02-12-2014, 06:00 PM
As of this morning (Wednesday, 2/12) there is both ice and open water on Bear Lake. A few anglers have been ice fishing off the rockpile, the pump house and Cisco Beach. Ice conditions are extremely variable due to the stacked ice and shifting due to adjacent open water. In some areas the ice is 5” and others it is 1”. Use extreme caution if you are venturing out on the ice. There is ice shelved up around the shoreline just about everywhere at this time and it is stacked at least 5’ high in the mouth of the Utah State Park marina. The majority of the open water is still in the southeast corner of the lake. Angling reports have been good for the anglers who have been out. Best luck has been for cutthroat trout being caught on jigs tipped with cisco and for whitefish being caught on spoons (Swedish Pimples or Kastmasters) tipped with meal worms. Remember, in order to keep a cutthroat trout from Bear Lake it must have a healed fin clip (usually the adipose fin). Cutthroat trout with all fins intact have to be released, including fish that are tagged with all of their fins. Consider releasing large lake trout in order to maintain the fishery. Lake trout can easily live to over 35 years old in Bear Lake.
[signature]
[signature]
