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.

Bear Lake Turkeys

It is a tough winter so far for the flocks of Garden City turkeys.  These Merriam turkeys are an exotic species to the area.  I had never seen a turkey in the wild until I went to the Black Hills in South Dakota.  Through my adult life I read about turkeys, how smart they are and the effort of western states to introduce them for hunting.  Things started off slowly but within the last five years they have taken off (no pun intended).  As far as I can tell they were never stocked by a State agency in Bear Lake.  I am sure some moved over the mountains from Mink Creek/Riverdale area.  I personally believe the turkeys around Garden City originated when Ben Negus was raising them and they got away and headed up to Bridgerland, so you can blame or praise him.  Anyway they have expanded all along the west side of the Lake, in the hills around Garden City and up Cottonwood Canyon in Round Valley.  Wildlife Resources decided they were a huntable population and included this area in the Cache Unit.

I love to watch and hear turkeys.  Their domestic cousins are dumber than dirt and that is what most people think all turkeys are like.  The wild ones are smart and a real challenge to hunt, which I have done many times.  You just can't go out walking around and flush and shoot them like other birds.  Turkeys have incredible sight and can see anything that is out of place.  Once alarmed, they can run 20 mph or fly long distances.  For their size and weight, they are incredible fliers.  When they flush, they are in the air instantly, dodging trees or landing at the tops of the highest ones.

 

A few of us are turkey feeders.  Since Bear Lake doesn't  have nuts and berries like their native range has, they have become dependent on humans during bad winters.  The snow or predators don't seem to bother them so they head to the nearest feed yard (not many of those around anymore), open area, roadside or feeder to bum food.  I feed birds year around.  That is what I do instead of having a horse although it costs about the same.  My feeders are on the deck and the turkeys showed up a few years ago feeding on spilled bird seed.  Now they flying in and land on the rail and peck and shake the feeder until they have all the seed.  Fights erupt between them with the "Jakes" (year old males), hens and toms constantly trying to rise in the "pecking order".  They run off all the other birds including magpies.  It is great sport to watch them start changing appearance and colors for spring breeding as they come in at the same time every morning.  There is one thing I can be sure of however.  They won't be around during the spring turkey hunt. They are smarter than that.....     

Bear Lake is totally ice covered.  Normal winter weather has returned.  Lots of people think that it has been extra cold this winter but this has been typical in the past.  In 2007 the lake froze around the same time and it was the last time anglers were able to dip Bonneville cisco through the ice.  The lake froze again in February 2008 an stayed frozen until May.

Now is the time.  If you have never have dip netted cisco before or if it has been years, do it through the ice.  You don't get wet, the fish aren't spooky and even the kids can do it.  Just find a hole off Cisco Beach, bring or borrow a cisco net and start dippin'.  It is best first thing in the morning but during the peak of the run they spawn all day.  You can even put a lure without hooks down the hole and jig it to attract fish that you can then dip.  This is the best technique for kids.  At times, you can catch a lot of fishing in a hurry so don't get carried away throwing fish out on the ice or you may receive a visit from the friendly game warden who has been watching you through a spotting scope up on the road.  Once the fish are on the ice you can't put them back.  You have to have a current fishing license which allows you to catch 30 fish but remember, you can only catch your fish, not Mom's who sitting in the vehicle or the 18 month old baby.  The same friendly warden will give you a ticket for the over limit of fish "you" take out of the hole which usually cost at least a $1 apiece in fines.

  

Don't take more fish than you want.  Many people feel that it is their responsibility to catch limits and then find out it is a pain in the butt to clean 100 cisco.  When they get tired of cleaning (usually around 20) they think that they will save the rest for bait.  Well, most people never use them and they go out to the cats or in the garbage in the spring.  What a terrible fate for these beautiful endemic fish.  Leave what you don't need in the lake.  

So have fun, take pictures and don't step into any holes that have a thin sheet of ice on them.  After you get some cisco go into deeper water or off shore and fish for whitefish and trout.  It is the best time of the year and you don't need a boat.  Good luck,

ICE?????

Everyone is wondering if Bear Lake is frozen.  Well as of 5:00 pm there was still a large area of open water off Cisco Beach and North Eden.

The fog is in the valley today but I suspect it will freeze by the end of the weekend.  I bet the cisco are spawning below the ice now.

It is cold outside.  Somehow all the snow that fell in the past five days missed us.  As a weather freak, I have observed over the years that winter storms that come across Nevada frequently miss Bear Lake.  It is the weather that comes from the Pacific Northwest that pound us.  The lake and what it is doing also has a lot of impact on the weather.

As I sit here on Sunday morning it is well below zero but there is not much fog.  That tells me that the lake is now in the process of serious freezing.  I can see the huge shards of ice forming on the lake.  The north end will be the first to freeze.  It is much colder there.  Just look at the temperatures in Dingle and Bern as the cold air follows the Bear River into the Valley.   The lake is much shallower in the north end so there is no deeper, warmer water to mix with the surface.  Ice then forms down the west.  The accompanying  picture was taken this morning showing the ice formation off Fish Haven and Swan Creek.   It freezes clear but the condensing snow/ice makes it white.

It then shoots out in front of Garden City and freezes out off Ideal Beach and Gus Rich Point.  There is a natural back eddy current there that keeps the water colder.

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 At this point people down by the lake can only see ice and think the lake is frozen.  Not so.  The east side with its deep water and  current upwellings keep the water warmer and discourage the ice.  Eventually it will freeze and the last area to become solid will be right off North Eden.  Two major current cells collide there and as the cold winds pour down North Eden Canyon it keeps the water stirred up. The only sure way of telling if the lake is totally frozen is to go to the Overlook.

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The lake has not totally frozen in the past four (?) years.  Will it freeze totally this year?  I think there is a good chance of it which will make a lot of fishermen happy.  We will have a nice clear winter but spring will be delayed by three weeks and the water will still be chilly on the Fourth of July.

Fog and Thermodynamics

Winter has arrived at Bear Lake.  So far my predictions of above average snow made by observing the number of pine squirrel invading my yard is holding true.  I am just relieved that I don't need to hear about drought and climate changes when the news stations have nothing else to report on.

Winter in Bear Lake has a number of characteristics that don't change from year to year.  The fog is the most prominent one.  Now a quick lesson in thermodynamics.  As the surface water temperature on the lake is warmer than the air temperature condensation starts to occur.  Lots of people will say "the lake is steaming" which is incorrect.

 Vaporization occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point at which time the liquid turns into a gas.  Condensation is when a gas turns to a liquid by cooling.  On a cold winter morning,  evaporation is occurring on the lake as long as it is liquid not ice covered.  Evaporation is when a water surface turns from a liquid, directly to a gas.  Another unique characteristic of water.  The water from evaporation is turned into a liquid from gas by the cold air.  These little droplets or ice crystals form the fog we see.

We will see this cycle occur frequently as the winter progresses and the lake approaches freezing.  Depending on the day, wind and temperature the whole Valley will be filled with "cotton" as you look at it from the over look. 

Some days, the fog will hang over the valley, drift to the valley floor during the night and when it lifts in the morning everything is covered with hoarfrost.  Hoarfrost occurs when condensation (when the lake is evaporating and cooling) freezes to solid items whose temperature are below the dew point.  That is why when we have these spectacular mornings with hoarfrost on everything you can actually determine which materials hold heat better.  Dark limbs have less than light colored limbs and so on.

One last observation.  Most of us have seen Grandma hanging out her clothes in the middle of the winter only to have them freeze solid and then dry.  This dynamic activity is called sublimination which is when water goes from a liquid to a solid and then due to cold from a solid directly back into a gas.

You get to experience a lot of things living next to a large temperate lake.  Luckily water is such a unique matter and a more extensive education in physics and thermodynamics will help you understand why.  Yea, I know, we all hated physics.  I hope you look a fog and winter days differently now. 

              

 I am sure that everyone is getting ready for the Holidays.  That means I will once again be involved in the Bear Lake Christmas Bird Count.  Over the last ten years, a small core group of birders from Cache Valley come over to participate with a few of us from here.  The annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count is a national event that covers most of North America.  It was started years ago by the Audubon Society in an attempt to develop trend data on regional bird numbers using volunteer birdwatchers.  Different areas were established and people went out, observed, identified and counted birds

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                                                                  Virginia Rail

Dennis Austin, a wildlife biologist from Cache Valley, now retired, started the Bear Lake Count.  He felt that it was important to document what species of birds were wintering here at the Lake.  Trying to get participants has been a challenge over the years.  There just doesn’t seem to be many bird watchers here.  You don’t need to be a member of the Audubon Society, just someone interested in birds.  The count will occur December 27,  regardless of weather.  We have done them in the sun, blizzards and when it is so cold you can barely make it out of the truck.  You count the birds in your area, but nowhere else to avoid duplication. 

                                                                     Sawhet Owl

I know that lots of people feed birds around the lake and in recent years these numbers have been included.  At the end of the day Dennis collects and tallies the count information and submits it to the Audubon Society.  All of the bird counts from all over are then combined and published in a magazine.

Obviously the species and numbers  change throughout the years with environmental conditions but every year we see new species, don’t see birds we had seen before and generally have a  good time, outside, with our binoculars.  It even helps me with my infamous weather predictions associated with wildlife.  We are always looking for volunteers and we will be happy to train.  Just let me know.

                                                             Black Capped Chickadee