Jordanelle Reservoir Fishing Overview

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Description
Jordanelle is very popular for fishing and water sports. On summer weekends jet and water skiers pound the reservoir hard enough to make it difficult to fish. Anglers who fish weekdays or early in the day on weekends enjoy fair to good action. Many of the fish caught are put-and-take hatchery rainbows but there are also some nice hold-over rainbows and wild browns, along with nice sized perch and smallmouth bass.

Location
Along Hwy 40 between Heber and Park City.
36 miles from Salt Lake City
38 Miles from Provo

Primary Species
Rainbow trout, brown trout, smallmouth bass, yellow perch

Special Regulations
General limits apply for trout. Limit 6 bass. All bass over 12 inches must be immediately released. Limit 50 yellow perch. Bass may not be filleted and the heads and tails may not be removed in the field or in transit.

Seasonal Factors
When we have a warm winter, the main body of the reservoir may not freeze, or may have unsafe ice. The upper Provo River arm almost always freezes and offers good ice fishing.

The reservoir usually thaws early in the spring - it almost always offers open-water fishing in late March or early April. Some of the biggest fish of the year are caught during the early spring. Action can vary widely, hot one day and cold the next, until the hatchery trucks get going later in the spring.

Smallmouth bass fishing becomes good in May, for anglers who know how to get jigs or lures deep to the fish.

By Memorial Day the weather has warmed enough that weekend water sport enthusiasts converge on the reservoir, making fishing difficult at times. Smallmouth bass fishing improves into early June.

Perch fishing also becomes good in late spring and stays good into the summer.

As the heat of summer sets in most fish go deep. Anglers who troll lures deep or float bait up off the bottom can do well for trout. Bass fishermen do well with jigs.

In fall as temperatures state to cool, fishing picks up for all species. Bass fishing starts to slow when the water gets cold, usually in early October.

Lures and Techniques
Troll a Jakes lure, gold with orange spots, down 5 feet and you can catch recently planted rainbows all day. If you want big browns you'll have to learn to fish deep.