Utah Fishing Reports

Fishing Wiki
Help us build a shared knowledge base about fishing

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

May We Suggest:
- Auto/Truck/RV service & repair
- Bear Lake Area Snowmobiling
- Bear Lake Area Horseback Riding
- Bear Lake Area Family Reunions
- Private Fly Fishing
- Pheasant Hunting

What's New

Skunked at Deer Creek
It has been years since I went fishing and failed to catch a single fish, but that happened at Deer Creek last Saturday. I fished hard for about 3 hours and came up skunked. Everyone we talked with reported slow fishing, except one guy who said he did well trolling a fire tiger Rapala up near the Provo River inlet. He said he caught 10 trout.

Small Stream Strategy
I had a couple free hours this afternoon and so I fished lower Hobble Creek and caught a bunch of small browns.

Plotted strategy as I walked the bank high above the stream. I could see fish scurrying for cover, even thought I was 30 feet from the water. Trout are spooky in small streams.

I saw a few Mayflies in the air but no action on the surface, so I decided to start with a bead-head nymph. I walked as softly as I could to a point above a likely hole and then sat down to rest and tie on a pheasant tail. After a few minutes I judged the fish would be back in feeding lanes and so I stood up slowly and dropped my nymph into the stream. I fished the water closest to me but found no takers.

Leaning out over the stream, I flipped my nymph into the water on the edge of the current and played out line as it drifted toward the bottom of the hole. I guided it past a snag and then into deep water and immediately had a strike. I pulled it in and had a beautifully-colored 7-inch brown.

I repeated that several times and had strikes almost every time my nymph reached the far end of the hole, about 40 feet below me. I caught several fish, all small browns.

Where there are small browns there should be big ones, I reasoned. How can I motivate those big guys? I sat back down on the bank and tied on a big, black woolly bugger.

I cast it out and worked it down into the hole. It was aiming right at the snag and so I drew my line tight and tried to swing it out toward the current. I had a solid strike just in front of the snag and felt a fish thrash on the end of my line, but it quickly flipped off. It felt like it would have been about a 12 incher.

I worked the bugger down to the bottom of the hole with no action and then cast again. This time I saw a fish flash in the water but he never took the hook. I cast again, drifted into the snag and broke my line. That was the only big bugger I had with me.

I could have stayed and caught more little browns on nymphs, but decided I needed to head home and write up this report.

That spot on Hobble Creek is just 8 minutes from my home, but this was the first time I've stopped to fish there. I drive by it a hundred times a year. Now that I've taken time to explore that stream section, I'll be back.

Lake Powell Trip
I'm planning a serious Powell fishing trip, probably April 30-May2 (if the weather is nice). I'm going to launch at Hite and fish down near Good Hope. The Colorado may be pumping mud into the lake by then. I'll fish just down-lake from the mud line.

I'll camp on the beach near where I am fishing, so I can enjoy the great late-evening and early morning action. I'll troll deep diving plugs for stripers and cast jigs and lures into the rocks for smallmouth.

Should be fun.

- Dave

More and more trout reservoirs are opening up. Jordanelle has fishable open water. Rockport had considerable floating ice as of mid-week, but will probably be totally ice free this weekend. Those two reservoirs are good bets in northern Utah. Strawberry, Fish Lake and other high-elevation waters still offer ice fishing.

Lake Powell success has been up and down, best between storms. Temperatures this weekend will finally warm enough to start the bass spawn. The next few weeks will bring great fishing for all species. Read Wayne Gustaveson's weekly report for the latest tactics. Also read our Powell fishing articles.

Streams in southern Utah are now picking up some runoff, and more will come with this warm weather. With all the snow down there, runoff will be higher and last longer than normal. Some streams will be blown out for the next month or so.

Northern Utah streams are in good shape. Dry fly fishing has been good using blue winged olives, and is actually best on stormy days. Nymph fishing is also productive.

Northern streams will start to pick up higher water and a little mud in a couple weeks, depending on how the weather goes. Check at the fly shops for current conditions.

Utah Lake's walleye spawn is over; spawning activity is just starting at Willard Bay. The dikes at Willard will draw crowds of anglers during the next few weeks.

A few walleye are being caught at Deer Creek, but not in consistent numbers. Yuba has open water and also offers some walleye fishing.

Starvation Reservoir should be ice free about now. Walleye action there will pick up in a couple weeks. Meanwhile, Starvation often has good brown trout fishing just after ice-off.