Many Utah anglers walking on thin ice this year

All of this rain and snow has helped ski resorts and water users but has done little to help the ice fishermen.

Currently, the only popular ice-fishing waters with a covering safe enough to walk on are Scofield, Panguitch and Strawberry, and even then cold-weather anglers are being urged to "be careful." There is some safe ice on Flaming Gorge.

Generally, come January, there are plenty of places to drop a fishing line through the ice, but not this year.

That does not, of course, mean there are limited fishing opportunities. Rivers, such as the Green, Weber, Provo, Ogden and Logan, are providing some excellent fishing. And, several who have fished the moving water say there's very little competition.

There are still a few fishermen willing to haul their boats and launch at Jordanelle. Waters at Deer Creek are also open, but ramps are not.

There was a thin crust on Rockport earlier in the week, but that has since turned to liquid again.

There are reports of some nice rainbow, in the 16- to 18-inch class, being taken from Deer Creek and Rockport over the past week.

The forecast is calling for colder temperatures over the weekend, which might just be enough to at least get the freezing process started.

With the open water and colder temperatures, a little different fishing strategy is advised. In colder water the fish are less active and true hits are sometimes little more than a twitch in the line.

Also, said Tom Pettengill, sports fishing coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, "fishermen need to downsize their equipment because the fish are less active." Meaning, of course, smaller rods, lures, flies, hooks and smaller pieces of bait on the hooks.

Traditional baits fished off or close to the bottom, such as salmon eggs and worms, tend to work best under these conditions in lakes and reservoirs.

Fly fishermen using glow bugs, San Juan worms and sow bugs are doing relatively well in the rivers.

Because of the lack of ice, fishing pressure has been down and license sales have been down as well. Things should start to pick up as waters start to freeze.

Here's the latest report from the DWR on some of Utah's more popular waters:

LOST CREEK — Fishing success has been good for 10- to 12-inch cutthroat and rainbow. There is 6 inches of ice near the dam.