11-21-2010, 02:34 AM
These are my favorite fish to catch from Bear Lake! Timing is everything. I have fished the first Saturday in December for the last 15 years and have always limited out. Even in bad weather. However, the Thanksgiving Day weekend can be good too.
Try along any rocky shoreline. I like the area right around the ramp at Cisco Beach and also off the Utah State Park Marina. If you are fishing on the weekend, then you might have to contend with shore anglers, whereas along Cisco Beach there is more area to spread out.
I use a light or ultra light spinning rod with about 4-6 lb line. I like 1/16 to 1/8 oz. jigs. Road runner style jigs work great! Sometimes it helps to tip the jig with worm, but it is NOT necessary and sometimes the bite is actually better without anything extra attached. My go-to colors are black then a sparkly, glowy white. But I have used blue, pink and yellow with great success. I anchor in about 12-15 feet of water and like to cast towards shore. I let the jig hit bottom and then bounce it back towards the boat. You will get a few snags but with a boat you can move slightly and dislodge the lure most of the time. The majority of the time you have to be very alert to detect the bite. They like to hit on the drop so it is important to CONCENTRATE on your line. Try to keep it as tight as possible to detect the hit. The hit is a short "pop" and if you don't set the hook immediately, you can miss the fish. Don't reel in if you miss one, the fish will typically give you several chances to hook them once they start attacking your jig. I also like to cast the smallest Little Cleo spoons and retrieve them slowly so they run close to the bottom. If you are not on or near the bottom, you will not get bit. You can also vertical jig directly under the boat for them which makes it slightly easier to detect the bite. Trying to finese these fish when the wind is blowing is difficult, so try to hit a calm day.
I wish more people would take advantage of this phenominal winter fishery. Most people have put their boats away for the winter so there is not a whole lot of competition and the fishing is typically very good. Cutthroat and lake trout will follow the Bonneville whitefish in close to shore and it is not uncommon to catch the cuts or lakers as a bonus. Its fun fighting a large cutt or laker on 4lb line.
The Bonneville whitefish are excellent to eat. They do not have as well developed intramuscular bone (Y-bone) as their cousins the mountain whitefish. They also have a much larger mouth and are very picivorous when they are over 12" long. The meat is white and firm. You can fry them, bake them, broil them or grill them. Smoking is another very popular method used too. The typical size you catch in Nov/Dec is about 16-18", but they do get larger.
Hope that helps answer your questions and fires up all you winter fishing enthusists!
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Try along any rocky shoreline. I like the area right around the ramp at Cisco Beach and also off the Utah State Park Marina. If you are fishing on the weekend, then you might have to contend with shore anglers, whereas along Cisco Beach there is more area to spread out.
I use a light or ultra light spinning rod with about 4-6 lb line. I like 1/16 to 1/8 oz. jigs. Road runner style jigs work great! Sometimes it helps to tip the jig with worm, but it is NOT necessary and sometimes the bite is actually better without anything extra attached. My go-to colors are black then a sparkly, glowy white. But I have used blue, pink and yellow with great success. I anchor in about 12-15 feet of water and like to cast towards shore. I let the jig hit bottom and then bounce it back towards the boat. You will get a few snags but with a boat you can move slightly and dislodge the lure most of the time. The majority of the time you have to be very alert to detect the bite. They like to hit on the drop so it is important to CONCENTRATE on your line. Try to keep it as tight as possible to detect the hit. The hit is a short "pop" and if you don't set the hook immediately, you can miss the fish. Don't reel in if you miss one, the fish will typically give you several chances to hook them once they start attacking your jig. I also like to cast the smallest Little Cleo spoons and retrieve them slowly so they run close to the bottom. If you are not on or near the bottom, you will not get bit. You can also vertical jig directly under the boat for them which makes it slightly easier to detect the bite. Trying to finese these fish when the wind is blowing is difficult, so try to hit a calm day.
I wish more people would take advantage of this phenominal winter fishery. Most people have put their boats away for the winter so there is not a whole lot of competition and the fishing is typically very good. Cutthroat and lake trout will follow the Bonneville whitefish in close to shore and it is not uncommon to catch the cuts or lakers as a bonus. Its fun fighting a large cutt or laker on 4lb line.
The Bonneville whitefish are excellent to eat. They do not have as well developed intramuscular bone (Y-bone) as their cousins the mountain whitefish. They also have a much larger mouth and are very picivorous when they are over 12" long. The meat is white and firm. You can fry them, bake them, broil them or grill them. Smoking is another very popular method used too. The typical size you catch in Nov/Dec is about 16-18", but they do get larger.
Hope that helps answer your questions and fires up all you winter fishing enthusists!
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