The winter in Bear Lake this year is unpredictable.  I do believe the climate is changing but I know it is a lot more complicated than the yap on television.  I am still fascinated by the weather.  In the old days, when were didn't have computer or the internet to check on snow depths at thousand's of locations across the world, things were different.  We judged in intensity of the winter by watching the snow level on wood fence posts or trees.  We tried to factor in drifting and snow settling.  I always watched the old pole, drift fence in the Sinks just after you went over the Summit toward Logan.  When it finally was covered with snow, I figured we had a normal snow year.  Over the past forty years, it seemed that the fence would be covered but we didn't seem to have the same amount of snow.  Last fall walked down to the old structure to check it out.  Sure enough, over the years, the snow and snowmobiles had smashed it down so now it is two feet lower than in the 1970's.  Since the pole fence is no longer accurate, I now watch the metal fence posts on the lay down fence below the Franklin Basin turnoff and check NRCS Snotel stations   

 

What a difference a week makes

It happens every year.  Fear of a drought.  People and media worry themselves to death about water for the summer or how low Bear Lake will go.  Will California be able to raise the vegetables we want to eat?  What a waste of anxiety and it was only January.  I have been in Salt Lake the last week and they really didn't have anything, but then the "high pressure" was breaking down. Here comes the Pineapple Express! Snow.......

The weather will do what it will do.  We can predict it and respond to it but we can't control it so quit worrying about it. As I worked my way up Logan Canyon yesterday it was readily apparent that winter has arrived and I am stuck.

The next morning we are snowed in.  Logan Canyon is closed.  Then the work starts.  Three feet on the deck, blower opening, 12 inches......

Well it snowed all day and is still snowing.  So far Tony's Grove has added five feet in this storm. There are avalanches in the canyon, a constantly narrowing road and of course, pow pow. I haven't even seen my turkeys lately.  But we got our "moisture", we won't die of thirst and all the newcomers now know what a "Bear Laker" storm is.  Enjoy the snow!

Cisco Dip Netting

I am getting to a point in my life that when looking at my past is more interesting than worrying about the future.  On the way back from Mexico I started wondering if the Bonneville cisco run had started.  I then began to reminisce about my life and ciscoes.  In the late 1950's people started dipping ciscoes on Cisco Beach.  Bear Lake was one of the few lakes open year around and the Super Bowl had not started so there wasn't much to do in January.  My dad, Rex and his buddy Wade decided they wanted to try cisco netting, but nets were an issue.  Aluminum smelt/cisco nets were rare so they decided to build their own.  I remember going with him to the carpet store were he was able to get a 12' bamboo pole that they had rolled carpet on.  He then need to make an 18"frame so they formed 3/8' round steel rod around a steel bucket with tails on it.  Then he had the tails welded onto a piece of pipe that would fit snugly over the bamboo pole.  A couple of bolts then held it on.  A net was attached by wrapping parachute around it an the frame.

As a 12 year old making my first trip to Cisco's Beach for the run was memorable.  As we crested the hill just north of South Eden (the road was dirt and mud then) all I could see was billowing clouds of black smoke along the beach.  When we got there there were tire fires everywhere keeping people warm.  Most of the fishermen were in old war surplus coats with nets tied to poles, in hip waders and usually intoxicated.  Old trailer house and tents were scattered along the shoreline and trucks were stuck because there were no 4WD vehicles except Jeeps.  We netted our 50 fish each and headed home to clean them.  It was illegal to use them for bait.

I have seen countless changes over the past fifty years but as I was thinking about going dip netting I realized I had loaned all my nets out and none had returned.  When Dad died, I gathered up the old net so I decided to reintroduce it to the lake.  It was none the worse for wear so I headed over on the 20th which was historically when the cisco peaked.  I was surprised how much lighter, longer and sturdier it was compared to the aluminum nets.  Even in open water I had my fish in no time.  The old net didn't fail me and I think it was happy to be back in the lake after 45 years.

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Angry Birds

It has been a while since my last post but shutting Cisco's Landing down is a real chore.  Pulling boats, cleaning boats, winterizing and fiberglass repair on Waverunners, hauling boats over to Lee's Marine in Hyrum for service and winterizing and back to the lake for storage is all consuming for this old man as my help goes back to school or on Missions.  There was a little hunting and fishing thrown in there too.

So much for excuses.  Anyone that knows me is aware that I love to watch and feed birds as much as I like to hunt them.  Since my office is on the couch and the bird feeder just outside I observe feathery animals for hours.  I always like to see the changes in species associated with the seasons as migrations come and go.  However, there is one species that lives here all the time but only migrates to my feeder when it snows.  The turkeys...

Most folks think turkeys are dumb, docile and not smart enough to come in out of the rain.  That is true of the ones we buy out of the stores but my flock is rowdy, cantankerous, mean and think nothing of picking the hell out of each other.  They also have no manners leaving turkey droppings and feathers all the deck.  Above and beyond all they are pigs.  I throw chicken scratch to them on the ground and as soon as that is all scratched up, her they come to raid the black sunflower finch feeder. They bang it and shake it until all the seeds are on the ground and in their crops.

THE PICTURE ABOVE SHOWS REALLY "ANGRY BIRDS"

My daughter, Ashley, is a Bear Lake native.  She grew up here and has spent countless hours on and around the Lake boating, skiing, and just having fun.  Mike and Ash came up yesterday and instead of riding bikes, we went fishing.  She said she has never been fishing on Bear Lake from a boat which is true.  In the morning, we fished in the wind off of Sweetwater. When the downrigger popped she took the rod and after a long fight, she hauled in and released a 20 pound lake trout.  She said she was is in good shape for hiking but not reeling in a big fish.

In the afternoon we took the pontoon boat across the lake to Cisco Beach.  When the downrigger popped again she hooked, caught and released an 8 pound cutthroat.  She said that fish was a little easier to reel in. She prides herself has quite an angler now.  Apparently, Ash thinks it is not that hard to catch large, once in a lifetime, trophy fish on Bear Lake.  She certainly had fun texting pictures to her friends.

 

The Cisco Carp are having a great summer.  Countless kids and their parents come down the gangplank carrying bags of stales bread, cookies, chips and quarters for food.  Before long they are laying on the docks feeding and trying to touch the carp who are greedily slurping up everything that hits the water.  They thrash around like piranhas chasing the food all to the delight of the audience.  Apparently things are so good that they have attracted another species of fish to Cisco's Landing.  I saw a few last year but now they are plentiful.  They get up to about eight inches and are commonly mistaken for little carp.  Actually, the lake is too cold and has limited habitat for carp to spawn so they do not reproduce.  They are in the same family, minnows, and they are Gila atraria or Utah chub.  Utah chub have a very bad reputation for taking over fisheries because the can out compete rainbow trout for food.  During my career as a biologist I killed millions of chubs around the state with Rotenone.  It is a different story in Bear Lake.  They are native to the lake and have evolved with Bear Lake cutthroat trout who love to eat them.  Because of this predator their population is limited and the only safe haven is in the marina.  Enjoy it now "chubs", because when the water cools down the cutthroat will come into the marina and there will be plenty of food for them at Cisco's.

   

Bucket List

I have been too busy lately.  I hate when it goes from winter to summer instantly.  You all know what I am talking about.  Last winter when there was nothing to do and I was reviewing my "Bucket List" I once again began my quest of the great white sturgeon.  This has gone on for years with no success.  Lots of research but no direction. 

I had met a guide last fall when fishing for Chinook in Tillamook that said he fished for sturgeon so I contacted him and set a trip up even though it was early in the season.  The time finally arrived this past weekend.  As a fisheries biologist, I had seen and read about sturgeon but I had never touched or examined them.  That is how they got on my "Bucket List".  Fishing in the mouth of the Columbia River with the constant rain and wind, it happened.  With an anchovy on a single barbless hook the tap, tap, tap started.  The pole "loaded up" and the jerk.  The battle ensued and in a half hour an exhausted fish and angler finally met.  Too large to keep at 65" we held it for a minute and parted ways.  A sense of satisfaction came over me.  Another lifetime goal accomplished.  Never give up on your dreams.