Now's prime time for Utah anglers to land limit of Bonneville whitefish

Bear Lake is the only place in the world where anglers can hook into a Bonneville whitefish.

And, there's no better time to hook one of the rare fish than now. The Bonneville whitefish, not to be confused with the Bear Lake whitefish, are in the midst of their spawn.

The main difference in the two whitefish is size, said Tom Pettengill, sports fisheries coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

"The Bonneville can get up to 2 and 3 pounds," he explained, "where the Bear Lake reaches only about half that size. Also, the Bear Lake whitefish tend to stay out in deeper water where the Bonneville comes into shore to spawn."

Some of the best fishing has been along the shallows of Cisco Beach, on the eastern shore of the lake. Two fishermen, casting from shore last weekend, had limits (10 fish) within an hour and a half.

According to the DWR report, the Bonneville whitefish spawn is expected to peak this weekend along the Cisco Beach area. With the low water conditions, fishing from shore should be as good or possibly even better than fishing from boats since there is only a few feet of rocks that are in the water before the bottom drops off into very deep water.

Whitefish are likely to be close to shore spawning along the rocks in water 3 to 15 feet deep. Pound-for-pound, the Bonneville whitefish fight better than trout and, some say, taste even better. Some call the Bonneville whitefish the "poor man's lobster."

The Bonneville whitefish also lack the strong intramuscular bones that are present in the mountain whitefish typically found in rivers, which make them easier to fillet and eat.

Good lures to use for whitefish are small jigs — one-sixteenth to one-eighth ounce — fished close to the bottom. Small vertical jigging with spoons, such as Kastmasters and Swedish Pimple, are also effective.

Small spoons or No. 1 or No. 0 spinners work well. Make sure to fish the lures as close to the bottom as possible. Some anglers like to tip their spinners, spoons and jigs with a small piece of night crawler.

Fishing for cutthroat and lake trout has been fair. Most anglers are jigging in 30 to 60 feet of water using tube jigs tipped with cisco meat.

Good spots to try at this time of year include the Rockpile, Cisco Beach and 1st and 2nd Points.

The recommendation is that anglers keep moving until they find some active fish. A good sonar unit can make a big difference in helping to locate fish.

The annual cisco run will begin in early to mid-January.