Bear Lake area fishing reports | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Scott Tolentino, Bear Lake Project Leader for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, sent in this report.

Bear Lake Fishing Report •

Surface water temperature is in the low 50s. Lake trout and cutthroat trout fishing has been fair and will only get better as the water continues to cool. A few shore anglers are beginning to cast lures in the morning and evening off the Utah State Park marina. Gill netting the past week has shown lake trout moving into water as shallow as 15 feet. Shore anglers should try large spinners such as #5 or #6 Blue Fox or Mepps. Spoons also work well too. Boat anglers should see fish stacking up off the rockpile area and off any of the rocky shorelines or points on the east side of the lake. Good lures to try are rapalas with rattles, crankbaits with rattles, and flatfish. Try trolling parallel to shore starting shallow and working deeper until you find active fish.

Anglers who prefer to jig can catch cutthroat trout and lake trout on tube jigs tipped with cisco or sucker meat. The lake trout run should continue until about mid November.

Garden City Community Fishery Pond •

Fishing has been excellent for catchable-sized rainbows and the angler pressure has been much lighter than the summer months. Several of these fish are tagged with a small metal tag on the dorsal fin. This was for the Garden City Outdoor Heritage Days festival which was held back in September, however, no more prizes are available. Fly fishermen have been doing good using muddler minnows, woolly buggers or leach patterns.

Also try using flies behind a bubble or try worms and powerbait fished either under a bobber about 2 feet down or fished right on the bottom.

Laketown Reservoir •

Water levels have returned to normal after the irrigation season. No fish were stocked in Laketown reservoir this year, but there are still some hold-over fish from previous years. These fish are 16-19" long and up to almost 3 pounds. Try wet flies such as woolly buggers and leaches.

Bank fishermen are having the best luck on worms fished on the bottom.