Cisco Fishing

The first time I went cisco fishing was in 1963.  I will never forget coming over the hill as it was breaking light seeing the beach covered with people standing out in the water with nets attached to bamboo poles.  There was thick, black smoke billowing up from numerous tire fires on the shoreline.  There were campers, trailers and tents scattered along the beach and the Fish and Game had a check station set up on the road.  As we went down a scruffy bunch of fishermen in hip boots who had drank too much booze were swiping at fish.  Some fell in but they were all soaked to the bone.  There was no camo or Gortex to be seen.  In those days Bear Lake was one of the few waters open to fishing during the winter, there was not Super Bowl or video games to play.  The local businesses profited. They caught tens of thousands of ciscos and people worried that they would deplete the population.  The limit was 50 and "By God" they stayed until they got their limit.   No Parks and Recreation then so no fees or regulations.  Everyone ate what the caught because it was illegal to use cisco as bait on Bear Lake.  The "Rockpile" had not been discovered so there was no one there.  We all believed that cisco were only seen in January and went to the depths of the lake for the rest of the year.  The TV stations had a "cisco run" report on the news each night.  It was a huge event that was unique in the U.S.

How things have changed today...........