News / 

Utah Field Guide: Bonneville Cisco


Save Story
Leer en espaƱol

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

One of three different whitefish species endemic to Bear Lake, the Bonneville Cisco is no doubt the most recognized. Spending most of the year in the deeper portions of the lake, these 8 to 10 inch fish are not a sought after sportfish, but during January the Cisco gather in large schools and move into the lakes rocky shallows to spawn. Back in the 1960's anglers by the thousands would flock to the shores of cisco beach for the fabled cisco run. Now a days a hearty few can still be found braving the elements and dipping their nets in search of a limit of cisco. Many avid anglers will catch their daily limit and freeze them for cutthroat and lake trout fishing later in the year.

The Cisco run usually starts in mid to late January. On January 24th, anglers will venture out and hold an informal party known as the cisco disco on cisco beach. The Bear Lake Chamber of Commerce will also have their annual Bear Lake Monster Polar Plunge at the Bear Lake State Park. All the proceeds from the icy plunge go directly to HopeKids, a non-profit organization that supports families with cancer. For more information on the plunge, log onto bearlake.org

Most recent News stories

Adam Eakle

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast