Utah Fishing Reports

Stern Drive
Winterizing Special

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PLEASANT GROVE, UTAH
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801-949-5813 CELL

My photo shows a brown I caught on Diamond Fork at dusk. Sorry the photos is a bit blurry – it was getting dark and the fish kept flipping. Fall colors were gorgeous.

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What's New

Spontaneous Fishing
I've survived a hectic week, with too much to do for work and family matters. Yesterday afternoon I completed one major project and jumped right into the next one. By 5 pm I was exhausted and needed a break.

At 5:30 I decided what I really needed with to go fishing. It took 15 minutes for me to get my gear together and 30 minutes to drive up the canyon. I hiked up to a favorite hole and started fishing. I was able to land 2 browns before it got dark. I had a few other good strikes that I missed. See my report.

I choose to fish Diamond Fork, which is just a few minutes away from my home in Springville. Three other fishing waters are just minutes from my home, and I often go on these spontaneous fishing trips. It's fun and provides a great break.

I keep a rod ready and a small tackle box stocked with basic supplies. I really don't need much for these outings. A black woolly bugger will catch any sport fish in Utah. A small floating rainbow Rapala will do the same.

You know, had fished this entire summer with just those two lures, just the woolly bugger and the Rapala, I would probably have caught just as many fish as I did lugging around a big tackle box filled with dozens of expensive lures.

Sometimes it is fun to go spontaneous using minimal gear.

Deer Hunt Changes
DWR big game managers are considering major changes to the Utah deer hunt. They may recommend allowing fewer hunters in an effort to build the buck/doe ration and improve hunting for those able to obtain a permit. Details. They welcome public comment.

- Dave

Summer-like conditions will prevail through this weekend, offering one more great opportunity to get out and enjoy warm weather hiking, biking, fishing, camping and other sports.

The forecast says conditions will change next week, with the weather becoming cool and rainy. That will allow fish to settle into a fall pattern – and that will bring on better fishing. Action is good right now and it will become very good for most species.

All of our major waters and most smaller waters are fishing well right now. We've heard very good reports from Strawberry, Scofield, Flaming Gorge, Lake Powell and other waters.

Lake Powell fishing is good right now and will become great as the water cools. Fish are deep now but will move into more shallow water as the season progresses. DWR Lake Powell biologist Wayne Gustaveson says the “fall feeding frenzy” is just around the corner. Read his fishing report.

Wayne and his crew have been sampling to gauge fish numbers and condition. Here's part of their report:

“Here is a brief summary of our sampling results from this week. Electrofishing at Good Hope Bay showed an absence of threadfin shad but a stable population of gizzard shad in the backs of tree lined coves. Large adult shad were roaming the shoreline and plenty of young shad of good eating size were in the thick brush. As soon as the water cools, bass and stripers will find these shad hideouts and feeding will increase.

“The biggest sampling find was the unprecedented number of young-of-year striped bass. Hundreds of young stripers were collected compared to the handful of stripers normally caught. It was suspected this spring that the entire adult striper population was in spawning condition. Sampling results confirm that a third strong year class of stripers has been produced. Just as occurred in 2008 and 2009, massive numbers of young stripers are now found in the lake. These youngsters are able to stay in shallow warm water with shad forage while adult stripers are confined to cooler water without shad. Adult stripers will now lose the competition for food and not grow any larger. This fall and next spring bait fishing for stripers will be superb along the steep canyon walls. Easy fishing for stripers will return. There will be no need to troll of use spoons next year.

“All predators will suffer from lack of shad. Stripers are the first to suffer loss of condition because they prefer to feed in open water. Now that shad are hiding in the trees bass, crappie and walleye will fare better because they also live in or near the tree line. All small fish in the trees will be fair game. Population size of all species will now diminish as hungry adult predators consume young fish in the brush. Tough times are ahead but the forage boom and bust cycle has happened many times before. Hopefully the presence of gizzard shad will dampen the effect as the "bust" continues over winter.”

Stern Drive Winterizing Special

Stern Drive
Winterizing Special