I know that Utah Lake used to be a great trout fishery back in the day. Just wondering if anyone has caught trout out of UL, whether rainbow, brown or cutt and how big? With so many rivers coming into it you would think that a few trout would attempt to live in the murky waters of UL.
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I saw a guy with one cutthroat, about 8", at Provo Boat Harbor, along with crappies and bluegills caught through the ice just recently. They are there, just not in great numbers and probably roams around the lake more during the colder months.
[cool][#0000ff]I don't think it was ever a great trout "fishery". When the settlers first set up camp there was a strain of heat and alkalinity tolerant cutthroat living in it, but the hungry hordes pitchforked them out for food pretty fast, along with a lot of the suckers. Contrary to popular belief, Utah Lake was never a pristine alpine lake surrounded by pine trees, etc. But cutts did live in it and swam up the tributaries to spawn.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Because there are several inlets that carry trout, some of these trout do swim downstream and hang out in Utah Lake. Lots of browns, some rainbows and a few cutts. Probably a lot more of them caught during the winter and early spring than after the water warms to over 80 in the summer.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have taken several browns from beneath the ice and right after ice out. I have also caught a few small rainbows in open water. But, any trout that are not caught (or munched by predators) either swim back up the tributaries in the summer or they die of heat stroke.[/#0000ff]
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I have caught one Brown Trout about 14" long down at the mouth of the Provo River. It was in the state park area, and I caught it on a 4" senko. This was probably when I was about 14...so roughly 8 years ago...it was also caught probably towards the end of February. It was the only open water I could find. The rest of the lake was frozen...heh
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i caught a rainbow while ice fishing a/f harbor last year while i was jigging for the bass it was only 12" though. but it was a fun suprize
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The following report has a wealth of information about Utah Lake, but if you're just interested in the fishes start on page 78.
[url "http://www.ffsl.utah.gov/sovlands/utahlake/UtahLakeReport.pdf"]http://www.ffsl.utah.gov/sovlands/utahlake/UtahLakeReport.pdf[/url]
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I once heard that lake trout were planted in Utah Lake (turn of the century?) and that there are photos of wagons full of huge macs. I heard that they got big fast, but couldn't spawn. Anyone else hear or see pictures of this?
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The State has some write-ups on Utah Lake and their Lake trout are mentioned in there as well. I guess they got pretty big. Check the article that RipNLips posted.. I remember reading that they became extinct in the lake in the early 40's. But they did get BIG
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Many years ago I caught three small trout at the bubble up by Geneva. I was really surprised.
Utahbill
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I have caught them quite a few times at all times of the year. Just only close to the rivermouths of Provo, American Fork and Battlecreek. Yes even in the dead of heat but they seems real slugglish because of the heat of the water. I have never seen more than a 15 inch trout caught there. They seem to come in on the small side tho.
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