Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Division of Wildlife Resources Conservation Outreach Manager Aaron Bott to talk about all things fishing and how this year’s drought is affecting the local waterbodies.
“A lot of folks are out there talking about how this drought in Utah can impact our summer, that goes just beyond watering our lawns, that’s going to impact our fishing and some of our recreational activities as well,” said Bott. The drought could affect the number of fish that an angler can harvest. Officials will keep a watchful eye out as the summer progresses.
As far as our local lakes around the Energy Loop you will notice that water levels are really low. So much so that the boat ramp at Mammoth and Electric Lake are inaccessible. “Well fishing as a sport is doing okay but it’s not going to be holding out for very long, I’m afraid, especially, up on that Energy Loop. Most of those bodies of water Cleveland, Mammoth or Huntington, as well as Electric the water levels are too low to even launch a boat at. You’ll have to carry and launch a manual powered boat like a canoe or kayak, but the boat ramps don’t make it to the water,” explained Bott. At this time the only lakes that you are able to launch boats from are Joe’s Valley and Scofield Reservoir.
In regards to how the fishing is going on those bodies of water anglers have reported huge success. “Partly because with lower water levels the fish are more congregated so more fish in less water and you’re able to catch a bunch. Particularly, again up on Electric they’ve got some great Tiger Trout fishing that’s going on right now. Scofield is still a big spot to go and hit up the reservoir, get out there and fish. We’re seeing a lot of success,” stated Bott.
If you would like to stick closer to town there is always fishing available at the local community ponds in Helper, Price and Wellington. “We’ve got the Gigliotti Pond, we’ve also got the Carbon County Pond, and then we got Wellington Knight-Ideal Pond, they are stocked. Generally, we stop stocking them even in a not dry year as the summer progresses when it gets too hot, then we pick up stocking them again in the fall,” stated Bott.
If you would like to know more about fishing conditions you can access the fishing report for our region by visiting the DWR website at https://wildlife.utah.gov/