•Abajo and Blue Mountains. Division of Wildlife Resources conservation officer Randall Scheetz reports that fishing for rainbow trout is slow at Recapture Reservoir. Some Northern pike continue to be caught from shore with spinners and jigs.
Scheetz indicates that fishing at Blanding number three continues to be good with PowerBait, spinners, and marshmallows.
Foy Reservoir is thawing with more than 60 feet of open water along the shoreline.
•Cleveland Reservoir. Please avoid this reservoir until ice-off. The ice is dangerous and unpredictable.
•Duck Fork Reservoir. This body of water is fishless, but will be stocked with small tiger trout and Colorado River cutthroat in summer. The tiger trout are expected to be large enough to catch in 2004.
•Electric Lake. The ice is a composite of multiple layers of slush and ice. Be careful! There is a risk of falling through one or more layers of ice and slush.
The limit on fish at Electric Lake is four trout. At the lake, there are no restrictions on the type of tackle which may be used, but the trout limit is the same as the statewide trout limit.
Tributaries will be closed until July 12. When tributaries open, the limit will be two trout; and artificial flies and lures must be used.
•Ferron Reservoir. The trout limit is four. However, anglers may take a bonus limit of four brook trout in addition to the normal trout limit. All tributaries are closed until July 12.
•Gigliotti Pond. Anglers should wait until May, when the reservoir is filled and restocking occurs.
•Huntington Creek. Fly fisherman, Tom Ogden had good luck with a number 10 Montana or with a number 14 clear glass beadhead prince nymph.
Flows are low, approximately six cubic feet per second.
On the right fork (from Flood and Engineer’s Canyon upstream to Electric Lake) only artificial flies may be used. The trout limit is two. On the left fork, only artificial flies and lures may be used. The harvest of brown trout is encouraged.
A portion of Crandall Creek above the Genwal Mine is closed to fishing for 2003 to protect Colorado River cutthroat trout.
•Huntington North Reservoir. Fishing has been slow this past week. In 2003, the bass limit is two; all largemouth bass over 12 inches must be immediately released.
•Huntington Reservoir (near the top of Huntington Canyon). This reservoir is extremely dangerous, due to the potential for buckling and subsidence of the ice pack. Please stay off! Anglers are urged to wait until ice-off, before resuming fishing.
Tributaries are closed until July 12. The reservoir is closed to the possession of cutthroat trout or trout with cutthroat markings.
•Joes Valley Reservoir. The ice pack is considered dangerous and further ice fishing is discouraged.
In 2003, the trout limit is two. No more than one trout may be over 22 inches. All trout 15 to 22 inches must be immediately released.
•Millsite Reservoir. There have been a number of good fishing reports coming from this reservoir. One angler reported good luck with salmon eggs on the bottom. Others have had good luck with a fly and bubble or with PowerBait.
A fly fisherman reported good success with red or purple leech patterns. Another potentially good pattern is a green leech with a gold rib.
•Price River and Lower Fish Creek. Very little water is being released from Scofield Reservoir. Flows are extremely low. From the railroad bridge approximately one mile below the Scofield Reservoir dam downstream to the confluence with the White River only artificial flies and lures may be used. A number 16 prince nymph is recommended.
•Scofield Reservoir. DWR conservation officer Stacey Taggart reports open water on the south end of the reservoir. The water level has been rising, creating a margin of open water along the entire shoreline. Getting on and off the ice pack is risky. Slush and water cover the ice sheet by noon. Ice off is expected to occur around the second or third week of April, although that’s impossible to accurately predict.
•Lake Powell. The water temperature is 52 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit.
Typical spring weather blows in cold, gets warm and calm, then blows cold again. Fish get active as it warms, then sulk as it cools. Fishing on a warm afternoon is productive, but the morning following a windy night is tough. Expect this unsettled weather pattern to continue.
It is possible to react to the changing fish moods by using techniques appropriate for exiting conditions.
The most important key to fishing success is to fish the warmest water available. On a cold windy morning all fish will have moved deeper over night.
Fish for bass in deep water with slow moving baits. Let the plastic grub rest on the bottom between hops. Slow roll a spinner bait right through brush making sure it smacks against limbs to find bass right in the center of cover. Buzz rocky points with crankbaits occasionally. When a bass reacts it is time to fish shallower.
Cast a plastic grub to the bass following the crankbait. It reacts to the crank but eats the grub off the bottom.
On a calm afternoon bass will move shallow to select a suitable nest site. Spawning is only a few degrees away and bass will have a nest selected when water warms enough. Bass can be seen cruising the shallows in clear water. They hide in a shallow tumbleweed of other cover and are very spooky.
Try throwing long casts past structure instead of plunking down right next to a bush. Anglers may want to cast right on the sand beach and pull the lure back into the water for a silent entry.
Largemouth are active right now and smallmouth are just starting to move.
Striped bass, and most other fish, are in the back of the canyon. They hold in water 60 feet or deeper and then run shallow to feed.
On calm days, shad are found at depths of 15 feet and shallower as they seek the warmest available water.
Brown or green water is more comforting to shad as sight-feeding predators have a harder time finding them. Use a bright and loud crankbait like a rattletrap, bomber model.
Shad rap in the muddy water at the back of the canyon for stripers. Trolling is effective for one pass but stripers are boat shy in shallow water so casting from a drifting boat may produce more fish. Leave spooked fish for a while and then return later for a repeat performance. Hopping from one canyon to the next is a good way to stay on fresh fish.
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