coming home from camping this afternoon, i thought my daughter & i would check out bear lake since we had never been there before. it was very windy, and i had a very tired 5 year-old so we had those two things stacked against us. we only lasted about an hour, but we got a pretty good look at the lake and i was very impressed with the facilities. there were several docks to fish off of (most without railings, so not the best for little ones), stairs into the water for the swimmers, and i can only speak for the east side where we were, but there was a nice bulkhead wall built so you could get right up to the water's edge and already be at about 2ft of water.
we did not catch anything, but i did see a family with a stringer full of fish on the north end. they were in an area between the lilly pads and the big sloped beach. my daughter had power bait and eggs on a hook, both below a bobber and on the lake floor with no action. i got a few bumps on spinners but nothing else.
we'll be back with the rest of the family, like i said it's a great layout for kids with lots of flat ground to walk on, bathrooms, swimming areas and docks. great job, wdfw!