Premier Utah SMB Fishery???

[WilburT]

Long time browser, first time poster. I am curious as to what the group feels is the best SMB fishery in the central/northern part of the state?
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[albinotrout]

Welcome and thanks for joining. In premier are you meaning blue ribbon? Northern Utah is a hard one for there are so many bodies of water that have them in it. I would say starvation but that is personal preference and there are many lakes I have not fished as of yet.
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[Romanski]

I'd have to say Pineview Res. I've caught many 20" smallies from there.

-Roman
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[Therapist]

Flaming Gorge by far, both numbers and quality. After that, Cottonwood, Starvation, Jordanelle, and . Others with numbers, but lacking quality on a consistent basis would be Deer Creek, Minersville, some of the lakes in Logan Valley. There is one more, may be the best of all of them, but it cannot stand a lot of pressure, so no public disclosure !!

There are some pretty good LMB lakes also, with Utah Lake the most under rated and utilized. Mantua has some PIG HOGS !! It will have some fantastic frog fishing when the moss gets on top !!

My 2 cents!!

[gstott]

I didn't realize there were smallmouth in any of the Logan waters other than Cutler. This has me curious, I love smallies.
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[albinotrout]

Hyrum has them for sure.
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[SkunkedAgain]

I'll bet he was meaning across the border lakes because I don't think there are any of them in Hyrum or Porcupine and I was surprised to hear Mantua on the list, I've only caught LMB out of there but I haven't logged too many hours on there so I'm not a good reference. Maybe Newton has some but again I've only caught LMB myself. I figure you are probably about the most expert bass guy I know in the valley so if you don't know of them they probably aren't there. Still would like to see what you could do on Cutler, they are spotty on that pond but every once in a while I find a pod and have some fun. Keep thinking if I was a smarter bass guy it might be good. But Willard has a lot of smallies too, they are just hard for me to find now the water is so low. Couple years ago I'd load up on smallies each trip, but I haven't caught any the last two years. I'm not sure if the fish changed or how I fish changed but something has. We'll have a good weekend. Later J
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[albinotrout]

I've caught smallies out of Hyrum before but it has been a few years since I fished it *cough18cough* And is was a small one on a jig. Also caught perch that day as well.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Maybe I need to try for the smallies at Hyrum. I guess I mostly fish trout when there. J
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[BUTLEY]

I have pulled some out of the Bear River here in Northern Utah, and have heard there is lots of them in Oneida Narrows Reservoir just over the border into Idaho.
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[WilburT]

Thanks for the info. I have decided Jordanelle this weekend, and Pineview during the week. Hopefully I will have a positive report to share.
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[HD7000]

My best all time SMB was a 21" hog some where I would never think of targeting bass...fishing for browns on the Weber! That being said, I have only accidentally caught two in the river my whole life.
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[gstott]

I really do need to explore Cutler. I know there are big largemouth and eyes in there too that I wouldn't mind catching.

I've heard mention of them in Newton before, but I've never seen any personally. I've found some people aren't the best at species identification and they sometimes think small largemouth are smallmouth.

Definitely a bunch throughout The Bear River system. Oneida has a ton, though I think they could use some harvesting. Word is Idaho Fish and Game is talking about removing the 12" minimum size limit up there to encourage harvest of the smaller fish. I'm all for it. There are some nice ones in there, but a lot more small ones to wade through to get them.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Cutler can be fun but it has so much runoff right now it's all mixed up and tough to get anything to bite. Pretty high and riley right now. But later on it gets fun. Maybe later on. J
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[gstott]

Yeah The Bear is all chocolate milk spilling its banks, that doesn't surprise me. Maybe later in the year I'll have to explore it. I'll just stick to bugging the largemouth in Idaho for now []
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[SkunkedAgain]

It will get better that's for sure. Good luck at your other spot. Later J
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[MichiganAngler]

Flaming Gorge is probably in a class by itself in Northern Utah. Lake Powell is the winner down south and probably in Utah overall.

Behind those, I've done well at Starvation, East Canyon, Jordanelle and Pineview.

Starvation has consistently produced larger average fish overall than the other three, but my biggest smallie came out of East Canyon in 2010.
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