Bear Lake

Bear Lake straddles the Utah-Idaho border north of Logan — a massive natural lake of extraordinary beauty and biological uniqueness. Known as the "Caribbean of the Rockies" for its intensely turquoise color (caused by calcium carbonate suspended in the water), Bear Lake is one of the oldest lakes in North America and home to four endemic species found nowhere else on earth, including the Bonneville Cisco — a small whitefish that spawns in shallow water in January and February in one of the most unusual winter fisheries in the region. The Bear Lake Cutthroat Trout is the lake's most prized fishing target — a unique subspecies genetically distinct from all other Bonneville Cutthroat populations, adapted to the deep, cold, turquoise water over thousands of years of isolation. These fish average 14–20 inches in accessible sections, with larger specimens in the deep central basin. They are striking fish — the intense blue-green water makes the cutthroat's coloration appear more vivid than in any other Utah fishery. Lake trout (Mackinaw) are present in the deep basin and provide occasional fly fishing opportunities in fall when they move to the shoals to spawn. The lake's extraordinary clarity — visibility to 35 feet in calm conditions — makes sight fishing a genuine possibility for Bear Lake cutthroat in the shallow nearshore areas in spring. Bear Lake's unique character — the turquoise color, the endemic species, the sense of a genuinely ancient lake — makes it one of the most distinctive fishing destinations in the Intermountain West.