Southeastern Utah fishing report

By Sun Advocate

Effective last week, the daily bag and possession limits have been doubled for all game fish in Cleveland Reservoir, Miller Flat Reservoir, Monticello Lake and Recapture Reservoir. The liberalized limits will remain in effect until November 1, when the limits will revert back to the original limits set for 2002. Cleveland, Miller Flat and Recapture reservoirs are being drawn down or drained as a result of drought. Monticello Lake is being drained for dam repairs.
Louis Berg, aquatics manager, expects Ken’s Lake Lloyd’s Lake to be similarly drained. Once the determination is finalized, emergency fishing regulation changes will be made at these reservoirs, liberalizing fish limits.
This will be a good year for anglers who fish the reservoirs at the right time, according to Tom Pettengill, DWR sport fisheries coordinator. “At each water there will be a period of time when the water will be low enough that fish will be somewhat congregated, but there will still be enough water that the fish will actively feed,” he explained. “Anglers who fish during that time period should do really well.”
•Abajo Mountains. Conservation officer Randall Scheetz reported that fishing conditions remain the same as was reported last week. Foy Reservoir continues to provide good fishing with bait and lures. Fishing remains fair at Monticello Reservoir, which has been stocked. Bait fishing continues to be good at Blanding number three, which will be regularly stocked during the summer. Blanding number four is almost drained. At Recapture Reservoir, rainbow trout fishing has been fair for boat anglers trolling with spinners. Northern pike fishing has been good for anglers trolling with crankbaits.
•Benches Pond. Conservation officer Stacey Taggart reports fair fishing with PowerBait, worms and marshmallows. The pond will be repeatedly stocked throughout the summer.
•Boulger Pond. Fair fishing has been reported for anglers using PowerBait, worms and marshmallows.
•Cleveland Reservoir. This reservoir has been stocked with its total annual allotment of 4,000 rainbow trout. The daily bag and possession limits have been raised to eight fish. Anglers are encouraged to harvest the fish before the reservoir drains, which is expected by mid-August.
•Colorado River. Conservation officer Edward Meyers reported good catfishing with chicken livers, worms and shrimp.
•Duck Fork Reservoir. Aquatics manager, Louis Berg reports good fishing for eight to 16 inch tiger and cutthroat trout using a variety of spinners. All tributaries are closed to fishing until July 13. The trout limit is two. Fish may be caught only with artificial flies and lures.
•Electric Lake. Right at dusk, fly fishermen have been doing well with dry fly patterns. The water level is so low that boats cannot be launched. Tributaries are closed until July 13. A tributary is any moving water, which empties into a reservoir, even if that water is running within the lakebed.
•Ferron Reservoir. Fly fishing has been good from a float tube for brook, rainbow and cutthroat trout. Anglers are encouraged to harvest the illegally introduced brook trout, which may eventually overpopulate the lake, resulting in small fish in poor condition.
•Gigliotti Pond. A leak in the pond is draining water at the rate of one acre-foot every four days. Scuba divers will be called in to search the bottom for the source of the leak. Until the leak has been identified and remedied, the pond will continue to draw down. Last week, the pond was stocked with bluegill, largemouth bass and trout. The trout limit is four fish for licensed anglers and two fish for unlicensed anglers under the age of 14. All bass and bluegill caught must be immediately released. If fish to be released are hooked deeply, anglers should not attempt to remove the hook but should instead cut their line and leave the hook in the fish. The hook will eventually rust away.
•Gooseberry Reservoir.Fishing has been fair with PowerBait, worms and marshmallows.
•Huntington Creek. Fishing has been good in the fly-only zone. Anglers fishing below the forks have had fair success for small rainbows using night crawlers and worms. 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. Bass and bluegill may still be caught. 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 continues to be slow for trout. 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). Fishing success has been sporadic for 12 to 14 inch tiger trout with night crawlers. 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. No report this week. Fishing has been poor to fair for rainbow trout. 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.
•Lake Powell. The Lake Powell fishing report home page is: http://www.wayneswords.com. DWR biologist and project leader, Wayne Gustaveson, updates fishing conditions at this website weekly. He provides detailed information on locations, tackle and techniques for each species in the lake. In 2002, an unlimited number of striped bass may be kept. The smallmouth bass limit is 20, and the largemouth bass limit is five.
•LaSal Mountains. Conservation officer Edward Meyers reports good fishing for small largemouth bass with plastic jigs at Kens Lake. Hidden Lake has provided excellent fishing for seven to 12 inch rainbow trout with spinners. Good fishing has been reported at Oowah Lake for seven to 9 inch rainbow trout with spinners. Mill Creek has been good for rainbow and brown trout with nymphs or dry flies.
•Lower Fish Creek. The road to the DWR property is open and dry. Dry flies are recommended.
•Miller Flat Reservoir. Two weeks ago the reservoir was stocked with its total annual allotment of 3,000 rainbow trout. Last week the daily bag and possession limits were raised to eight trout to help anglers harvest the trout before the reservoir drains. Good fishing is expected.
•Millsite Reservoir. Fishing success has slowed down.
•Petes Hole. Petes Hole has been stocked with 1,800 rainbow trout. Good fishing can be expected.
•Potter’s Ponds. Good fishing has been reported for small rainbows using flies, night crawlers, and PowerBait.
•Scofield Reservoir. Conservation officer Stacey Taggart described fishing as slow this past weekend, but added that high winds may have been largely responsible. Bait casters have been using a worm/marshmallow combination. Please be advised that all tributaries remain closed until July 13. A tributary is considered to be any moving water, which empties into the body of the reservoir, even if the channel of water lies within the reservoir’s basin. Bear in mind that much of the land around the reservoir is private. Please keep vehicles off the shoreline and fish only in designated areas.
•Soup Bowl. The first stocking of the year occurred last week.
•Willow Reservoir. Good fishing has been reported for eight to 12 inch tiger trout and rainbow trout using a variety of spinners.