#4
[red][size 3]I was going to ask the same question as F1ON. Thank you for your reports. I was thinking about chasing up there Friday in this bright clear weather. Is there any place other than the Bear Lake State Park to get your hands on that flyer that you know of? I was also curious about the open water in general of the lake, if there were a few fish scattered around or don't bother and stick to the standard spots. [/size][/red]
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