Fishing report for Southeastern Utah

By Sun Advocate

•Abajo Mountains. Monticello and Foy lakes are accessible and will be stocked in the next week or so.
•Benches Pond. Stocking will occur within a week.
•Boulger Pond. Stocking will occur next week.
•Cleveland Reservoir. The reservoir is about 50 percent ice covered and has not been stocked yet. Fishing is expected to be poor until stocking occurs.
•Gigliotti Pond. This new pond in Helper will be filled and stocked by May 25 for its grand opening. The pond will be closed to fishing until May 25.
•Gooseberry Reservoir. The reservoir has not been stocked yet, but will be accessible in about a week.
•Huntington Creek. No report. Harvest of brown trout on the left fork is encouraged, where the limit is four fish. On the left fork, fish must be taken with artificial flies or lures. On the right fork, from Flood and Engineer’s Canyon upstream to Electric Lake dam, only two trout may be taken and artificial flies must be used. No bait or lures are allowed in this section.
•Huntington Game Farm Pond. The pond was stocked with 2,000 catchable-size rainbow trout a week ago. Anglers using Jake’s spin-a-lures have done well. The trout limit is four. The bluegill limit is 10. The bass limit is four, but only one bass larger than 15 inches. Limits are the same for all licensed anglers and unlicensed anglers under 14 years of age.
•Huntington North Reservoir. (near the city of Huntington). Fishing has been generally slow for trout. A Jake’s spin-a-lure is recommended. Jigs have been working well for largemouth bass, where the limit is two. All bass over 12 inches must be immediately released.
•Huntington Reservoir (near the top of Huntington Canyon). The reservoir is about 90 percent ice covered. There is open water where the tributaries (currently closed to fishing) empty into the reservoir. Otherwise, the shoreline has not opened up. Some of the best fishing of the year should occur as the ice recedes from the shoreline. Release of tiger trout is encouraged so that fish can grow larger. Any brown trout caught should be harvested. The reservoir is closed to the possession of cutthroat trout and trout with cutthroat markings.
•Joes Valley Reservoir. Fishing continues to be slow. Anglers are encouraged to release all larger splake for control of the abundant Utah chub population. The splake limit is two fish. All splake between 15 to 20 inches must be immediately released.
•Lasal Mountains. DWR conservation officer Edward Meyers reports that fishing at Ken’s Lake has been fair to good near the dam with traditional baits. Fishing has been better early and late in the day. As of May 7, Oowah and Medicine lakes had not been stocked yet. Dark Canyon Lake was stocked on May 6 with 1,800 catchable sized rainbow trout. The road to Warner is open, but the lake has not been stocked. All other mountain lakes are accessible. Stocking should occur before Memorial Day.
•Lower Fish Creek. Lower Fish Creek flows are currently high and the water is murky. The road to the DWR property is open and dry.
•Millsite Reservoir. Sergeant Carl Gramlich describes fishing success as fair. Frequent weather changes have contributed to sporadic catch rates. A worm tipped with marshmallow or PowerBait is recommended.
•Scofield Reservoir. DWR southeastern region aquatics manager Louis Berg reports that the water is beginning to clear at Scofield Reservoir, which has improved fishing success. Angler Tom Ogden caught 26 trout in seven hours. Most of the fish were 10 to 12 inch rainbows, but some were as large as 17 inches. Fishing was best on the west side of the lake. Good fly patterns include a green or brown Sheep Creek special, red leech and green leech. Bait fishing remains poor to fair. Please remember that fishing is not allowed in the tributaries until July 13 in order to protect spawning fish. The boat ramp to Madsen Bay will be closed until May 20, due to paving of the parking area. However, the Mountain View boat ramp remains in operation. Berg reminds anglers that much of the land around the reservoir is private. Anglers should keep vehicles off the shoreline and fish only in designated areas. Conservation officers are writing quite a few tickets for illegal vehicle use and trespass. There have been some expensive towing charges for violators.
•Wrigley Springs Reservoir. Wrigley Springs has been stocked. No report on angling success.
•Lake Powell. Report updated May 9. Wayne Gustaveson, DWR Lake Powell project leader, provides the following report. The lake elevation is 3,645 M.S.L. and the water temperature is 58 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit. Lake level continues to fall with outflow more than doubling inflowing water.It is not as cold at night which allows some of the heat gained during the day to be retained over night.
Fish are really enjoying the warming trend with some of the best catching of the season happening right now. Bass fishing is really heating up with smallmouth being taken virtually everywhere on the lake. Main channel rocks with rough edges and steep, quick drops seem to be the best habitat type. Bass are eating crayfish and soft plastic grubs may be the best crustacean imitation. But don’t hesitate to cast crankbaits. Bass seem eager to chase this spring. Both hard and soft baits with red flake or red flash are working very well. Rapalas, husky jerks, lucky craft, and wally divers, all seem to draw attention from frisky bass. Remember to keep a 20 fish limit of nine to 12 inch bass. Smallmouth are abundant and keeping the small ones will allow the remaining fish to grow larger.
May is walleye month at Powell. Fish drop offs, deep rocks and the deep center slot in slick rock canyons first thing in the morning. Walleye are light sensitive and will be most active during low light periods. If serious about finding a walleye, use a piece of live night crawler as added enticement to a plastic jig. Trollers will find a few by bouncing a “hot-n-tot” or similar lure across the ends of points or by bumping the trolled lure against the steep canyon wall.
Striped bass may be at the spring peak now. Many fish are found in the main channel and can be caught on anchovy bait still fished at 30 to 50 feet. Remember to chum often to maximize your catch. Different striper schools are in the backs of canyons where water depth is 20to 40 feet where they are eating small insects as they hatch out of the mud on the bottom. Find potential feeding sites by watching for swallows skimming the surface. Birds are eating the same prey and are easier to see than fish. Insects are small but stripers will always grab a stray fish or artificial bait swimming by. Troll for the scattered stripers that are not schooled but feeding individually over a wide area of hatching bugs. Long thin deep diving lures that get down dive 10 to 20 feet like wally divers, thundersticks, Yo-zuri crystal minnow and are just what the stripers want.
Stripers that chase lures are normally in better shape than those that can only find bait. Remember to keep all the stripers caught. Powell is blessed with too much survival from stripers and removing some leaves more prey for those that remain. These insect feeding stripers may be found in Wahweap Bay near Wiregrass canyon, the shallow end of Last Chance, and Halls Creek. There may be adult shad in the same locations.
The water color will be stained and bottom depth about 20 to 30 feet. Hot spots for school stripers in the channel are the dam, intake, Navajo (points past first island). But stripers are becoming wary of boat traffic and will move away from large rafts of boats. Try to find a spot away from the group to do better than average on school fish that shy away from the main group of boats. Stripers will be anywhere in the main channel in the lower lake right now.