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[#0000FF] The annual fall fling of the Bonneville whitefish, unique to Bear Lake, is in full swing. Started early after a cold snap in November and has been going nicely since. Bad winds last week subsided and lovely calm and unseasonably warm weather moved in this past week.
OldCoot and NETO invited me to rideshare with them on Saturday...the date chosen almost a month ago as being best for their schedules and with good potential for fishing success. Good choice. Once at the lake they headed out in Coot's boat while I joined BearLakeFishGuy in his boat.
By midmorning the east side of the lake looked like the cisco run must be on. Boats, pontoons and waders lined several popular areas of the shoreline. And most were catching fish...although for some the fishing was slow and a lot of the fish were small.
BLFG advised that a lot of the smaller fish show up to feed on eggs when the spawn is under way. And some nice cutts and even macks show up to feed on the smaller whities. There have been quite a few of the larger trout being caught by whitefish anglers in the shallows.
We started off near second point. BLFG and I both hooked up to fat female whitefish on our first casts. We thought it was going to be a bananner day. Well, it was, but not so much because of fast fishing for big fish. We caught plenty of fish but they were being very picky and tricky. There were a lot of casts between fish and lots of times we brought in our jigs with the bait missing...without feeling a thing. We had to be on our game.
BLFG caught the only trout in our group. It was a healthy and feisty 20 plus inch cutt that smacked his jig "on the drop" and put a big bend in his new rod. After it  d for a picture it was ceremoniously released.
Fellow BFTer and whitefish fan GSP showed up shortly after we began fishing. He drove around to his favorite spot at Second Point, donned his waders and splashed in to join the party. Did quite well too. We watched him rassle in a good number of protesting whities. But he only kept a couple and sent all the rest back to finish their spawn thing.
The slow fishing got even slower late in the morning so we boated up to Cisco Beach to check out the action up there. Saw kentofnsl there with his new boat and a couple of boatmates. They advised they had been catching fish but most were small. We pitched a few casts to lend immoral support and we also caught a few smaller ones. NETO and Coot had followed us and NETO managed to bring in one of the larger fish.
After a short boring fling at Cisco, BLFG opted for heading back south and hitting a couple of other spots that were not as heavily pressured. Good move. We found fish and radioed Coot and Kent of the better pickings...and they soon joined us. Shortly after noon the north breeze started to kick up a little...and BLFG and I both had limits in the "dead well"...so we headed back to the marina and the fillet table.
Probably one of the nicer days I have ever spent on Bear Lake. Air temps beginning in the low thirties and water temp 43. Warmed to the forties and it was easy to imagine that it was October and not December.
Fishing for us was not as fast as it had been a couple of days earlier. BLFG had gone out on Thursday to pick up a limit of whitefish to finish off a load for his smoker. It took him only 11 casts to get his 10 fish. But that is Scott...the Bear Lake Pro. Us mere mortals would probably have needed at least 15 or 20 casts. Also some good reports from Friday...with most anglers limiting easily and plenty of larger fish. But we all did catch fish and we all took home enough for both whitefish and eggs and some smoky treats.
Thanks for the invite guys. I had a great time. But it wasn't so good for my gimpy knee. It is hurtin' this morning...but worth it.
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Yes, it was a fun day. Wish we wouldn't have passed the opportunity to launch at First Point and joined you guys at Second Point. The weather was much nicer than it had been 8 days earlier, but the catching was slower than what we had hoped to encounter. I caught a nice fish on my first cast and thought the catching would continue at a fast pace, but it was not to be. We still caught plenty but had to work for them.
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Great report, sounds like it was a hoot!
Scott it truly a whitefish whisperer. I think they are trained to bite his lures first!
We had an equally successful day on Friday with loads of whitefish and all of us caught at least one cutt while jigging for the whities. One of those cutts landed was just holding on to a small whitefish and refused to let go, so we netted them both and tossed him back!
I should have been out there off Cisco yesterday, but alas, I had to give Santa a ride to the garden city Xmas party. (BTW, Scott also won the prized quilt in this years raffle at that party and he wasn't even there![ ])
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Nice report and pics Pat, looks like fun was had by all. Ira and I was up there as well, we were fishing North of that Pontoon boat in one of your pic. We were not targeting the whites, so we were fishing in deeper water. We managed 8 cutts up to 27 inches and one mac. Two of the Cutts were tagged, so we will need to get those tag numbers to Scott asap. All in all, it was a great day at BL, can't remember fishing that lake this late in the year with such great weather.[ ]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]The last two years have been harder for me to catch my limit of whites. I am just plain losing my touch. N.E.T.O. said it best when he said "wow, this is humbling … just plain humbling" as we watched BLFG (the whitefish whisperer) and TubeDude (a legendary fishing rock star) catch one after another.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Yesterday once again reminded me that, just when you think you've got it figured out, the more you know, the more you know you don't know.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]But still, it was truly a magical day. The weather, the fishing, the friends, and watching the pros work their magic both on the lake as well as at the fillet station.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Here is BLFG and TubeDude doing it right:[/size][/#800000][/font][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]"Team Jasperson" enjoying the day:[/size][/#800000][/font][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4] [/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Scott "whispering" to one of his whites:[/size][/#800000][/font] [font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]TubeDude and his home made portable fillet station:[/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Scott and his wife gave us some bottled jam to take home as a souvenir. Looking forward to having it on a peanut butter sandwich in my lunch tomorrow. But my prize take home yesterday was two of Scott's smoked whitefish fillets. O … M … Goodness they are GOOD!!! I am so excited about getting my whitefish fillets into my own smoker tomorrow and sharing the flavorful ecstasy with some of my coworkers. Man, that is some good smoked fish![/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Big thanks to N.E.T.O., TubeDude, and BLFG for, once again, making the annual long drive and long day a lifetime memory.[/size][/#800000][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]--- Coot ---[/size][/#800000][/font]
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"Scott it truly a whitefish whisperer. I think they are trained to bite his lures first"
[#0000FF] Scott is not only a super fisherman but also a super teacher to others. He is a great asset to Bear Lake anglers and a great ambas or for DWR.
By the way, I'd like to think I help him a little. I know the guy who makes the lures he uses most.
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[#0000FF]Not surprised you guys made it up to support the BFT cause. Glad you were able to enjoy the nice weather and that you got some nice rewards (fish). Some of those cutts are really healthy.
The weather folks are predicting that winter will come back by the end of next week. It is good that so many folks have been able to get in on the late fall fishing with such nice conditions.
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[#0000FF]Seems like about the only time some of us get together is for that annual whitefish fest. Better than not at all but not often enough.
As we all commented on the long tired ride home, the fish catching was only frosting on the cake. The sum total of the day's events and nice weather made it a great trip. Some got more "frosting" than others but we all had some excellent cake.
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Whoa!!! The secret to Scott's success is out! Your jigs are the stuff legends are made of from what I hear[  ]. I gotta get my hands on or make me some one of these days I suppose.
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[#0000FF]Scott could catch fish on a whole lot of other stuff. I suspect he just humors me by using my jigs when I am on his boat. And if ever seems like I am catching more than he does I look to see if maybe he has removed the hooks from his lures to allow me to suffer from that delusion.
Scott is a living example of the old saying "A good fisherman can catch fish on the wrong lures. A poor one can't catch them even on the right ones."
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[quote TubeDude][#0000ff] "A good fisherman can catch fish on the wrong lures. A poor one can't catch them even on the right ones."[/#0000ff][/quote]
I'm that "poor" one.
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[#0000FF]No need for excess humility and self-deprecation ol' buddy. The unsaid follow-up of that statement is that even the best angler can have an off day...and even the poorest or rankest can have a good day.
You have acquitted yourself favorably enough on the field (waters) of honor...well enough and often enough...that your fishing skills need not be questioned.
As we also discussed on our philosophical journey home, sometimes there is a very minor difference in the tackle or techniques that can make a major difference in the final results. Scott has been on that lake for a long time and fishes it often enough that he does things naturally and intuitively that others may not be able to pick up merely by watching...or even by being told. Some of those subtleties are likely not even recognized by him, well enough to be able to articulate to others.
In all sports and in the arts there are individuals who rise above their peers to achieve great success. And in many cases, even when we know their secrets we may not be able to emulate them. One of the examples we talked about yesterday was a great violinist. When told by an admiring fan that they would do anything to be able to play like him he replied "No you wouldn't, or you already would have."
You can legitimately claim to know plenty about plenty of waters and plenty of species of fish. You can be excused if you don't know everything about every fish in Utah...or that you are not able to out-fish everybody else on every body of water.
I have had a few more years on earth than you and I have had the benefit of more fishing time on more waters. But there is never a fishing trip upon which I do not learn at least one new and useful thing. And I think you made the same observation. As long as we enjoy every trip and learn new things that can improve our future enjoyment then the journey is its own reward.
May we not reach the end of that journey before our journey in life is through.
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I too, had a great time on Saturday. We did have fun and you are welcome up here anytime if you promise to bring the kind of weather we enjoyed that day. Pretty rare to have that warm and CALM of weather in December. I talked to several other boats that were out on Saturday and every single one of them caught fish. A lot of nice cutthroat were caught that day for sure and some nice lakers too. You are all very kind with your words. I appreciate that. Thanks again for the use of your lures. I do indeed use them when you are NOT with me. Yes, they are that good! That is something we will need to do again in the future. Perfect day fishing for sure. Good friends, good weather, and good fishing (catching)!
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Hey Scott,
What is the waves like today? Planning on heading over tomorrow and the predicted wind is about the same both days, just wondering if my toon will be okay tomorrow? Also wondered about trying to launch at that ramp at Gus's... I believe it was private, but they used to let us use it in the off season. Is there someone I could contact to get permission to launch a toon there tomorrow? If not there can permission be given for the old Sweetwater marina to launch? Thanks J
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[quote SkunkedAgain]
Also wondered about trying to launch at that ramp at Gus's... I believe it was private, but they used to let us use it in the off season.
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I'm not Scott, but I can tell you that that boat harbor is out of the water these days.
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Thanks Kent, but I mostly just need a spot to park and I'll carry the toon to launch spot. Just need to be fairly close to where I'll be fishing. The electric motor doesn't cover ground or water very fast. Thanks for your info. J
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Surprised no one has called out the picture of Kent & crew using 7 poles... [fishin] or maybe there's a short fisherman that's unseen.....? [ ]
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[#0000FF]Kent bought two 2-pole permits...but was using only half of his second permit.
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[cool][cool][cool]
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Any idea about how much longer the whitefish will be doing their business? I would love to plan a trip but the weather this coming weekend doesn't look very friendly. Also where would be the best place to launch a tube? Thanks in advance!
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