Otter Creek Rainbows and Other Spring Fishing Options

Spring fishing is picking up in Utah right now, with ice melting from many of our reservoirs and fish becoming more active. The next few weeks will bring some of the best fishing of the year.

Otter Creek Reservoir, in south-central Utah, is ice-free and fishing is good for large rainbows. I fished there Saturday and enjoyed good success. My photo shows one of our larger fish. Most were fat and ran from 13-21 inches. The fish finder showed rainbows all over the reservoir, at all depths, but most of the fish we caught were close to shore. We were in a boat and did well casting along the shoreline.

I fished Piute Reservoir Saturday afternoon and found action slower there. We did catch some nice-sized rainbows, and others have reported fast action. The wind was blowing when we fished and that may have put them down.

Lake Powell is warming up and the smallmouth bass and striper fishing there should be excellent within a couple weeks. Success will stay strong into June.

Action is also picking up on our quality trout streams. Midge and blue wing olive hatches will become prolific on the Green, Provo and other streams during the next few weeks. Runoff will start to interfere with fishing on some streams, but the Green and Provo have tailwater sections that are protected and they should offer good fishing through the spring season.

Willard Bay, Utah Lake and Yuba Reservoir have open water and offer some action for walleye, along with other species. The walleye spawn will be winding down at Willard and Utah Lake. As the fish recuperate they often go on a feeding binge.

Deer Creek, Jordanelle, Rockport and Echo should lose their ice caps during the next couple weeks, and they will all offer good fishing.

Meanwhile, ice fishing continues to be good at Strawberry, Fish Lake, Bear Lake and other waters.

I'm updating fishing conditions weekly on this page.

- Dave Webb