Bear Lake Report for Friday 2/17/23

[BearLakeFishGuy]

It was a balmy -2F at 7am this morning.  Walked out to the rockpile to start the morning.  Ice is now 8-10" thick and growing.  Occasional pressure cracks can open up parallel to shore, but it was totally frozen this morning.  Several 4 wheelers, snowmobiles, and snowdogs on the ice.  Started in 38' on the top of the rockpile.  Caught 3 small WF but that was it.  My friend's son stayed put and said the WF really turned on about 0900.  We wanted bigger trout so we moved out to deeper water.  Good move!  My friend and I caught 4 lakers and 7 cutts between us.  We missed a few too.  Tube jigs tipped with cisco were the ticket.  The trout are starting to feed again (after being stuffed with cisco and dealing with a bright, full moon the last couple of weeks which really slowed the fishing).  We fished until about noon and called it a day.  Sunny and clear with no wind.  Took our jackets off by 10am, but had to keep the bait in our bibs to keep it from freezing solid.  And I mean SOLID.  Pretty sure we pissed off one guy who thought we set up shop too close to him (22 yards away, I measured it).  However, I've had anglers 1/2 again as close in both boats and on the ice and I rarely give it much thought....unless they are casting over my lines and snagging me up.  But this is vertical fishing through the ice.  As my friend said, life's too short to worry about crap like that, and then you die anyway!   Oh, well.....it was a great day on the lake once again and it was nice to see the trout starting feeding again too.  We didn't get anything huge, but we did land a couple of nice cutts today.  One puked-up an 11" whitefish when we landed it.  Who says 6-8" tubes are too big?  Anyway, I bet there will be a grundle of people up fishing this weekend due to many kids having a 4 day weekend for President's Day.   With all that commotion on top of the ice, especially snowmobiles, 4wheelers, snowdogs, and loud power augers, the fishing may shut down.....but maybe not?   My advice is to get away from the noisy areas and set up shop where there is less noise.  There is good access at the plowed out area at 250 E. Loop Drive, but it is limited to about 30 vehicles.  You can also access through Ideal Beach Resort, but they charge $5 and don't open until at least 0800.   There is also a nice plowed out area at 150 S. Street in Garden City.  If you want to fish south of Gus Rich Point, you'll have to contend with walking through 2' of snow for several hundred yards until you hit the lake ice.  There is good access at Cisco Beach, but its been pretty slow fishing at that location.  1st Point has good access too, but slow fishing so far.  There have been several groups fishing off the marina and the rockpile just north of the marina, but I haven't talked to any of the anglers in that location, so I have no report.   Sorry for no pics, but it was a cold bugger today and we wanted to get most of the fish back down the holes.  We did invite a couple fish home with us for dinner though. Good luck out there.

[A_Rich7]

It was a balmy -2F at 7am this morning.  Walked out to the rockpile to start the morning.  Ice is now 8-10" thick and growing.  Occasional pressure cracks can open up parallel to shore, but it was totally frozen this morning.  Several 4 wheelers, snowmobiles, and snowdogs on the ice.  Started in 38' on the top of the rockpile.  Caught 3 small WF but that was it.  My friend's son stayed put and said the WF really turned on about 0900.  We wanted bigger trout so we moved out to deeper water.  Good move!  My friend and I caught 4 lakers and 7 cutts between us.  We missed a few too.  Tube jigs tipped with cisco were the ticket.  The trout are starting to feed again (after being stuffed with cisco and dealing with a bright, full moon the last couple of weeks which really slowed the fishing).  We fished until about noon and called it a day.  Sunny and clear with no wind.  Took our jackets off by 10am, but had to keep the bait in our bibs to keep it from freezing solid.  And I mean SOLID.  Pretty sure we pissed off one guy who thought we set up shop too close to him (22 yards away, I measured it).  However, I've had anglers 1/2 again as close in both boats and on the ice and I rarely give it much thought....unless they are casting over my lines and snagging me up.  But this is vertical fishing through the ice.  As my friend said, life's too short to worry about crap like that, and then you die anyway!   Oh, well.....it was a great day on the lake once again and it was nice to see the trout starting feeding again too.  We didn't get anything huge, but we did land a couple of nice cutts today.  One puked-up an 11" whitefish when we landed it.  Who says 6-8" tubes are too big?  Anyway, I bet there will be a grundle of people up fishing this weekend due to many kids having a 4 day weekend for President's Day.   With all that commotion on top of the ice, especially snowmobiles, 4wheelers, snowdogs, and loud power augers, the fishing may shut down.....but maybe not?   My advice is to get away from the noisy areas and set up shop where there is less noise.  There is good access at the plowed out area at 250 E. Loop Drive, but its limited to about 30 vehicles.  You can also access through Ideal Beach Resort, but they charge $5 and don't open until at least 0800.   There is also a nice plowed out area at 150 S. Street in Garden City.  If you want to fish south of Gus Rich Point, you'll have to contenc with 2' of snow for several hundred yards until you hit the lake ice.  There is good access at Cisco Beach, but its been pretty slow over there.  1st Point has good access too, but slow fishing so far.  There have been several groups fishing off the marina and the rockpile just north of the marina, but I haven't talked to any of the anglers in that location, so I have no report.   Sorry for no pics, but it was a cold bugger today and I wanted to get the fish back down the holes.  We did invite a couple fish home with us for dinner though. Good luck out there.

Great report Scott. I was the lucky angler that you guys set up 22 yards away from (and it would have been even closer if I wouldn't have said anything as you started drilling). I was set up by 7:05 am and you guys showed up to my spot at 8:30 am. I understand that it's the rockpile, but every other group out there was spaced out at least 60-75 yards apart. The thing is that you didn't even ask, you just started drilling. If you would have just asked in the first place, I wouldn't have had a problem with it. No hard feelings and nothing but respect to you and your friend. I agree, life is too short to worry about how close anglers are fishing to you, but it's not too short to show some common courtesy.

[Kent]

Scott, how deep of water were you fishing when you caught the macks and cutthroat?

[BearLakeFishGuy]

Scott, how deep of water were you fishing when you caught the macks and cutthroat?

I actually never put a fishfinder down today since the fish are right on bottom.  But we fished this location for the last month in both open water and through the ice.  The general area varied from 67-69' deep.

[Lundboy54]

It was a balmy -2F at 7am this morning.  Walked out to the rockpile to start the morning.  Ice is now 8-10" thick and growing.  Occasional pressure cracks can open up parallel to shore, but it was totally frozen this morning.  Several 4 wheelers, snowmobiles, and snowdogs on the ice.  Started in 38' on the top of the rockpile.  Caught 3 small WF but that was it.  My friend's son stayed put and said the WF really turned on about 0900.  We wanted bigger trout so we moved out to deeper water.  Good move!  My friend and I caught 4 lakers and 7 cutts between us.  We missed a few too.  Tube jigs tipped with cisco were the ticket.  The trout are starting to feed again (after being stuffed with cisco and dealing with a bright, full moon the last couple of weeks which really slowed the fishing).  We fished until about noon and called it a day.  Sunny and clear with no wind.  Took our jackets off by 10am, but had to keep the bait in our bibs to keep it from freezing solid.  And I mean SOLID.  Pretty sure we pissed off one guy who thought we set up shop too close to him (22 yards away, I measured it).  However, I've had anglers 1/2 again as close in both boats and on the ice and I rarely give it much thought....unless they are casting over my lines and snagging me up.  But this is vertical fishing through the ice.  As my friend said, life's too short to worry about crap like that, and then you die anyway!   Oh, well.....it was a great day on the lake once again and it was nice to see the trout starting feeding again too.  We didn't get anything huge, but we did land a couple of nice cutts today.  One puked-up an 11" whitefish when we landed it.  Who says 6-8" tubes are too big?  Anyway, I bet there will be a grundle of people up fishing this weekend due to many kids having a 4 day weekend for President's Day.   With all that commotion on top of the ice, especially snowmobiles, 4wheelers, snowdogs, and loud power augers, the fishing may shut down.....but maybe not?   My advice is to get away from the noisy areas and set up shop where there is less noise.  There is good access at the plowed out area at 250 E. Loop Drive, but its limited to about 30 vehicles.  You can also access through Ideal Beach Resort, but they charge $5 and don't open until at least 0800.   There is also a nice plowed out area at 150 S. Street in Garden City.  If you want to fish south of Gus Rich Point, you'll have to contenc with 2' of snow for several hundred yards until you hit the lake ice.  There is good access at Cisco Beach, but its been pretty slow over there.  1st Point has good access too, but slow fishing so far.  There have been several groups fishing off the marina and the rockpile just north of the marina, but I haven't talked to any of the anglers in that location, so I have no report.   Sorry for no pics, but it was a cold bugger today and I wanted to get the fish back down the holes.  We did invite a couple fish home with us for dinner though. Good luck out there.

Great report Scott. I was the lucky angler that you guys set up 22 yards away from (and it would have been even closer if I wouldn't have said anything as you started drilling). I was set up by 7:05 am and you guys showed up to my spot at 8:30 am. I understand that it's the rockpile, but every other group out there was spaced out at least 60-75 yards apart. The thing is that you didn't even ask, you just started drilling. If you would have just asked in the first place, I wouldn't have had a problem with it. No hard feelings and nothing but respect to you and your friend. I agree, life is too short to worry about how close anglers are fishing to you, but it's not too short to show some common courtesy.

I agree

[BearLakeFishGuy]

[font="Open Sans", sans-serif]I guess everyone has what they think is "their spot" on a lake and everyone has a different comfort level of how far away someone should be from someone else. This subject has been discussed many times on this forum.....for decades.  It is similar to a Dodge/Chevy/Ford comparison.  There will never be 100% agreement.  In my opinion is we were far enough away from you since we would not interfere with your equipment or if either of us were fighting a fish. Obviously, you don't agree. I guess we agree to disagree. No harm, no foul. But I've had guys follow me around since they think I have some secret way of catching fish and drill holes literally 6 feet from me before. I just asked them to please reel up their lines if I hooked a fish so I wouldn't tangle lines. However, on open water, I did have a guy from Wyoming use an electric trolling motor to move less than 8' from me between my boat (I was anchored) and the shore to which I was casting. I asked if he just wanted to fish in my boat. I literally could touch his boat with my rod tip. I proceeded to move down the shore 20 yards and kept fishing.[/font]

[lavaman]

100% agree with the above post. Seems there's a lack of common courtesy when out fishing. I get that that everyone has different comfort zones, and I get that we all have to share the water. But for cryin out loud don't set up shop right next to someone if you can help it, it is called common courtesy for a reason. Let others have a good fishing experience just like what you would want.

But enough about that. I hit Big Blue this morning at first light (3rd vehicle to arrive at the Rock Pile). Started out around 66' and moved after not marking a single fish to 64' and I began seeing them on the sonar. They didn't want to play too much today as most were lookers. But I did manage a couple nice Cutts for my efforts. Had another good one halfway up before he got unbuttoned. But not a bad day at all. Cold but the sun was out so can't complain. There was a huge ice shift that happened and it felt like an earthquake lol saw the ice ridge buildup while walking back. Stay safe out there!

[Bugeyes]

22 yards away...

[Rizzo27]

I probably wouldn’t fish the rock pile or any area that typically gets regular anglers if I didn’t want company. I’d appreciate the gesture of someone asking if they could fish close to me but by no means would I expect it. It’s the rock pile, I know before I get there that it could have lots of people on or around it regardless if I get there first. ??

[Lundboy54]

[font="Open Sans", sans-serif]I guess everyone has what they think is "their spot" on a lake and everyone has a different comfort level of how far away someone should be from someone else. This subject has been discussed many times on this forum.....for decades.  It is similar to a Dodge/Chevy/Ford comparison.  There will never be 100% agreement.  In my opinion is we were far enough away from you since we would not interfere with your equipment or if either of us were fighting a fish. Obviously, you don't agree. I guess we agree to disagree. No harm, no foul. But I've had guys follow me around since they think I have some secret way of catching fish and drill holes literally 6 feet from me before. I just asked them to please reel up their lines if I hooked a fish so I wouldn't tangle lines. However, on open water, I did have a guy from Wyoming use an electric trolling motor to move less than 8' from me between my boat (I was anchored) and the shore to which I was casting. I asked if he just wanted to fish in my boat. I literally could touch his boat with my rod tip. I proceeded to move down the shore 20 yards and kept fishing.[/font]

I would love to have 8' some days i am blessed to be able to spend a ton of time on BL and 90 percent of the anglers are fantastic. My view is if you built a duck blind on public land and someone came and sat next to you im guessing there might be problems. Its a big lake the fish are not only in a 20' circle around a boat or hole have some respect for everyone and ask dont just take