Utah Fishing Reports

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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

Utah waters do not yet have invasive mussels, according to the latest tests.

Arizona record striped bass was caught Dec 7 in Lake Pleasant. It weighed 28.58 pounds and measured 45.7 inches.

Utah's general season rifle deer hunt will be shortened to 5 days next year. Details

DWR is looking for hunter education instructors. Details

Where Next

Enough already - I'm already tired of cold and snow. Oh, I like to ice fish and I'll go out a few times this winter, but I don't get really excited about it. I'm dreaming of fly fishing in warm sunshine.

Where do you go to enjoy warm winter fly fishing, without spending a ton of money? I've fished Lees Ferry a couple of times and it is very nice. But it is like the Provo River - it gets a lot of pressure and the fish there are "educated" because they all get caught multiple times.

I've heard reports of big rainbows being pulled from the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. That makes sense, since good water conditions extend for many miles below Lees Ferry. Access is just difficult, so trout there don't see many fishermen.

I've heard you can hike down tributary canyons to get to the river. In the upper part of the Grand Canyon, some tributaries are relatively short and so you can do day hikes to fishable spots on the river. At the bottom of each canyon you have a small area where you can fish from the bank and wade into the river, between the rapids and sheer canyon walls.

I've identified 3 canyons I'd like to try sometime soon. I'll wait for a warm spell between storms.

Wouldn't that be a kick - to get out of the cold and snow and do an adventure hike down to good fishing in a remote part of the Grand Canyon. One report I read described a guy who spent 3 days working the waters around one canyon mouth. The first day he caught 10 fish, the second he caught 12, and the third he caught 50 rainbows. There is obviously a learning curve, and I'm anxious to learn.

If any of you have fish the Colorado in Grand Canyon, shoot me an email and give me details. If anyone wants to join me on this trek, let me know and let's see what we can work out.

- Dave

All small, mid- and high-elevation reservoirs should be frozen. Many larger reservoirs are now freezing and should have safe ice within the next few days.

Bear Lake, Flaming Gorge, Fish Lake and other large, deep waters are not frozen. Fish Lake may have a cap but it will not be safe for another couple weeks. Bear Lake and Flaming Gorge may or may not freeze this winter.

Below we list some popular waters that should offer safe ice fishing this weekend. There may be unsafe ice in spots on any of these waters - so use caution.
- Strawberry (bays are frozen, main lake is probably not safe)
- Scofield
- Electric Lake
- Huntington Reservoir
- Otter Creek Reservoir
- Mantua Reservoir
- Currant Creek Reservoir
- Panguitch Lake
- Utah Lake
- Causey Reservoir
- Pelican Lake
- Grantsville Reservoir

Some hardy guys are fly fishing the streams and report good fishing. Conditions on the streams are tough right now. During a normal winter we have several warmer periods when stream fishing is almost peasant.