How to catch bonneville cisco in Utah
Bear Lake's endemic winter run. For a few January weeks anglers dip-net cisco through the ice along Cisco Beach — Utah's strangest fishery.
Behavior & tendencies
Found nowhere on Earth but Bear Lake: a pencil-sized planktivore that spawns on rocky shorelines in the dead of January, drawing crowds who dip-net them through the ice or in open water. Less angling than harvest festival — and the lake's trophy cutthroat and lakers follow the schools in.
Seasonal patterns
The last two weeks of January, period. The spawning run at Cisco Beach is the event; everything else is incidental.
What they bite
Plankton — they're netted, not hooked (30/day limit, dip nets legal during the run).
Recommended presentations
- A long-handled dip net over the spawning rocks at dawn
- While you're there: white tube jigs for the cutthroat and lakers shadowing the run
Best months for bonneville cisco
1 waters holding bonneville cisco
Sorted by how they’re fishing right now.
- Bear LakeFairBlue Ribbon