I hope you are all getting used to seeing white.  That will be the predominate color here for the next while.  When I look out over the pristine white lake, sometimes I see fly specks (ice fishermen) standing shuffling their feet, sitting on a bucket or out of sight in a tent.  If fishing is slow there isn't a lot to talk about but sometimes the conversation turns to the "springs" in the lake.  They all watch out for them.  There are some off the marina, the Rockpile, RV point and the east side.

I remember years ago Eldon Robinson and I ventured out to Popcorn springs off Fish Haven.  It had been well known for years, about a half mile off shore.  When we got out there, there was a circle of open water about 25 feet across.  Eldon decided to see how deep it was and ventured to the edge with his depth finder only to promptly fall in.  He got out but refused to go to shore because the fishing was good.

The USGS did a study a some years ago on Bear Lake and one of the things they were interested in was what kind of water was coming out of the springs.  We had mapped a lot of them so they sent divers down to collect water samples.  Much to our surprise, it was determined that they weren't springs at all but methane gas seeps coming up from the faults on the lake bottom.  As the gas bubbled out at the bottom, the bubbles kept getting larger due to reduced pressure as they reached the surface.  This disturbed the water column and brought warm water up, thus keeping a hole open.

                                                                Cisco Beach Vent  

The gas vents along the east side, especially off First Point, smell of rotten egg gas (hydrogen sulfide).  The most prominent one close to shore is just south of the Cisco Beach Boat ramp (picture).  Now there are springs in the lake, some identified when it was low but I guess the water is not that different in temperature and have low dissolved gases.  There are two methane seeps in the marina and I know there is no water because when they excavated the enlarged marina it was dry.  The lake is always full of surprises so just don't fall in a methane gas seep.