Mr. Bear Lake Mack

[PREDATOR]

Hey hows the lake trout fishing up on bear lake right now? I keep hearing rumors and I know you must be fishing it. Have you been out to willard latley? <br><br>UNICORN CATCHER F.L.P.

[BearLakeMack]

To tell the truth, I haven't been on Bear Lake for about 4 weekends. I've been chasing wipers and walleyes at Willard every weekend. Last Friday I fished with WH2. The results have been mixed. I seem to be connecting with the walleye more consistently then the wiper. I gues that's why I've been chasing the dang things; a challenge I seem to be losing! I'm headed over there Friday morning and give it another go.<br><br>I hit Bear Lake every weekend through the late summer, fall and winter. Fishing before ice on was as good as it gets. We hit a lot of good macks up to 20 lbs. We hit cutts up to 7 1/2 lbs. Ice fishing was just as good but nothing over 14 lbs. Ice off was a little disappointing. Fishing was spotty with good trolling in the shallows for both cutts and macks. I need to get over there and give it a go now that the fish are deeper but this new addiction to wipers is really putting a dent in the Bear Lake trips. I'm sure I'll be going up there soon though. My wife is getting the bug to take the trailer up there, so I guess I'll have to go and fish the WHOLE weekend. Too bad, so .<br><br>

[PREDATOR]

Oops, another willard lover! Ha Ha. Willard has been funny this year, I was out last night in the north marina catching crappie and walleye. The fishing didnt turn on until about nine and I had to leave by nine fourty so I ran back out this morning and caught a couple more. The recent walleye festival took my concentration off the wipers and I just havent gone out and done it yet. I am seriously thinking about fishing bear lake, but have no expirience. Can an exprienced angler catch say 20 lakers in a day? Any tips for a novice? Do you fish the gorge much? I will be up there for five days next week chasing lakers and smallies. <br><br>UNICORN CATCHER F.L.P.

[BearLakeMack]

There was a weekend last fall that we caught and released over 50 fish a day on Bear Lake! We slayed'em! We used nothing but various tube jigs tipped with cisco. We moved around the lake a little but everywhere we went we caught fish that weekend. <br><br>I'm a "jigger". Trolling is a lot like watching paint dry for the most part. It is fun to use you sonar to locate fish and put the drop on them. Sometimes they hit sometimes they don't. "Huntin'" fish can be fun. I've got one tackle box that is nothing but tube jigs and weights. Probably 40 different colors. You'll find that 3 or 4 colors is all you really need. Try white/pearl, Salt & Pepper, Rainbow Trout, Blue/pearl, or pumkin seed. That will cover most every instance. <br><br>Fish deep. Go out to 80 ft plus water. If the weather permits, try free drifting. If the wind kicks up a little, drop a rope with a small length of chain to slow your drift so you can still keep your line down. Always watch your sonar. Those are your eyes. Find fish, motor up wind and drift over them. If you see suspended fish come thru, come up on them. We hooked into a monster thru the ice with that technique. Bait fish schools are also good indicators. Find the prey, find the predators, right?<br><br>It's a little different game but very fun to do and can be quite exciting when hooked up to a good mack. No, I don't fish the "gorge" much at all. Bear Lake keeps my mack fixes in check. Also I can fish the "Bear" and be home that night in an hour. <br><br>

[PREDATOR]

Sweet, thanks for the info. That should be enough to get my but out of this chair and up there. I too would rather "jig" or cast to fish but sometimes trolling is too effective as a locating tool. <br><br>UNICORN CATCHER F.L.P.