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Bead Lake has good populations of lake trout plus burbot and a huge population of pike minnow and some Kokanee. If you look at the bathymetry of Bead, the saddle at 45' under the power lines divides the two lake basins. The saddle always has fish on it and the major point across the lake also has fish. I have only fished soft water there but most of the lake trout range between 8-14 lbs. Usually, 1/2 zzingers work the best thru the ice because of the free rotation on the line but in soft water tubes are better. Interestingly, some of the lake trout have aluminum tags in the jaw from a local doing his own research years ago.
No bites in just over 5 hours of fishing, made for a slow and cold night. The trek just to get to our spots, was treacherous, to say the least! There’s about 6” to 10” of snow on top of the ice, with some being packed, but mostly just powdery. There was a slush layer in a few spots, which made it even harder to walk. It made for a long haul, even with our smitty-sleds. At 60 years of age, it was a chore. (And I’m in shape! Sad shape, I guess!) We got to Bead after 4 sometime, and were fishing by 5:30, or so. I saw a couple fish come through on my Showdown, but nothing hung around long enough to matter. I did notice twice, when I had the fish-finder in full water column, that it looked like a school of kokanee came by, but we were only set up for burbot, and not after the kokes. The burbot fishing, for me at least, has been hit or miss, at best. This year so far, a complete whiff! I shall return, but probably not again this year.