Utah Fishing Reports

Kevin F With Strawberry Cutthroat

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What's New

Record Fish
Colorado has a new "biggest ever" fish - a 51-pound grass carp caught on June 4 by a 14-year-old boy using 14-pound line on a Zebco rod. Details. (Utah's biggest every fish is a lake trout that weighed 51 pounds 8 ounces.)

Strawberry Report
The fish shows above is a Strawberry cutt caught by Kevin F. It measured 22 inches. Kevin rates fishing as fair. I was with him and I got skunked, so I rate action as poor. See Kevin's report.

Most people say Strawberry is slow right now. The best reports come from people fishing bait. See the two forum posts in this issue for details.

Since I'm too lazy to fish at first light, we focused on the late evening. Fishing often becomes very good just as the sun goes down. I often catch more fish during the final 30 minutes than during the previous 2 hours, but it didn't happen on this trip. There was a full moon, and it was windy - those are my excuses. Frustrating.

Right now fish are gorging on insects, but the bugs will soon fade and the trout will be become hungry. I'll go back in a week or two, and action will probably be very good.

Holiday Get-A-Ways
All major waters will be crowded this weekend. Happily, many of our smaller waters offer very good fishing and are great options. Below I list my holiday favorites:

- Uinta Mountains. Hwy 150 lakes will be packed but others are good options. (The highest passes still have snow.)

- Boulder Mountain. Lakes accessible by roads will be crowded but if you take a short hike you can find good action with fewer competitors.

- Skyline Drive lakes

- Uinta Basin lakes and streams

- Flaming Gorge. The marina areas will be busy but it is easy to get away from crowds

- Lake Powell. The marinas will be incredibly busy. Go early and boat to a distant canyon.

Some quality streams open to fishing on the second Saturday in July (July 10, 2010). They are closed earlier to protect spawning cutthroat. The West Fork of the Duchesne River and Upper Fish Creek (a tributary to Scofield) are great fly fishing waters managed under that regulation.

- Dave

Tribune columnist Brett Prettyman suggests going to Idaho to fish for Salmon. See his blog. Actually, all the reports suggest Idaho salmon fishing is better now than it has been in years.

Fly fishing is very good right now on almost all of our trout streams. Summer bugs are finally hatching in good numbers and fish are responding. Look for drakes, PMD's, caddis, stoneflies and other seasonal insects. Talk to the guys in the fly shops for the latest hot patterns on the water you want to fish.

Green River cicadas fizzled this year, but other bugs are now out and fly fishing is very good.

Strawberry continues to be somewhat slow, but should improve dramatically during the next few weeks. Right now the best reports are coming for people fishing bait.

Lake Powell has warm water and good fishing. Wayne Gustaveson reports that surface water temperatures have hit 80 degrees at the Stateline Boat Ramp. Striped bass are "slurping" shad larva on the surface and will soon start "boiling." Fishing is good to very good now and will be excellent to fabulous within a couple weeks.

Wayne gives this advice for smallmouth: "Bass fishing has moved to the basement. Warm surface water has forced forage and bass down to the 15-30 foot mark. Tweak techniques slightly to present the bait in an irresistible manner. Split shot and drop shot rigs are now the best techniques to present plastic grubs and senkos to hungry smallmouth bass. Rigged in this manner the weight hits the bottom while the plastic bait is suspended and remains motionless for a time. Live worms presented in this manner will work on all game fish that swim in the lake." Watch Wayne's report for current information.