Bear Lake Cisco Run

Location: Bear Lake

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

Weather: Partly cloudy, Temps: 35-50° F, morning breeze that turned to glass by early afternoon

Moon Phase: 98% Moon

BP: 30.4 Hg – 30.3 Hg

Water Temp: 38 degrees

Best Baits: 1 oz spoons

Who Went: Casey Davies, Dunc

The weather was too nice not take the boat out.  I read some reports saying the cisco run was starting at Bear Lake, which I have never done.  There are two stages to the cisco run.  In the first stage they move onto some rockpiles in approximately 40 ft of water.  About one week later they move to the shorelines.  When they are on the rock pile it is legal to snag them and when they are near the shoreline you can net them.  Some people eat them while others keep them for bait. I’ve been wanting to do it for a while because it’s the best bait you can use up there and we go every September.

I read reports they were just starting to show up on the rock pile. I called my buddy Casey, and we decided to go up and give it a try. Bear Lake Winterfest was happening the same day at the main State Park ramp, so we launched from first point on the East side to stay away from the crowds and other activities.  On arrival there was a strong breeze that slowly moved to glass by afternoon. 

We motored across the lake to the rock pile and were greeted with about 15 other boats.  As I moved towards them the fish finder showed a thick layer of fish along the bottom.  We decided to anchor and started jigging.  After two jigs off the bottom, I was hooked up and caught my first ever cisco.  Soon after Casey caught his first ever cisco.  

It wasn’t fast and furious, but we were also pulling up a bunch of whitefish. Some good-sized ones too!

After filling half a bait bucket with cisco and catching around 20 whitefish, Casey hooked into something even bigger.  After a good fight he brought in a decent cutthroat. Not long after I got on the board with a small cutthroat.  All we needed was a lake trout to hit the Bear Lake grand slam.

Eventually we pulled off the rock pile and decided to troll.  We gave it a couple hours without a bite.  The fish were probably all on the rock pile eating cisco!

By early afternoon we gave jigging a try but didn’t find many fish.  We did have two bites off the bottom in 80 feet but unfortunately neither of us hooked up.  We never caught a lake trout, but what a fun day catching new species and a bunch of whitefish and two cutthroat trout.  This fall when I go up with my family, we will have the best bait to jig for lake trout! Once I got home, I sealed them in zip-locks and tossed them in the deep freezer.