Best season for catching trophy-size fish is upon us

It seems to be the season for big fish.

Sherm Holdaway of Orem isn't soon to forget where the best ice fishing is at Strawberry Reservoir.

Holdaway pulled an 18-pound, 2-ounce rainbow trout through the hole he'd drilled in the ice, which happened to be in the same area where he caught a 9-pound trout a month earlier.

Also, the best opportunity anglers will have to catch trophy splake at Joes Valley Reservoir is near.

From the end of April or at the beginning of ice-off, through the month of May, the big splake typically move within range of a good case from shoreline anglers.

Holdaway was fishing a frozen shiner minnow on the Soldier Creek portion of the reservoir when he caught his latest trophy.

"My line started moving and I set the hook on what felt like a snag, but then the snag started to pull back," he said. "We had a tug-of-war for quite a while. I would gain 10 feet and then the fish would take it right back."

Eventually, the 33-inch long trout tired and Holdaway was able to work the trout up to the hole in the ice.

The tough part was trying to pull the fish, which had a 20 1/2-inch girth, through the hole in the ice, which was eight inches in diameter.

He then took the trophy trout to the Strawberry Marina store, where it was officially weighed.

There is still a lot of ice and snow at the reservoir. Ice-off isn't likely to take place until early to mid-May. Anglers need to be aware of thinning ice.

"Strawberry Reservoir is still my favorite place to go fishing," the 66-year-old Holdaway added. "I have fished the reservoir for over 60 years and still fish on about a weekly basis. I have really enjoyed catching the large trout in the reservoir, especially when you catch one of these lunker sterile rainbow trout.

"In my experience, the reservoir is as good now for fishing as it has ever been."

Strawberry is the most popular fishing spot in Utah.

One reason is the size of the fish. Currently, the average rainbow trout is running about 17 to 18 inches in length.

Bear Lake cutthroat are also getting some size to them. Cutthroat ranging from 5 to 10 pounds are commonly caught.

It is these large cutts that are helping to control the Utah chub population in the reservoir.

In order to help maintain this balance, special regulations were put in place at Strawberry. The limit is four trout or kokanee salmon in the aggregate. No more than two of those fish may be cutthroat trout under 15 inches, and no more than one may be a cutthroat trout over 22 inches.

This means all cutthroat trout 15 to 22 inches must be immediately released.