Bear Lake - Check One More Species Off the List...

Fishing Time:  8:30 AM to 3 PM

Weather: Calm, no wind, partly cloudy, T-20s

Moon Phase:  7% Moon

Location:  Bear Lake

Water Temp: 42 degrees

Best Bait: Any color of small marabou or curly tailed grub

Who Went:  Bobber John, Rick, Dunc

I was scouting a new place to ice fish and came across an online fishing report from Bear Lake stating that the Bonneville Whitefish spawn is at it’s peak.  The Bonneville Whitefish is endemic to Bear lake and just happens to be one of the last species on my list of fish to catch in Utah.  Two other fish I need to cross off my list are also endemic to Bear Lake.  The Bear Lake Whitefish and the Bonneville Cisco.  An interesting lake to say the least.  Bonneville Whitefish are difficult to catch most of the year staying deep, but when they spawn they move shallow into rocky areas and can be easily targeted by fisherman.

I pitched the idea to my fishing buddies and they were down, so away we went with boat in tow.  The drive to Bear Lake was foggy and cold, with temperatures below zero in Woodruff and Randolph, which are known to be the coldest towns in Utah.  Bear Lake wasn’t much warmer when we arrived, but the fishing gods were generous and we experienced a calm lake with no wind all day long.

We started fishing a few known rocky areas near Gus Rich Point, but the only activity we saw was a pile of carp slurping at the surface near the shoreline.  I made one cast into the middle of them and hooked up immediately.  It wasn’t a snag either, the carp actually bit my small marabou jig tipped with a worm.  Rick also hooked up with one cutthroat. 

We moved areas to the east side of the lake to continue our quest of finding some spawning whitefish. We were rewarded for moving at an area called First Point.  The action was immediate and fast.  We all began catching whitefish and each checked them off our Utah species to catch list.  Rick even had a few cutthroats bite including one nice one over 20-inches.

Soon we had our fill of Bonneville Whitefish and tried our luck trolling deeper water for cutthroat and lake trout.  The weather was beautiful and made for some relaxing trolling, but we didn’t find the groups of fish we were hoping for.  Rick, the cutthroat slayer of the day, was able to land one cutthroat, but that was the only fish we caught trolling all afternoon.  The good weather and whitefish bite still made us happy and I got to check one more species off my list!