Southeastern Utah fishing report

By Sun Advocate

The ice fishing season is over. As shorelines open up, anglers can expect to find some of the best fishing of the year.
•Abajo Mountains. Fishing for rainbow trout at Recapture Reservoir has been good from boats with lures and fair from shore with marshmallows or PowerBait. DWR southeastern region aquatics manager Louis Berg suggests that Recapture anglers target northern pike with a red and white Daredevil. Recapture Reservoir may be totally drained this year to meet irrigation needs, so anglers are encouraged to harvest the fish they catch. Blanding number three has been stocked and will be restocked about every two weeks.
•Huntington Creek. No report. The water will be getting muddy soon due to runoff. 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. Fishing has been good for recently stocked rainbow and albino rainbow trout with flies and spinners. Try traditional baits as well. 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). Fly fishing from a float tube has been good for rainbow and brown trout with a gold-ribbed dark leech pattern. Louis Berg recommends jigs and spinners for recently-stocked brown trout and albino rainbow trout. Jigs have also been working well for bass. This month will offer some of the best fishing of the year. At Huntington North, the largemouth bass limit is two. All bass over 12 inches must be immediately released.
•Huntington Reservoir (near the top of Huntington Canyon). No report. 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. Ice-off is a good time to visit Joes Valley Reservoir. 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 15-20 inches must be immediately released.
•Lasal Mountains. DWR conservation officer Edward Meyers says that Dons Lake is probably accessible by now. Meyers comments that many of the mountain lakes will be accessible earlier this year due to lower snow accumulation. Meyers describes fishing conditions at Kens Lake as fair to good with traditional baits. Fishing is slow during the middle of the day. Early or late in the day is best. Angler Tom Ogden recently caught 35 fish in five hours at Kens Lake. He fished from a float tube with dark leech patterns. Louis Berg recommends dark green or Canada blood colors.
•Lower Fish Creek. Access to the middle portion of the stream on DWR property is closed until late spring. Only artificial flies or lures can be used below the railroad bridge, which is about one mile below the dam.
•Millsite Reservoir. Fishing success has been sporadic. Flies, spinners and traditional baits are recommended.
•Scofield Reservoir. Conservation officer Carl Gramlich reports that ice is off the north, south and west sides and anglers are now fishing from the bank. Worms and marshmallows have been good bait choices. Louis Berg states that, “the best fishing of the year for most anglers will occur in the next two weeks. Expect great success with traditional baits.”
•Willow Lake. Anglers can drive to within a half a mile. The lake should be accessible with vehicles by late April.
•Wrigley Springs Reservoir. The ice is off and the access road is dry. However, fishing is currently poor.
•Lake Powell. The lake elevation is 3,647 M.S.L. and the water temperature is 56 – 64 F. The really warm, calm weather has given way to nice mornings and breezy afternoons. While air temperature is still mild, the evening breeze mixes the thin, warm surface layer and has slowed down movement of fish to the shallows. Fish are still deep as a general rule. Bass spawning has been set back another week in the main clear cool water of the main lake. Bass fishing is slow near Wahweap but improves with up lake travel. The San Juan is good and smallmouth and largemouth bass are in prespawn, nest searching mode. They can be taken on shallows flats and in coves where likely nest sites may be found. More warming is needed before bass move shallow in the main lake. Bass fishing is improving daily from Good Hope to Hite. The best fishing on Lake Powell is found for stripers in the lower lake, particularly in the main channel from the dam to Navajo Canyon, although bait fishing near the mouth of Trachyte (Hite) is very good. Warming water and flowing current has drawn most stripers from their wintering grounds to the main channel (dam and power plant intake and many points in between). The exception is canyons with constant flowing water also have a school of stripers near the inflow. The muddy, bright green water in upper Navajo has a major population of stripers which can be taken by trolling shallow running shad imitating lures or casting plastic jigs to shore in 10-15 feet.