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Does anyone know the real reason you can't take a motorless pontoon/floattube onto Holmes Creek? There are some mornings I go out and it is just PERFECT for it. Mirror calm glass water.
Almost have considered just going out and hoping no one will see. Being in the last 8 months of HEAVY fishing I've only seen two Officers at any location I go. Then I realize the second I put it out six will come out of there foxholes and gang ticket me...
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[cool][#0000ff]I have lusted after going afloat on that pond longer than you have been alive. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]No good reason fer it. Just policy.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Best explanation I have had is that it is privately owned and there are both environmental and liability issues involved.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Now if they can just keep the fish and wildlife from polluting it they have a good platform for excluding even non-polluting anglers.[/#0000ff]
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Where is this water located ???? Besides the private factor, is it a drinking water supply ?? That seems to be the primary reason for keeping people off the water !!!!
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It is located in Layton just off of hwy. 89. I fishes it as a kid and was told liability as well.
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I've lived in the area since 1976 and that has been the rule/law as long as I can remember. That includes swimming as well. I had some great ice fishing there for years before ice fishing became very popular, ah the good ol'days.[fishin]
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[cool][#0000ff]Also known as Layton Pond and Company Pond. I know you know it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And I do believe it is a residential water supply.[/#0000ff]
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[quote Therapist]Where is this water located ????[/quote]
Stories I've heard suggest it's been quite a diverse fishery over the years, but as TD alludes to - the F&G made it a community pond, and plunked it full of rainbows and catfish. I believe this year it has transitioned away from the Community Pond designation.
A poster provided these directions to get there (don't recall the source, sorry):
As one travels north on Highway 89 one will see a large water tank on the west side of the road. I believe the sign on the tank says, "Layton Surf and Swim". The next road north of the large water tank is Gentile Street and one takes that road heading west. Park where some large transmission power lines cross the road. There is a road (has a gate on it, so one can not drive down it) that one can access and hike down to the dam to access the reservoir.
Couple maps. No fancy labelling...
So what's the story on Andy Adams reservoir? Has it got fish, or just golfballs?
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Yes it has been quite diverse. I remember as a kid pulling huge crappies out of there. Last time I was there I saw Largemouth and something was making the minnows do a dance in the shallows. I may need to go there again to see what else I can pull out (that is if it hadn't been cleaned out during the community pond days).
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I lost a rod and reel there two years ago-had it propped up in a forky stick and it all of a sudden shot out like a torpedo before I could grab it.The no swimming rule prevented me from diving in.I still to this day fantisize about the monster that took off with it.I do believe it were a big ole' cat.
Holmes is still a great ice fishery for slimers but probably won't be for long because the dwr is not stalking it any more.Thats my story and I'm stickin' to it
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[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/Utah_Fishing_Forum_C55/gforum.cgi?post=634338;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread"]Link to directions[/url]
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I used to live down the road and it was my "home" water for 7 years or so. Used to catch large bass (my biggest was a 21" largie), nice bluegill, the odd catfish, an occasional crappie, and the only walleye(17") I've ever caught. I caught a 13" crappie there once, too. Once the DWR got their easement on it, I haven't caught anything but catfish from it, but one of those was my biggest cat to date at 24".
A DWR officer told me the main problem with the water is a good forage base; the fish all basically just eat each other's fry. Also told me it is owned by an irrigation and livestock co-op, and sometimes is used for potable water.
Please don't swim or boat there. People (teens) are always putting up rope swings and stuff and partying and drinking and littering comes and goes in waves. Too much of that will lose us all access.
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Holmes Creek is still stocked with Trout by the DWR.
Look at the Stocking Report from 2010. [url "http://wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/fishing/stocking.html?year=2010"]http://wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/fishing/stocking.html?year=2010[/url]
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Holmes Creek Reservoir has also been my "home" water ever since my family moved nearby it in 1992. There were TONS of hand sized blue gills, redears, and bass in it then. Of course the bass were a lot harder for a kid to catch then those feisty gills, but that made catching one a rewarding experience. One summer I fondly remember fishing off an old cottonwood tree that had fallen into the water. All you had to do was put your worm and hook into the water and you'd pull out a 1/2- 1 lb bluegill!
I didn't even realize there were crappie or walleye in there until I became a more experienced angler and began targeting them specifically. And let me tell you what, those stories about the lunkers are all true. I've caught big largemouths, white bass, crappie, perch, bluegills, catfish and walleye from that pond all within the last 4 years. But then SOMETHING CHANGED..... It became a "community pond" and that led to increased popularity and more trash. That is also when they began "stocking" it to accommodate the increased pressure. All of a sudden the fishing began to go down the toilet at Holmes Creek Reservoir. My theory is that when they put thousands of hungry rainbows in there each fall the bows ate the warmwater species out of house and home and would begin starving themselves before spring came. I have several pictures of these emaciated trout and it aint pretty. With this happening over the past several years I'm willing to bet that many of the trophy warmwater fish died of starvation, unable to compete with their cold loving new neighbors: the rainbow trout; their bodies left to decompose in the icy depths. Well, I guess it's like the ol song goes, "They paved paradise to put up a parking lot....YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU GOT TILL IT'S GONE!"
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I agree with all the above. Holmes Creek was one of the places where I learned to bed fish for bass and sight fish cruisers as well. Yes there has always been a forage problem. Even back in the day the bass were never fat. They were just average health. I did land a 21 and 1/4 inch bass there but the poor skinny female was just barely over 4lbs. A bass of that length is normally around 6lbs give or take. There were numbers of your run of the mill 15 -17 inch fish. The community pond event destroyed it! I'm thinking the rainbows ate all the fry of all species too since this water is pretty much sterile now. I walked around the entire pond last year.....no bass beds at all. If I can't find a bass.......well good luck everyone else. haha. I'm sure there's still a few in there, but few and far in between. It's the same with Kaysville. There used to be tons of bass in there and they were double or triple the size at Holmes but then they just had to drain it and kill all the bass so they could dredge it deeper for trout. DUMB move! There's nothing much to get me to stop by Davis county ponds anymore. Straight north I go LOL.
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Yes they did stock it in Sept of 2010- the report shows no stocking in 2011 -I heard they are done stocking it.
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Wow - thanks for all the great details folks.
It's a great, yet -  story for fishery management, and community impact. My wife's mom lives very close, and we had some ice-fishing discussions this past winter.
Must say - those of you that new it back in it's heyday - are some lucky folk. Like I said - used to be quite a diverse fishery.
This January was when several ponds transitioned either to-or-from being Community ponds. As Holmes moved off the list, the Wellsville pond moved on the list. This spring they threw some big cutts in there. Not many, but 18-22" is a pretty good starter size compared to the common planter-bows.
Recent visit with the DNR suggested there will (as expected) be a rash of plantings over the Memorial weekend timeframe, in anticipation of free fishing day.
Hooked on Utah had a episode on special needs kids fishing at a community pond. Everybody got to kiss a fish. Good tugs!
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I've fished it twice this spring looking for crappies in the brush. Both times I've been skunked, but I did see one dead crappie floating in the water near shore. Let's just cross our fingers that whatever fish are left will have a good spawn this year and we'll have good fishing back in a couple of years. I don't think too many trout will survive the summer and they certainly won't spawn.
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Yeah them crappie were never really thick girthwise but amazing lengths. Lots of cookie cutter 14 inchers bedding next to bass beds. They spawn exactly the same time. That place is difficult access most of the shore so it should rebound in maybe 5 years.
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[quote Fin-S-Fish] so it should rebound in maybe 5 years.[/quote]
Lets only hope. I would love too see this return to its grand shape.
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An update on Trout stocking at Holmes Creek Pond.
The DWR will continue to stock Trout in Holmes Creek Pond.
I called the DWR to find out and they said that it was going to be stocked again this year,
They also plan to do some netting, to see what fish are in there.
If you have any other questions about Holmes Creek, just call the DWR.
They are happy to answer questions and stop rumors.
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