This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Scott Tolentino with the DWR's Bear Lake Project sent in this report.
There is no ice on Bear Lake. The Utah State Park Marina is now open thanks to the DWR "ice breaker" boat. Boat launching is possible at the Marina, First Point ramp and Cisco Beach ramps. The courtesy docks in the water at both First Point and Cisco Beach. There is little snow at any of the launching ramps at this time. The cisco run is still going at Cisco Beach but the duration of the run is shortening each day. Anglers easily dipped limits of fish this morning. Today the fish were in at first light and stayed around only till about 8:30am. We expect the run to taper off during the next few days and end by Sunday or Monday. As long as the lake is calm, anglers should be able to dip net cisco. The fish are not running in the late afternoon/evening. We have not seen any cisco off the Utah State Park marina this year. Anglers fishing from boats are still snagging limits of cisco off the "rockpile" area. Cutthroat and whitefish are being caught in water that 60-80 feet deep. Use 3/4 -1 ounce tube jigs tipped with cisco to target lake trout and cutthroat trout. Good spots to try have been off the east side near 1st and 2nd Points jigging and South Eden jigging and trolling. The trollers are using downriggers with small flatfish and rapala-style lures with rattles in them. You can fish from shore at the Utah State Park marina and anglers are picking up a few rainbow and cutthroat trout. Try powerbait or mealworms under a bobber or spoons and spinners casted from shore. Remember, the limit on cisco is 30 fish (daily and possession) so count your fish carefully. Also, remember that a person may not possess a multipoint hook with a weight permanently or rigidly attached directly to the shank (commonly called a snag hook) or a weight suspended below a multipoint hook unless the hook is on an unweighted dropper line that is at least three inches long.