| Brian Walters and a pal show off stripers caught near Glen Canyon.Dam. |
•Abajo Mountains – The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources reports that San Juan County waters offer good fishing. Foy and Monticello lakes have been hot for recently planted rainbow trout.
A few tiger trout are also being caught at Foy. Blanding three and four reservoirs continue to produce good fishing success with some bigger fish being caught at Blanding number four. Pike and bass fishing have been good at Recapture Reservoir. For pike, try a quarter ounce white or pink jighead hooked to a three to four inch chartreuse or pumpkin-colored curlytail grub. Another good rig is a six inch pumpkin-colored, rubber worm rigged weedless. Boaters who want to troll should try a medium-diving Berkley Frenzy in a crawdad color. Bullheads can be caught on the bottom with a worm.
•Benches Pond. – The ice is off. Worms or other bait is recommended.
•Boulgers Reservoir – The ice is mostly off. Try nightcrawlers.
•Cleveland Reservoir – The remaining ice floats around the reservoir, driven by the wind. Last week, Aquatics Biologist Justin Hart caught an 18-inch rainbow with a spinner. Dedicated hunter Mike Mills said fishing was excellent over the weekend. He recommends worms or green PowerBait.
•Electric Lake. – The ice is off. Dedicated hunter Mike Mills reported good fishing with worms and salmon eggs. Green or rainbow PowerBait is also effective. Cutthroat trout are staging for the spawn, but please avoid fishing in moving water. Tributaries are closed to protect spawning trout. Todd Munford recommends red wooly buggers for fly fishermen and nightcrawlers tipped with a salmon egg for baitcasters.
•Fairview Lakes – Ice-off is imminent.
•Gooseberry Reservoir – The United States Forest Service gate remains locked.
•Huntington Creek. – Dedicated hunter Mike Mills described fishing as excellent. Fly fishermen should try an elk hair caddis, blue wing nymph or pheasant tail. Baitcasters should bring along worms. Spincasters should pack a Panther Martin.
•Huntington North State Park – Park manager Dan Richards says that water levels will probably remain low even after dam construction is completed, due to low run-off. Fishing has been fair.
•Mammoth Reservoir. – The ice continues to recede from the shoreline. Bank fishing has been good for tiger trout using salmon eggs and worms. Closed to the possession of cutthroat trout. As of June 7, using motorboats with 10 horsepower or more will be prohibited.
•Joes Valley Reservoir. – Steve Regrutto fished last Friday. Using chub meat, he fished small coves on the west side and caught numerous small splake under the slot limit. Aquatics Biologist Justin Hart will begin to focus his recreational at on Joes Valley. In early May last year, he hooked an 11 pound splake. Special regulations apply at this reservoir. The limit is two fish. Only one may be over 22 inches. All trout from 15-22 inches must be immediately released.
•Lake Powell. – Fishing results are very steady at Lake Powell. A typical day of fishing from the back of the canyon to the main channel results in a mixed catch of striped bass, largemouth and smallmouth bass with bonus catches of crappie, catfish, walleye, and bluegill. Striped bass are the most commonly caught fish. Many schools have congregated in the main channel and are very susceptible to anchovy bait fished from 15 to 40 feet deep.
Graph the walls, chum the spot when a school is scanned and then present a third of an anchovy on a weightless hook or weighted jighead. Schools may feature the four pound adults or one- pound, plankton eating, young stripers. Both are very aggressive while in casting range. If the school moves they may be relocated by graphing or by trolling in the vicinity with a lipless vibrator lure.
•LaSal Mountains – Aquatics biologist Darek Elverud fished Kens Lake on Saturday evening and caught some small to medium-sized bass and sunfish with streamer patterns on a fly rod. Color didn’t seem to matter, but a slow retrieve helped. Hidden and Dons lakes are accessible.
The rest of the mountain remains inaccessible. Conservation Officer Casey McVay reports that the gates to Oowah and Warner will remain locked until the Memorial Day weekend.
•Lower Fish Creek – Try nymphs for eight to 12 inch brown trout. The road from Highway 6 to lower Fish Creek is expected to be muddy and inaccessible for at least two weeks.
•Millsite Reservoir – Park manager Dan Richards reports that fishing has been good at Millsite. Trolling with spoons or casting PowerBait from shore has been productive.
•Scofield Reservoir – Tom Ogden fished from a tube on Sunday and had much better luck than a week earlier.
He said bank fishermen didn’t seem to be as successful however. Tom caught most of his fish in three to seven feet of water. Trout were feeding on minnows and were very susceptible to wooly buggers with a little flash on size eight hooks. About half of Tom’s fish were tiger trout that ranged from 14-17 inches.
Aquatics Biologist Justin Hart did well last week with a quarter ounce Panther Martin. He caught three 11-15 inch rainbows and one 18-inch tiger trout.
Following a creel survey, Dedicated hunter Mike Mills recommends chartreuse PowerBait or worms for baitcasters and white Rooster tails or silver Jakes Spin-a-Lures for spincasters.
Fly fishermen should try wooly buggers or any other pattern that imitates a minnow.