Why is Deercreek and Jordanelle so full and Utah Lake so Low DeerCreek smallmouth in Lou of Utah Lake

[bamffisher1]

Utah Lake is still closed so I fished deercreek today caught 26 smallmouth 3 over 2 pounds. I used 1/4 oz jig head with white with black flakes 4 inch Gary Yomomoto single curly tail grub. Does anyone know why they are holding the water back from Utah Lake?
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[OCF]

Here is an interesting fact about DC that most folks are not aware of - There is no Provo River water stored behind DC dam. The water you see stored in the reservoir is import water from both the Weber and Duchesne rivers (trans basin diversions). DC dam is a WWII era dam and at the time of construction, all of the water rights were taken on the Provo River & none available for storage. All Provo River water is allowed to flow through the dam - year round.

One other thought, it is easier to make water releases/deliveries when the water is stored higher in elevation. Since the water is closer to the source, the quality is much higher & easier to treat for culinary purposes. The water in this reservoir provides drinking water for folks living in northern Utah and SL counties.

In short - you are not going to get the water managers to dump water out of DC anytime soon to improve the water quality in Utah Lake and allow the population to thirst & have our lawns to go brown.
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[BassDuder]

Deer Creek is way lower than it was just a month ago. My areas I was catching fish are bone dry. Deer Creek always fills first, then if there's any left Jordanelle. After that they open the gates of Deer Creek. I don't know if the conditions at Utah are effecting the release or not.
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[Stickleback]

I have no reason to disagree with what you have said here or any of the other posts that refer to water rights and laws weather 30 years old or or 80 years old. However I am still curious what is different this year than previous years? Did the moisture fall in such a way that UL got left out of not only increased runoff but a significant decrease from last year? Is it possible that previous administrations made a deal in the past (with good intensions) and now the devil has come to claim its prize?

Somebody knows the answer. If it has been shared I am sorry I am too big of a bonehead to see it.
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[Blackellunge]

3 smallies over 2 lbs is a good day on DC! nice work

i agree the water levels have definitely dropped at DC compared to a few weeks ago - saw a shore fisherman on the island last trip out .
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[MSM1970]

Deer creek is there for culinary water for slc, one of the rules applied I think from the bureau of reclamation was no dogs allowed in the lake, that law is still there, don't think its enforced much, jordanelle is there to catch and reserve more water for slc area, Utah lake just gets what it can,

Deer creek Release To Stream (cfs)
07/28/2016 11:00
778.82 cfs
Provo river going into UL Provo River: Harbor Drive (cfs)
07/28/2016 11:00
45.30 cfs
[url "http://data.cuwcd.com/data/streamflows/index.htm"]http://data.cuwcd.com/data/streamflows/index.htm[/url]


all most all the water is going to slc area for culinary uses, everyone is trying to find out why the decision was to hold more water and let UL go down so far, (see [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=985060;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread"]Algae meeting comments?[/url]) UL get very little water from deer creek in the summer.

Those are some nice ones out of DC, looking at the pic where is can see some of your boat I think we met at Lincoln and caught a bunch of white bass this spring.
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[bamffisher1]

You also caught a largemouth bass mixed in with all the white bass. I started making jerky out of the white bass. Very tasty a friend of mine gave me some of his and I was hooked. I am about out of jerky I wounder how long we should wait before we can keep the fish out of LB?
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[PrinceFisher]

Nice report. Thanks for including what you used. I'm going to hit Deer Creek this evening. Appreciate the advice.
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[a_bow_nut]

[quote OCF]Here is an interesting fact about DC that most folks are not aware of - There is no Provo River water stored behind DC dam. The water you see stored in the reservoir is import water from both the Weber and Duchesne rivers (trans basin diversions). DC dam is a WWII era dam and at the time of construction, all of the water rights were taken on the Provo River & none available for storage. All Provo River water is allowed to flow through the dam - year round.
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I wonder how these water users would feel if they knew that their water is being used to provide water for the June Sucker spawn each spring?

If you look at the release data for both Jordanelle and Deer Creek each spring you will see that only Deer Creek opens it gates to provide the extra 13K acre feet of water for the spawn.
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[Jedidiah]

They sure DO enforce the no dogs rule. It's an easy one to enforce, that's kind of the earmark of what makes a rule likely to be enforced at Deer Creek!
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