Beautiful Bear Lake Ice Fishing

Fishing Time: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm

Weather: Clear, calm, Cold, Temp was -2 on arrival and 6 when we left

Moon Phase: 4% Moon

Best Bait:  bites came on large rainbow tube jig tipped with minnow

Who Went: Casey Davies, Chad Fuller, Dunc

Bear Lake hasn’t been safely frozen for many years, so when I found out it had 10-inches of ice, I wanted to go check it out.  We arrived at the parking lot just outside of Garden City and walked the mile or so out to the rock pile.  To our surprise there were many fishermen who had already beat us to the spot, but we settled in on the outskirts of tent city and set up shop. 

The hue of blue illuminating the snow and ice inside the tent was cool and the reason Bear Lake is so different and fun to fish.  The clear blue water was visible down to 20 ft or so, but the fishing was as expected, slow.  We did manage 5-6 bites, but for whatever reason we couldn’t seem to get them through the ice.  We had three that made it halfway up to the hole, but then popped off.  After talking to other fisherman catching whitefish around us, it makes me think our large tube jigs were too big for the tiny whitefish’ mouth.

Frustrating to get skunked, but it was a beautiful day with good company.  Highlight was the pressure ridge that shifted and caused an earthquake on the ice.  It shook us pretty good!  I think Chad may have had a tear in his eye, but he toughed it out!