Cooler weather, Better fishing

SKYLINE DRIVE, Sanpete County — The first sign of good fishing was the jacket. Cooler weather requires a jacket. Cooler weather also means improved fishing.

Standing on the banks of Benches Reservoir, a few miles east of the summit of Fairview Canyon, the water was alive with surfacing fish, most of them planters, roughly 10 inches long.

A half-dozen casts drew two fish to the fly, a brown Woolley Bugger. Both fish were planters. Two more casts attracted a fish that broke the 4X tippet with fly.

When a brief breeze came through, the hits stopped. A few minutes later, when the breeze stopped and the surface was a mirror again, the hits resumed.

The fish were, as expected, active, aggressive and hungry for anything resembling food, which in this case was a fly.

After the brisk morning temperatures started to rise, two carloads of people showed up to fish with spincasting gear — four adults and three kids. That was as crowded as it got that morning.

A few miles down the road, at Electric Lake, there were only a half-dozen fishermen around the banks near the upper end of the reservoir. All were bait fishing. The popular choice was a night crawler and salmon egg on the same hook.

A little ways down the road was Cleveland Reservoir. Morning fishing with worm and PowerBait was good, said one angler as he headed back to the highway.

The report on Fairview Lakes is fly-fishing is excellent from float tubes and pontoons, and shore fishing is good.

Experts list a bunch of good reasons for better fishing in the fall.

Cooler water helps. Fish prefer the lower temperatures. They breathe better and are noticeably more active, which means they bite harder.

They are also able to leave the deeper water, forced there by summer heat, and cruise the shallows.

Some suggest that the lower water temperatures also send a signal to eat because winter's closing in and food will be less plentiful.

Fall is especially good for fly fishermen. Caddis and mayfly hatches help make the choice of flies easier.

The urge to gorge themselves also invites fish to take bigger bites, such as beetles, ants and grasshoppers.

Lower water flows also helps. Slower water means rivers and streams are clearer, which means fish have a better view of what's floating around than when faster waters were cloudy.

It also creates some unusual fishing opportunities.

Mickey Andersen, an owner in Fish Tech Outfitters, has recently walked the almost-dry riverbeds in the Uintas and fished once-deep holes that are now isolated ponds, "some only a few feet wide."