Utah Fishing Reports

♣ Read our fishing articles
♣ Listen to FishBytes on KSL Outdoors
♣ Take a SkyCall satellite phone on your next adventure
♣ Follow me on Twitter

Rec Property

Soldier Summit Cabin:
- 12.86 acre lot
- 3,054 Square Feet
- 2 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms
- Family Room & Den
- Hardwood Floors
- Huge Kitchen and Large Dining Room
- 1160 sq ft basement framed for family room, 2 bdrms, 1 bath

What's New

Scofield Trout
Scofield was kind to me last week. We fished during the middle of the day and did well trolling Rapalas, casting Gulp! Minnows and still-fishing baits.

Most of the fish we caught were pan-sized rainbows and cutts. Our biggest is shown in the photo above. We only caught one tiger trout. See photos from our trip.

Lake Powell Fishing & Hiking
I leave for Lake Powell in the morning, probably my final trip to Powell this season. We will target smallmouth, they are easy to fine, and fish for stripers when we stumble onto them. Good smallmouth fishing should hold up for another 2-3 weeks, then it will slow considerably.

We will also hike a couple slot canyons down in the Hite area. Probably do Fry Canyon and the Black Hole of White Canyon. Both are water hikes - you've got to swim through potholes filled with ice-cold water. (We'll be wearing wet suits.) Fry is short and fairly easy, except for the 60-foot rappel.

I love the slot canyons. This will probably be my last water hike this year - it is getting too cold even down south. But there are plenty of dry hikes to keep me entertained for the next several weeks.

Big Game
This is big game season - time to fish for big lake trout. The lake trout congregate near spawning areas this time of year and so they are easier to find. If the weather cooperates I'll probably go after them at Fish Lake next weekend. I'll be jigging but you can also catch them trolling with downriggers.

Events

Hardware Ranch Elk Festival, Oct. 10, at Hardware Ranch above Hyrum in northern Utah. Elk may or may not be at the refuge at the time of the festival. Regardless, there will be plenty of activities including a free wagon ride, painting pumpkins, turning balloons into antlers, shooting pellets guns at targets, trying your skills at archery, and exploring for aquatics bugs.

The ranch will offer its regular horse-drawn sleigh or wagon ride through the middle of hundreds of wild elk beginning Dec. 18.

Heber City's Cowboy Poetry Gathering & Buckaroo Fair, Nov 3-8. Enjoy a weeks worth of continuous cowboy talent where Cowboys and Cowgirls gather to pass on their western traditions and genuine devotion to the cowboy way of life with poetry, music, and live horsemanship. The Cowboy Poetry experience also includes, poetry in motion at the Horse Show Extravaganza; top performing acts in western entertainment; real East Texas BBQ; western vendors & craftsman; horse clinics; and the favorite Cowboy Express train ride.

See our complete events calendar

- Good Fishing, Dave Webb

Flaming Gorge, Bear Lake and Fish Lake have good populations of lake trout. Remember Linwood Bay at the Gorge will soon be subject to special regulations.

Strawberry, Scofield and other waters have very good fishing for trout. Shore fishing is good but action is better from boats. Virtually everything works this time of year, from flies to small lures to baits.

On our streams, fly fishers are switching to streamers and nymphs for consistent action. Fish are also being taken on Blue Wings and small PMDs during the warmest parts of the day. Some of the biggest browns of the year are taken during this time of year.

Starvation often fishes very well for walleye during the fall. Walleye like cool, stormy weather. Big walleye are often caught on breeze fall days. Some walleye will also be caught in Willard, Utah Lake and Deer Creek, but Starvation has the most consistent action.

Lake Powell fishing is changing in response to cooler temperatures. In general, fishing will be good during periods of warm, stable weather and slower when it is cold and stormy. Smallmouth bass are the prime target now but largemouth and stripers are also being caught. Most of the action is toward the back of canyons where brush and trees have been submerged by rising water. Use lures that can be fished right into the brush. See Wayne Gustaveson's weekly report for details.

Best Lakes/Reservoirs
- Bear Lake for lake trout and cutthroat
- Rockport for trout
- Jordanelle for trout
- Strawberry for trout
- Flaming Gorge for lake trout and rainbows
- Red Fleet for trout
- Steinaker for trout
- Starvation for walleye
- Scofield Reservoir for trout
- Enterprise Reservoir for trout in low water
- Fish Lake for lake trout, rainbows, splake and perch
- Sand Hollow for bass
- Lake Powell for bass and stripers