Utah Walleye Fishing Reports

COMMENTS

Utah Walleye Fishing Reports Revised 03-09-10 Hypertext gives a description of the lake and facilities available. Check proclamtion for details on restrictions as some may not be listed here. Bear River Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Bullhead Catfish, Channel Catfish, Crappie, Cutthroat Trout, Green Sunfish, Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Walleye, Whitefish, Yellow Perch No recent reports. Deer Creek Reservoir Brown Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Yellow Perch (Mar 5) There were some anglers on the reservoir yesterday. Access onto the ice in good in places, but the ice can get soft with the warmer weather. Anglers are still reporting fair to good success week, mostly with bait-tipped jigs or traditional baits. Bring a plank to get on and off the ice, and check the ice thickness carefully. Please use caution. (Mar 4) Aaron of American Fork fished Snow's Arm using orange tube with nightcrawler in 10 to 20 ft. of water. "fished from 7 to 10 am. Had a bite within 5 minutes, but was slow after that. Ice was 15 inches and quiet." (Feb 27) Johnny W. of Orem fishing in a group of 8 at Rainbow Bay and caught 25 rainbows deadsticking and jigging all colors of jigs with meal worms or nightcrawlers in 6 to 12 ft. of water. "People are catching on to me I had a crowd around me. Time to find a new honey hole." (Feb 26) Johnny W. of Orem fished Rainbow Bay in a group of 4 and caught 16 rainbows. "We limited out in 4 hours. Had and awesome time. 16 inches hard ice. Edge was weak but if you went thru its less than a foot there. But we went across it no problem." (Feb 24) Anglers report fair to good success this week, but the edges of the ice can get soft. Bring a plank to get on and off the ice, and make sure you check the ice thickness carefully. Try small, bait-tipped jigs for perch or bait-tipped traditional baits or jigs for trout. Please use caution. (Feb 19) Johnny W. of Orem fished Rainbow Bay in a group of 4 and caught 9 rainbows using jigs with waxworms or piece of nightcrawler fished 1 crank off the bottom in 8 to 10 ft. of water. "6 am to 10 am is your best chance at gettin lucky after 10 they were gone. we moved 3 times and never got any action after 10." (Feb 19) Anglers report fair to good success, but the edges of the ice can get soft. Please use caution. Bring a plank to get on and off the ice, and check ice thickness before venturing out. Small, bait-tipped jigs are best for perch, and traditional baits — or jigs tipped with bait — will catch trout. (Feb 12) Johnny W. of Orem caught 8 rainbows with a partner at Wallsburg using jigs with waxworms or piece of nightcrawler. "My buddy Joe and I Caught our limits in under and hour. Awesome time. Best fishing on the ice at Deer Creek ever. Smokin Fish today already in the brine." (Feb 12) There are quite a few anglers on the ice and most report fair to good success. Try traditional baits or jigs tipped with bait for trout and small, bait-tipped jigs for an occasional perch. Most anglers report catching smaller perch near the bottom in deeper water. The ice around the edges can get soft and ice depths can change quickly. Check the ice carefully for safety. It's also a good idea to bring a plank to get on and off the ice. Please use caution. (Feb 9) Marriner M. of Orem fished west of boat ramp at main state park with a partner and caught 2 perch, one rainbow and one brown using nightcrawlers jiging with metal flasher 15 inch above worm in 25 ft. of water. "Fished for 2 hours, missed a lot more fish. Weather was great. ice very slushy at edges of lake. no bites on meal worms with ice jigs." Regulations Holmes Creek Reservoir Bluegill, Crappie, Largemouth Bass, Walleye (Feb 18) The edges are becoming unstable as the reservoir fills. (Feb 12) The water is being held back in the reservoir, which is creating a ring of water and ice around the shoreline. Use extreme caution when you access the ice. Regulations Jordan River Brown Trout, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Sunfish, Walleye, White Bass (Mar 5) The Jordan River is running very high and is not fishable. (Feb 24) The Jordan River is running very high and is not fishable. Lake Powell Bluegill, Brown Trout, Channel Catfish, Crappie, Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Striped Bass, Rainbow Trout, Walleye STOP QUAGGAG MUSCLE (Mar 9) Lake elevation: 3,619 feet Water temperatures: 49–51°F My optimism and great expectations for fishing success in 2010 was given a boost when an angler caught a big striper on March 2. Dale Barsness from Duck Creek, Utah was casting for stripers in Navajo Canyon using a deep diving Norman DD22 lure in 20 feet of murky water. Dale and his friend Bart found a school of willing 4-pound stripers and quickly caught 40 fish during the hour that the school was active. Of the 40 fish, they kept 20 to eat and released the rest. The exciting news is that Dale brought in a 36-inch striper that he estimated to weigh 15 to 20 pounds. (Unfortunately, Dale could not get an accurate reading on his handheld scale. From my personal experience with Lake Powell striped bass, that length equates to a weight of 16 to 18 pounds.) Dale had caught enough fish to eat, so he took a picture with the big fish and released it so that it can grow some more. The question now becomes, how big will this fish be the next time it's caught? The big fish was swimming with a school of smaller stripers. The pattern is typical for spring at Lake Powell, so try targeting murky water with a bottom depth of 20 to 30 feet. Murky water warms faster than clear water. With the storm fronts that move through each week in March, you should fish on warm afternoons without wind. Cold blooded fish respond quickly to a warm spot. They feel the warmth and stay in the warmer water for as long as possible. Sun beating on a rock wall also warms the water and draws fish. Wind, though, mixes the water and displaces any warming that has occurred. Seek out protected canyons with minimal wind for best results. Enjoy the moment when you locate a school of stripers and maybe one of the fish will be larger than the rest. Forage populations have been high the past few years, so anglers will likely catch more big striped bass in 2010. You can catch largemouth bass on the same pattern and with the same strategy. The difference is that the largemouth bass will be in the brush near the wall, while striped bass will be over the submerged creek channel. Both species, though, prefer warmer, protected zones of colored water that are out of the wind. So find a flat rock with direct southern exposure that could collect heat from the sun and transmit that into the water. Use a thermometer to fine tune your fishing experience. The main channel temperature is now near 50 degrees. For best results, seek a warm cove with water temperatures over 53 degrees. But don't neglect the main channel. Smallmouth bass are in the depths seeking stable temperatures, but will move up into the shallows when the afternoon sun warms the clear water in a shallow crack or small inlet in the cliffs. Fishing success this week will follow the water temperature. The warm days will bring good fishing. Colder days will require a good angler to make the fish bite. Either way, you'll have fun when you're surrounded by beautiful Lake Powell. (Mar 2) Lake elevation: 3,620 feet Water temperatures: 49–51°F It's still winter at Lake Powell. The surface water temperature is near 50°F. Warm water fish are not excited about cold water conditions. As the days get longer and the sun shines on the water for longer periods of time, you will see a measurable difference with a thermometer and with your fishing success. Warm water fish react very quickly to any warming. They can easily feel the heat and will quickly move to the warmest water available. The habitat and forage conditions are mostly positive coming out of the winter. Sport fish are fat and numerous and the lake level is still falling (which will continue through March). Declining water is not a positive for angler success. However, the rising water temperature will negate the effect of falling lake level. Walleye will respond first. They spawn with the first warming. Expect them to lay eggs on lake rockslides and gravel bars when the water temperature rises to 53°F. The spawn won't effect fishing success because walleye don't eat much when they are in spawning condition. It will be at least mid-April before anglers can regularly catch walleye. Largemouth bass are a different story. Big bass are the first fish to react to the warmer temperatures. A few anglers have already caught some dandies. Bass fishing tournaments will be held every weekend in March, with winning weights likely near 20 pounds for 5 fish. (That's a far cry from a decade ago when winning weights were closer to seven pounds for the same five fish. A shoreline ringed with flooded brush and a large crop of shad have made the difference.) Largemouth fish size and quantity were of record proportion in 2009 and nothing has changed. Expect 2010 largemouth fishing success to be among the best ever seen. And March bass fishing success will mark just the beginning of a very special year. Smallmouth bass are slower to react. Expect these smaller, but more numerous, bass to come out of hibernation when water temperature hits 57°F. Crappie will follow smallmouth and should become catchable in early April. Both species will spawn near the third week of April, depending on the spring temperature. That leaves striped bass. There was no noticeable movement of stripers to the main channel. The famous spring fishing for stripers near the dam and in the channel has not yet begun, nor is it expected to. The abundant forage in the backs of the canyons gives stripers little reason to move. They love to eat shad and will stay with the food. They can just as easily spawn in the back of the canyon as near the dam. You can catch stripers near shad schools in the backs of the canyons. Try trolling to locate a school, then spooning and casting to the schoolmates trailing the hooked fish. This will often put more fish in the boat than trolling. Expect stripers to come out of winter averaging 3 to 4 pounds with a few larger females exceeding 6 pounds. This will be a year to remember. Fishing success for all species will be remarkable in both size and number. Plan your trip now so you won't miss the anticipated fishing bonanza. We are making great efforts to prevent invasive species, like quagga mussels, from being transported to the lake. Some ramps are still closed so that all entering boats can be checked before they are launched. During March, boats must be launched at Bullfrog or the Wahweap main ramp between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. There will be no night launching, since the ramps will be closed after dark. These precautions are meant to protect Lake Powell from the devastation that would occur if invasive mussels were inadvertently released. Please help us with this effort by giving proper attention to your boat and helping educate anyone you can about the destructive nature of the invasive species. (Feb 23) Lake Elevation: 3620 Water Temp: 48-51 F Fish are grinning at Lake Powell. All of the little necessities for successful fish life are perfect. There is enough snow in the mountains to make the lake level rise just a little bit this spring. A modest increase would allow the lake to lap at the remaining layer of green brush that has been growing on the lake shore since 2002 when the lake declined due to drought. The effect of brush along the normally barren rocky shoreline created much more living space and shelter for all fish. It has been a long road back but the journey has really been worth it. The drought silver lining had some positive effects. The lake was low enough that waves stirred the old bottom sediment releasing long buried nutrients. Added nutrition created a bumper crop of forage fish which in turn enhanced the populations of hungry sportfish. Lake Powell has long had only one forage fish that ventures into open water. In 2000, gizzard shad were found in the lake. Today that second shad population is huge and the threadfin population is strong. This all translates into great conditions for fish but what does it mean for anglers? Anglers will have to adapt to be successful. That won't be hard for those pursuing largemouth. Bucketmouth bass love brush and wont venture far from it. Those accustomed to fishing for largemouth will be right at home casting lures into brush thickets and dragging them back with fish instead of tree limbs attached. If this is new to some they will have to invest in spinnerbaits, weedless lures or learn to embed the hook inside a plastic bait to allow it to swim through tree branches without hanging up. Smallmouth numbers are high. Fish are generally larger than last year. Luckily anglers can use traditional techniques to catch these rock loving fish. The subtle difference is that bronze bass will chase lures in open water more often now in response to the higher number of shad swimming in the upper water levels. Bottom feeding bass can be caught too. Striped bass are fat and constantly chasing shad. Those expecting incredibly easy spring time bait fishing will be disappointed. Stripers migrate to the dam and main channel when food is scarce. That is not the case in spring 2010. Fat stripers will be in the backs of the canyons near shad schools. Cover lots of water while trolling deep diving baits. Each time a fish is caught, stop the boat and try casting, spooning or bait fishing to increase the catch. If the school moves on then troll again to relocate them. Then repeat the catching process each time the school is in range. Walleye are one of the bonus fish for 2010. Expect excellent walleye fishing in the Good Hope Bay area. We found an extraordinary number of walleye in our fall fish sampling in 2009. That will translate to great fishing from April 15 to June 15 in the upper lake. For the rest of the lake walleye will only be caught in modest numbers during the same time frame. A great technique is to troll medium running lures along mud washed points in the main channel during May. Crappie are the other bonus. Dense brush has allowed the species to come back in big numbers over most of the lake. Crappie will spawn in April land early May. Use small plastic or marabou jigs fished right in the densest cover to catch these tasty pan fish. This is obviously a very enthusiastic report. The only detractor may be that forage and cover are too good. That makes it easy living for a fish and harder for anglers to catch fat fussy fish. But this is an accurate assessment of what to expect in 2010. I invite you to come to Powell and match wits with any of the eight species of game fish that are thriving here this spring. There will be enough fishing action to make every trip worthwhile. See you on the lake. Regulations Provo River Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout, Walleye (Mar 5) Lower: Anglers report good success with small (size 20 or smaller) midge imitations. Sow bugs are still effective. Middle: Midges (size 20 or smaller), sow bugs and small, dark nymphs are working well. There are special regulations on much of the Provo River, see the Utah Fishing Guidebook for more. (Feb 24) Gold Medal Fishing Guides fished the middle Provo and caught 3 browns flyfishing with baetis nymphs. "browns were feeding on nymphs and small midges" (Feb 24) Lower: Anglers report success with small (size 20 or smaller) midge imitations. Sow bugs should also be effective this time of year. Middle: Midges (size 20 or smaller), sow bugs and small, dark nymphs are working well. There are special regulations on much of the Provo River, so please read the Utah Fishing Guidebook. (Feb 19) Lower: Anglers report success with small (size 20 or smaller) midge imitations. Sow bugs should also be effective this time of year. Middle: Midges (size 20 or smaller), sow bugs and small, dark nymphs are working well. There are special regulations on much of the Provo River, so please read the Utah Fishing Guidebook. (Feb 12) Lower: Anglers report good success with small (size 20 or smaller) midge imitations. Sow bugs should be effective this time of year as well. Middle: Midges (size 20 or smaller), sow bugs and small, dark nymphs are working well. There are special regulations on much of the Provo River. Read the Utah Fishing Guidebook for details. Regulations Starvation Reservoir Brown Trout, Crayfish, Smouthmouth Bass, Walleye (Mar 9) Reservoir has good ice and fair fishing for perch and rainbows under the highway, at Rabbit Gulch and at Saleratus Wash. Anglers have also caught a few walleyes. Regulations Utah Lake Bluegill, Bullhead Catfish, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Smouthmouth Bass, Walleye, White Bass FISH CONSUMPTION ADVISORY (Mar 5) There are large areas of open water. Stay off any remaining ice. The tributaries closed on March 1, and the water level is limiting fishing near the mouth of Spanish Fork River. (Feb 24) Anglers are reporting open water in some areas, so please stay off the ice. The water level limits Spanish Fork River fishing near the mouth. Officer Shawn Bagley wants to remind you that the tributaries close on March 1. (Feb 19) The ice edges are weakening — don't take any vehicles onto the lake and use caution if you plan to ice fish. Anglers report slow to fair success. Small action lures tipped with bait are your best bet for catching white bass. (Feb 12) Anglers report slow to fair success. Try small action lures tipped with bait for white bass. There are still some anglers on the ice but the edges can get weak. We have seen some open water patches, especially close to shoreline. Please use caution. Regulations Willard Bay Bullhead Catfish, Channel Catfish, Crappie, Largemouth Bass, Perch, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Wipers (hybrid), Yellow Perch (Mar 4) Fishing is now closed at the inlet near the south Marina. Fishing in this area will reopen at 6 a.m. on the last Saturday of April. (Feb 25) The inlet near the south marina will close to fishing from March 1 through 6 a.m. on the last Saturday of April. Regulations Yuba Reservoir Channel Catfish, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Walleye, Yellow Perch (Feb 24) The edges are weak in warm weather. You should never go out on the ice alone. Visit www.stateparks.utah.gov for current conditions. (Feb 19) Angler Rod reports 12 to 14 inches of ice, but the edges get very weak in warm weather. Rod only had one bite on his trip this week. Never go out on the ice alone. Visit www.stateparks.utah.gov for the latest conditions. (Feb 12) Perch fishing success is slow with a couple of anglers reporting that they found a school or two. Location is important. Though the reservoir is frozen over, ice conditions fluctuate. Use caution and drill several test holes when venturing out to verify ice thickness. Never go out on the ice alone. For updated current conditions, visit www.stateparks.utah.gov. Regulations