Abundant fish make autumn an avid angler's paradise

Fall fishing is expected to be good. In fact, some believe it will be one of the best falls on record.

The reasons are there has been plenty of water, which is cooling down now; there's been lots of food over the summer, and fish have not been lacking company. Along with resident fish, more than 1.2 million pounds of fish were planted over the summer.

Fall fishing starts in mid-September and, in most years, runs through November.

This year, fall is expected to provide some of the very best fishing. Among the reasons are that with the cooler water, the fish are closer to the surface and to anglers' casts, and in anticipation of colder weather, they're aggressively feeding.

The first step to good fall fishing, said Roger Wilson, cold-water-fisheries manager for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, is to "do your homework."

Which simply means: Learn to fish in the fall.

It starts with figuring out where the fish are, said Wilson.

"Be adaptable. Move around. Don't just stay in one place or use one type of equipment. In many cases, things change day to day in the fall," he added.

"Distribution patterns change with the changes in water temperatures. In many cases, the fish move into shallow water looking for minnows and small fish … which makes them more accessible to fishermen."

Take Strawberry Reservoir, for example. It is not well known for its summer fishing from the shorelines.

"Now, the fish have moved into the shallows sooner this year," said Byron Gunderson, owner of Fish Tech Outfitters. "Those working the edges and trolling the main lake are reporting that the fish are near the surface, between 5 and 10 feet below the surface … and they're catching a lot of fish."

This includes catching more rainbow trout. Heretofore, rainbow trout, the one fish anglers can keep without restrictions to size, were infrequent catches. The DWR changed its planting program by putting larger fish in Strawberry to stop them from being eaten.

Biologists also reported counting more rainbow trout in gillnet surveys this past summer, and anglers are reporting catching and keeping more rainbow trout.

Trollers, fly fishermen and shore anglers are also doing well in other waters.

Scofield Reservoir, difficult to fish over the summer because of dense vegetation, will gradually improve as the water cools.