Bear Lake Report - Third Time a Charm?

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated.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 BearLake Project sent in this report. Bear Lake Fishing Report: Bitter cold returned to the Bear Lake Valley this week and the lake has now frozen over for the third time this year. Boats cannot be launched anywhere on the lake at this time due capped ice. Ice along the southern 1/3 of the lake remained throughout the freeze/thaw/freeze cycle and now is 4-5" thick. The remainder of the lake from approximately Gus Rich Point to the north has only been frozen a couple of days and there has not been any anglers attempting to fish there as of today. Be extremely cautious if you plan on venturing out onto any ice where there are no other anglers. The ice fishing at this time has been very good. The best spots have been off the pump house and 1st and 2nd Point on the east side and off the first pull-off north of the rest area on the west side of the lake. The best depths have been in the 50-60' range. Cutthroat trout and a few lake trout have been biting on tube jigs and silver jigging spoons (castmasters and Swedish pimples) tipped with cisco or sucker meat. The fishing should continue to improve over the next few week as the cisco have dispersed and the trout are feeding again. There is 1-3" no snow along the east side of the lake at this time and about 8-12" of snow along the west side of the lake. Angler ice fishing access points have been plowed out along 150 South Street and 250 East Loop Street in Garden City for ice fishing access, and we recommend a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Other areas to the south and on the east side can easily be reached by walking down to the lake shore. Make sure you vehicle pulled off the road where you park. Laketown Reservoir:Ice is about 8-12" thick. You can drive to the reservoir in a 4 wheel drive vechile and fishing has been very good for rainbow trout using small jigs, Swedish pimples and flys (damels patterns). Try tipping your lure a meal or wax worm. Please keep this area clean since there are no trash cans in the area. Please pack in what you pack out or we may lose the opportunity to fish this body of water.