Hyrum Reservoir

[Tackle Junkie]

Hi all, new member here. 
 
I have some observations and thoughts on the trout at Hyrum.

That was my go to place in the spring, fall, and especially ice fishing. Starting around 4 year's ago the seeing and catching got absolutely terrible. 3 years ago I was ice fishing and talked to a gentleman that said that he had been talking to one of the DWR employees there and was told that they haven't been putting trout in because they were being eaten by the birds as fast as they put them in. 

If you look at the stocking reports for the last 4 years that looks to be the case. They used to stock 50,000 to 60,000 something trout every year. Now it's in the 3000 range. I'm sure there is a size difference in the stocked fish. I do think alot more of those smaller fish were surviving than the current  3000.

Anyway I am very disappointed in the lack of trout and it has forced me to go to Idaho because of the cost of fuel to go south. I would think that the DWR would be able to find a way to stock the fish and not feed the birds..

Thoughts ?

[smokepoles]

One thing they tried was stocking in the fall. Not sure of the overall impact of that though there are not as many cormorants as before. Still, they are adaptable and noted a bunch at Wellsville pond once they stocked for kid's fishing day last spring. Took my 3 yr grandson out and once we started fishing several cormorants came across the pond waiting for an easy meal.

[SkunkedAgain]

You may have seen my rant on this same subject earlier. We need to let the DWR know we want bows in Hyrum. It has totally ruined Hyrum ice fishing now. The perch are too small to bite and no trout so I’m not too motivated to pay them $15 a day to fish for nothing. Although I’ve been dumb enough to do it twice. Thinking it must of been me fishing the wrong spot. Nah I just think there aren’t any fish left in there big enough to bite. Later J

[smokepoles]

Not sure what to add here except it is not clear to me the public's demand and potential for Hyrum as a fishery, and how does the DNR address that through stocking? I believe Hyrum has potential to be a great panfish, trout or bass fishery, yet the greatest demand seems to be power boating second only to water use for irrigation. Hyrum was a fantastic trout fishery a number of years ago, yet the public demand surely was not on the same scale as the current demand for power boating.  Also, the recent annual draw downs to dead pool impact fish survival making stocking strictly put and take for trout but less so for panfish?   Consider that Mantua is best suited soley as a warm water fishery due to its small size and shallow depth, yet the DNR must stock a good number of trout there based on what grandson and I have caught last two times while ice fishing for bluegill.  Just saying, it is complex to serve the needs/wants of all in face exponentially growing demand for the resource.

[2knots]

Well I drove down to the lake yesterday am to see if anybody was catching (nothing I saw) but was really surprised to see both gates staffed (along with 2 rangers in vehicles) and checking passes or collecting day fees. In talking to the person at the swim beach entrance she said they were expecting a large crowd fishing, I have never seen anybody in that booth during the winter so they know it’s a popular ice fishing area

[smokepoles]

Well I drove down to the lake yesterday am to see if anybody was catching (nothing I saw) but was really surprised to see both gates staffed (along with 2 rangers in vehicles) and checking passes or collecting day fees. In talking to the person at the swim beach entrance she said they were expecting a large crowd fishing, I have never seen anybody in that booth during the winter so they know it’s a popular ice fishing area

Goes to show that while the wildlife resources may not be able to prioritize stocking, the state parks recognize and prioritize fee collection

[Tackle Junkie]

Another thing that I don't understand is. The DWR puts close to a million trout in Flaming Gorge and Strawberry. Why can't northern Utah have some of those? I understand that those are the most popular fishery's. Mantua has a self sustaining Bass and bluegill population that the DWR has nothing to do with. Willard is mostly down to catfish which are fun, but that's it. I feel like the DWR has completely abandoned the fishermen and women in the northern part of the state.

[Anglinarcher]

I know that this is a Bash Hyrum and Bash DNR thread, and I respect that, but at least I have some "moderating" points to make.

First, you do know we have been in a drought for several years and that the Trout fishing has suffered in most bodies of water due to that.  We/you do know that, right????

Second, there has been studies done on the dam, if I remember it was three years ago, so I suspect that they are considering trying to raise the dam.  Higher dam means more water, deeper water, which means more trout.  They loose a huge amount of water during high water periods that they cannot get back, so that might help.

Given: boating, especially the ECO-UNFRIENDLY Wake Boarding, has gone crazy.  At least part of that was due to COVID, so perhaps people will loose interest sooner than later.  I can only hope.  Still, Hyrum is minutes away from Logan.

Given: the State Parks would rather collect fees than protect resources.  I think we all have observed that and they have made NO attempt to convince us otherwise.  Still, most of us would rather have them than the mess at Pineview.

So, now observations from around Christmas.  

Day 1: I did find at least one large school of perch on my finder.  I must have had a hundred hits but only caught one perch (3-3/4").  I was excited, because I needed one that small for a mold I am making.  Otherwise I was frustrated.  I did get a 17" rainbow.  I was fishing upstream from the day use beach and the water was quite murky below about 8 feet.  My underwater camera could not even see my jig if it was more than a few inches away.  Once the trout hit the school moved out.  I could find no other schools of anything after that.

Day 2: I went downstream from the main park.  At 16.5' deep the water became murky again.  Shallower than that I did see a few perch and a bass.  The perch were moving fast and there were no schools larger than perhaps a dozen of mixed sized fish.  My brother caught one middle sized perch.

My opinion is that the fast fill this year - it is full to the bottom of the gates and they will not fill it more till the ice is gone - has left a lot of mud/clay that has not settled to the bottom.  Once the mud has settled, and closer to the perch spawn, there may be some good fishing.

I believe that there are far fewer perch in Hyrum right now, and as has been mentioned, a lot of very small ones.

I wish we could shoot a few aforementioned birds, several thousand to be specific, and most fisheries managers I have talked too in several states confide in private that they would love to as well.  It is what it is, so the State will need to deal with low water cycles, predators, and disgruntled fishers.  This is Utah, nothing changes it would appear.

I don't expect to hit Hyrum again this winter, but given high to normal water, the perch and trout will be back IMHO.

Tight Lines my friends.

PS, trout were put into the Lakes that they felt would have the best chance or maintaining water if the drought continues.  The Berry and the Gorge are two that will likely stay more full.

[SkunkedAgain]

The thing I don’t understand about the argument of not planting Hyrum because of drought is Hyrum still has a large pool of 30+ FOW deep when it’s at the point they can’t pull anymore for irrigation. So it’s in a lot better shape than most reservoirs they are managing for low water fish kills. I think there is something more to why they aren’t planting Hyrum. Not sure what it is but I’m sure they have their reasons. It’s just ruined the fishing. I’m bummed because it’s the close one for me to fish and I don’t want to have to drive so far to find fish. Hope they return to putting some more fish in there. J

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Oh I did forget to mention we found tiny perch just about everywhere we drilled a hole, but I didn’t find any big enough to be interesting. So in four years the perch will probably be good again, but till then it’s probably a tough spot to do well.

[Dustydoo]

They aren't going to reassess hyrum until they know what they're doing with the dam/ spillway. They are all taking soil samples as recently as the start of December. There's still a very real possibility that they'll have to do a large drawdown to repair it.