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Bear Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Bear Lake: aqua-blue water on the Utah-Idaho line, home to three fish found nowhere else and a midwinter cisco dipnet fishery.

2/5
Slow. The wind owns today.24 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
48 / 50 F
Wind
SW 19 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. The wind owns today.24 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Bear Lake feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. Today brings a mixed sky, wind SW around 19 mph, steady pressure near 1014 hPa and a high of 50. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:03 AM-12:03 PM and 10:33 PM-12:33 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutExcellent

This band overlaps Vermont's 54-66°F stream preference: fish feed across riffles, runs and pocket water, and in lakes WDFW says spring and fall bring them near the surface.

Tomorrow: Similar at 49 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Utah requires a fishing licence from age 12, from $40.00 for residents. What a Utah licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with UDWR before you keep anything. The season dates for Utah, read off the agency, are on the Utah seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp48 F
High / Low50 / 40 F
WindSW 19-25 mph
Pressure1014.1 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain26% cloud, 78%
Sunrise / Sunset07:47 / 18:31
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Bear Lake this week

The best day on Bear Lake this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 3 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 — Tough

24 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Solunar majors
10:03 AM-12:03 PM and 10:33 PM-12:33 AM
Minor period
4:27 AM-5:27 AM
Sun
07:47 to 18:31
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Rain, 24 mph
Rain chance
78%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Bear Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. This band overlaps Vermont's 54-66°F stream preference: fish feed across riffles, runs and pocket water, and in lakes WDFW says spring and fall bring them near the surface.

When to come: the Bear Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Bear Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 62 F, wind to 15 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 65 F, wind to 10 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 63 F, wind to 9 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Utah requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Utah side: 2 trout per day; Bonneville cisco 30 per day (statewide limit), handheld dipnet allowed for cisco; when ice fishing for anything but cisco, holes may not exceed 18 inches (2026 Utah Fishing Guidebook). A valid Utah or Idaho license is honored on both sides of the lake, but each state’s rules apply on its side and you may take only one daily limit.

Access

Bear Lake State Park (Utah): the Marina unit in Garden City with a seven-lane launch ramp, Rendezvous Beach on the southwest shore, and the Eastside unit along Cisco Road with a ramp at Cisco Beach.

About this water

Natural lake shared by Rich County, Utah, and Idaho. Aqua-blue water from suspended calcium carbonate.

Fishing Bear Lake: the full guide

Fish found only here

Utah’s 2026 fishing guidebook describes the Bonneville cisco, the Bonneville whitefish and the Bear Lake whitefish as fish that occur only in Bear Lake. The lake also holds Bear Lake cutthroat trout, a lake-dwelling form of the Bonneville cutthroat. Utah State Parks credits the lake’s aqua-blue color to calcium carbonate suspended in the water.

The cisco run

Bonneville cisco rarely grow past seven inches. They are known for mid-January spawning concentrations along a rocky beach on the east side, where they are dipnetted in large numbers. Utah allows a handheld dipnet for cisco at Bear Lake with an opening no wider than 18 inches, places no limit on the size of the ice hole when dipnetting, and lets anglers keep cisco snagged during normal, legal fishing.

Cutthroat

Bear Lake cutthroat often lack the bright red jaw slash of other cutthroats. Utah’s guidebook tells them from rainbow trout by their deep orange pelvic and anal fins and the few spots on the head; spawning males turn bronze along the sides.

Common questions

What is the cisco dipnet fishery?

Bonneville cisco gather to spawn along a rocky east-shore beach in mid-January, and Utah lets anglers take them with a handheld dipnet, including through the ice.

Does one license cover the whole lake?

Yes. A valid Utah or Idaho fishing or combination license is honored on both sides, but you follow the rules of the state you are in and take only one daily limit.

Which fish live only in Bear Lake?

Utah’s guidebook lists the Bonneville cisco, Bonneville whitefish and Bear Lake whitefish.

Is fishing good at Bear Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. The wind owns today. 24 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Nearby waters

Logan River24 miPineview Reservoir54 miWillard Bay57 miOgden River57 miGreen River66 miBlackfoot Reservoir67 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 41.9500, -111.3330 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.