Bear Lake ice report

[BearLakeFishGuy]

Well the wait for Bear Lake ice was worth it again.  Today three of us started about 0800 on the rockpile.  Ice was about 3-4" depending where you were at.  Spooky pressure cracks though on the hike out there.  Some snow on the ice so no need for cleats.  About 100 yards of pack ice close to shore which is a pain to walk over since it is rough.  The rest of the area looks like many big sheets (8'x10' or larger) frozen together the rest of the way out there.  Garden City plowed 250 E. Loop Street, but its treacherous to drive down on the beach.  Bring a logging chain so someone could pull you out if you get stuck.  We parked along the East Loop Road and there is only a spot for 3-4 cars there.  Maybe the beach area will freeze tonight so you can drive down on the beach?  They plowed a lot for parking, but getting down there is the issue.  Ideal Beach is charging $5 to access though their property and I highly recommend that place for access. 

Fishing was really good.  Cold (+3F) this morning but we took our jackets off by 10am since it was sunny.  I got one good mac about 16-17lbs estimate.  5 cutts, 1 WF and 1 cisco and my buddies did about the same but caught more WF and Cisco since they wanted some for eating and bait.   I think you should do well fishing for cisco on top the rockpile and even pick up trout (38-40' or so) and that is where we started. However, there were too many cisco and whitefish, so I moved out and targeted trout with big jigs in deeper (70').  Other anglers were doing well too.  Beware:  you cannot use whitefish for bait.....only cisco and suckers.  I overheard one guy saying he was going to keep WF for "bait" and that is simply illegal.  Anyway, I kept a couple of cutts for dinner and released the rest.