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I see that many posts are talking about the hot fishing at Utah Lake, which tempts me to run down and give it a try.
I have a problem though...
While I was down in Springville yesterday I ran into a friend who fishes the lake nearly every day. He said its been a spetacular year and offered me a Walleye he had caught the night before. Its a nice fish, about 28 inches and its now wrapped up and in my fridge.
Though I've never actually caught a Walleye myself, I have a friend who lives in Pierre, SD and guides on Lake Oahe. He sends me huge bags of frozen fillets about twice a year and I must say, as far as eats go, only Kokanee Salmon from Flaming Gorge can compare. Apparently out there its like fishing in a barrel for the things. I'm going THIS FALL ! (seventh year in a row I've said that)
I'm going to hone in on Deer Creek the next few weeks and try to nail my first one there, I would also happily eat one out of there.
Here's the thing...
I know I'm not NEARLY AS OLD as most of you guys[  ]. But I am in my early 30's and my parents had a retail store in Am. Fork until 79'.
So I remember well when Geneva Steel was operational and many rumors of pollution. I remember fishing near the pumphouse / Jordan river outlet area and catching and releasing tons of white bass. We kept a few big cats but my dad would always offer the catch to other fishermen or to a coustomer the next day. And other than keeping a few coolers full of Carp to bury in the garden for fertilizer, I never remember actually eating a fish out of the lake.
My friend assured me that he has been eating fish out of there for over 30 years and there just fine.
But I am a Trout snob who is just starting to want to dip my toes into the warmwater species, and most of my Trout snob buddies share the notion that Utah Lake is filthy and nothing that swims in there should be consumed by humans.
So now I sit with a 28 inch Walleye in my fridge and I pose the question to you fellow BFT'rs.
[#ff0000]Utah Lake fish... Edible or not ?[/#ff0000]
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[#505000] I too was a die hard trout guy and this is the first year I have fished Utah Lake (wanted to try something new). Everything I have caught out of the lake tastes better than trout hands down. I am a Utah Lake convert. [ ][/#505000]
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Well alot of people in this state seem to think that utah lake is dirty. It is but not how you think. Low water depths make it look murky and dirty but last I knew it rated pretty good compared to other lakes in this state. In fact if you knew how low some of lakes rate you wouldn't go near them. A trout lake doesn't make it a clean lake. Look at east canyon that water is full of fertizer you can't get any worse then that.In fact i was thinking of usesing the water out of east canyon to fertize my lawn.
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I just recently moved here and heard these stories about the "condition" of Utah Lake and if things were edible out of there, so I found a website (sorry - can't remember the URL) that posted Utah Water Quality of all the lakes as well as a summary. There is nothing wrong with the quality of water - and therefore fish - out of that water. Lakes have a tremendous abilty to recover once the sources of questionable discharges are removed. AND - of the dozen or so walleyes I have eaten this year from that Lake, they all have been as good as any I used to catch in the Dakotas or Minnesota. So, I say cook it up and Bon Appetit!!!!!!
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Man if you don't want it, I'll eat it.
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Hey cmd, You really don't want to eat that fish. You just ought to give it to some you don't know (LIKE ME!!).
Seriously though, it will be just fine. I used to live in Springville myself. At the time I too was a snob troutster. I've converted, thanks mostly to Utah Lake. At the time that your parents dished up fish to customers, there was a lot of pollution, thanks to a lack of regulation and laws forbiding it. These days are far different. Trust me on this one, I've been in the environmental saftey arena for a while. There are some unscrupulous entities who might illegally dump, but if they are caught the fines can be outrageous. Not many companies are willing to risk it. Utah lake is clean enough for you to eat that fish.
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A little history about Utah Lake:
For decades, raw sewage was dumped into the lake by residents of Utah county. This has not happened for over 30 years, probably longer.
Geneva Steel for years pumped water from it's cooling ponds into the lake, which had leftover minerals and chemicals from the steel-making process. This water was used to cool the hot steel, then dumped into the ponds to cool sufficiently before entering the lake. It wasn't exactly poisonous, but pretty close as far as I know. It stunk pretty bad though. That has not gone on for about 5 years now too.
The current water quality of the lake is actually very good. It does have a somewhat high salt content, but that doesn't affect food quality of the fish. The current worst threat to it's water quality is runoff from adjacent farmlands that let fertilizer and pesticides drain into it.
I have no problem whatsoever eating fish from Utah Lake.
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I grew up in Lehi and used to eat fish out of Utah Lake on a regular basis. I've never had any problem. In fact, my urine only slightly glows in the dark now.
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I just heard a radio advertisment yesterday on KSL for the new Saratoga marina on the west side. They were doing a nice sales job on it, talking about how much money they have sunk into the marina and facilities. One of the things they mentioned was the water quality of the lake, saying that even though it isn't crystal clear it is still "perfectly clean", and that the public has a bad perception of it that needs to change.
Some say the murkiness is contributed mostly to a silty bottom, shallow depths, lack of structure, lack of vegetation, and frequent winds to stir it all up like a beater in a bowl. If it sat perfectly calm for a length of time then it would clear right up, but mother nature won't allow that.
On the other hand, I have read that when the pioneers first came to the valley in the mid-late 1800's the lake was clear and blue, with a rocky bottom, and full of native cutthroat trout. This source claimed that after the introduction of carp, all bottom vegetation was killed and it then silted in. Another source blames it on the pioneers netting out the spawning cutts, and improper farming practices and sewage disposal. Environmental laws now help protect it, and they claim the lake is slowly cleaning itself, but will never be a trout lake again.
I don't know how true any of this is. My personal opinion is that the lake is much cleaner than it looks. I wouldn't hesitate to eat its fish.
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I've been prowlin' the shoreline of Utah Lake sense a lad of 10 and was allowed to peddle my rear end out there from Spanking Fork. I'm now 50 and I assure you I've eaten more fish from Utah lake than all other places I eaten fish from combined.
Over the years I've of course heard the BS of how the fish in the lake will kill you where you stand if eaten. But to that I say to many people are simply to easy to convince merely because so and so said so or, some one some one knew said this or that. BS! I say, let those that care to believe such crap chew on tumor riddled ground beef because I'd happily rather eat a healthy serving of Big Kittie, Muddies, Whities or Eye from Utah Lake...
The simple fact is Utah Lake gets a bad rap due to its murky/milky water appearance. However, I dont know that I've ever seen Willard Bay look any clearer. Both are shallow soup bowls as far as depth. When the wind blows strong enough the mean wave base reaches the lake bottom of Utah Lake and you see the result, murky/milky water. Another thing many people over look is the geological feature that forms the bottom of Utah Lake and if I'm not mistaken its a light colored lime stone. That alone will cause its whitish appearence.
Yes its true many many many years ago the Lake received tons of valley waste daily and was treated like a sesspool no differently than any other lake near a town ship or city was. Those years were over and done with long before I was born. And the natural bio filtering system in the lake took care of that problem quickly. As an ex US Steel worker I will state Geneva did drain literally hundreds of thousands of gals of water into the lake at the "bubble up" daily and it probably added to what, if any, pollution problems that may still exist. However, I believe natural source such as livestock and boat engines, to name a few, added to the problem just as much if not far greater..
So I say,, Hook em and cook em.. But save a few for the rest of us and those about to join the battle with their first fishy poles..
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Yeah but that wasnt from what you were eatin'. It was from what you were drinkin'. HA![ ]
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Have you ever seen how the water at the berry looks at times!Green and guey![shocked] When i first moved down here that was one of the first places i fished.And i thought that water was so polluted!I have been eating fish from utah lake for the last 2 years .I never had any problems after eating those fish.
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[cool] [#0000ff]Here's a pic of the official poster child for the Utah Lake Clean Water Society.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]He claims he eats lots of fish from Utah Lake, and it ain't never affected him none.[/#0000ff]
![[Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=9586;]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=9586;)
[#0000ff]Actually I think I have had this guy show up where I was fishing a couple of times. Stole all the cut up carp meat I was usin' for bait.[/#0000ff]
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hey caught my dink glad to see you gradiated from big worm to fish[ ] if you eat em out of willard ya eat em out of any where this is going to be the cleanest willards been in years. thanks to aLL THE WONDERFUL RUN OFF.
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well it looks nasty smells nasty and generally is nasty. But them fish shure do taste good.
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ive also wondered about the quality of the lake until recently. a buddy of mine cooked me up some great tastin fish and when i asked where it was from i was suprised to find out that it was from utah lake. ummmmmmmmm ummmmmmmmmm it was tasty
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I had also always blamed Utah Lake's problems on Geneva and the pioneers and was pretty upset to learn there used to be up to 40 pound trout in there. While these factors may have contributed, if the dam wasn't built the whole lake would have dried up by now. You see the whole valley used to be one huge lake from the great salt lake to utah lake. As the climate slowly changed the water dried up and the only reason utah lake was even left at all was because of it's elevation and proximity to the mountains. I was shocked to to read the offical reports and learn that Utah Lake is actually pretty clean.
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[size 1]"if the dam wasn't built the whole lake would have dried up by now"[/size]
[size 1][/size]
[size 1]Puzzled by your statement. I have never seen any dam on Utah Lake.[/size]
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Kent, I believe he is referring to the gat on the Jordan River (i.e. the pumphouse). It holds back a bit of water, but the lake would definitely still be there without it, it just would not be able to reach it's high water mark anymore most likely. At least that is my assumption.
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I also figured he was referring to the gate, but like you stated, all that does is hold back more water, it does not create the lake. I have been out there when there was a river for a long ways (where Utah Lake is supposed to be) before it even reaches the gates.
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