Autumn Adventure: Fishing
By Tom Wharton and Brett Prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune

Strawberry: Lower temperatures and fewer hours of daylight make the leaves change and also make fishing across Utah much more productive. At Strawberry, that means big cutthroat trout in the shallows, making them more accessible to anglers in boats and those fishing from shore. Alan Ward, Strawberry Project leader for the Division of Wildlife Resources, says fishing remained pretty consistent this summer and he expects it will get better when the temperatures drop. This is the time of year when trout anglers break out the bass lures for some monster cutts.

Fish Lake: Utah's largest natural mountain lake, 8,843 feet high, takes your breath away not only from the elevation, but also from the scenery, particularly in the fall, when the large aspen stands around the lake paint the forest yellow and gold. Soaking up the colorful scene can be a distraction when you have a 20-pound lake trout nibbling on your fishing line.

Scofield: Another high-mountain fishery, Scofield is a good place for anglers to take their families for that "one last" fishing trip of the year. The stunning colors of the surrounding hills alone will make the trip a memorable one. Large rainbow, cutthroat and tiger trout from Scofield are just a bonus.

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area: Fall is not only a great time to take in the color of the national recreation area, it also happens to be a fine time to fish for lake trout at the reservoir as the big fish stage to spawn. Fall is also a popular with fly fishers on the Green River below the dam. Trout are still looking up at this time and fishing with terrestrial patterns remains productive until mid-October.

Lake Powell: The crowds of summer are gone, leaving Glen Canyon Recreation Area almost peaceful. In most cases, the only noisy neighbors you have to deal with are striped bass creating boils as they chase forage fish to the surface. The tasty bass are easily caught during the boils, but they can also be landed from the back of a houseboat with frozen anchovy. Smallmouth bass are still active in the early fall and catfish can always be had with lure coming from just about anything you have in the refrigerator.

return to top