Utah Division of Wildlife seeks feedback on fishing regulations

Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources is proposing some changes to fishing regulations for Deer Creek Reservoir. They would be good news for the white bass that live there, but bad news for anyone who wants to make sure they’re all eradicated.

Rather than requiring that all fish caught in that body of water be killed immediately, the potential change will allow anglers to catch and release the species, and those who wish to keep it will be able to continue to do so, with no limit on the amount they can legally catch.

According to Trina Hedrick, DWR sportfish coordinator, the change is not due to concerns about the white bass population.

“Some fish don’t bite,” she said.

She said white bass were illegally introduced into Deer Creek more than a decade ago and that this may result in a revival of the game in that water, although not on a large scale.

“Despite that first observation over a decade ago, we simply haven’t seen them in our nets or other samples,” Hedrick said. “We believe the illegal introduction probably didn’t work, but they may still be there in small numbers.”

They’re not sure if there are any white bass left in the lake — they haven’t seen any in 10 years — but if anglers catch any, they can treat them the same as white bass in any other water in the state.

The proposed change is one of many that the DWR has proposed across the state. Another possible difference that could affect Wasatch County is clarifying that only artificial flies and lures are allowed when fishing in lakes and ponds between the Strawberry Pinnacles and Soldier Creek Dam on Strawberry Reservoir.

Hedrick said setting quotas and regulations for specific species is done using a series of equations.

“There’s actually a fisheries modeling program that does the calculations and models (based on your population parameters) what happens when you put a slot limit in place and increase the size limit,” she said.

This method takes into account information such as total mortality, age distribution and growth, and is used to determine constraints on naturally occurring and reproducing species.

According to Hedrick, different regulations apply to other fish species that the DWR keeps, such as rainbow trout.

“It’s more based on economics, expected catch rates and things like that,” she said. “We also try to do surveys in our more popular waters at least every 10 years. That gives us a really good estimate of the number of fish caught, the number of fish harvested, by species.”

She said the DWR works in two-year regulatory cycles, so more changes may be proposed next year, but several more are likely in 2026.

“We try to be responsive,” she said.

Other possible changes across the state include creating more opportunities, times and locations for spearfishing, allowing anglers to kill and keep fish on the prohibited species list and report their catches to the DWR, and allowing the use of air guns that fire arrows or bolts to kill carp in open waters.

The air rifle, Hedrick said, was provided at the request of the June Sucker Recovery Program to reduce the number of nuisance carp in the state’s waters.

“They uproot vegetation and usually make the water much more murky or cloudy as they forage,” Hedrick said. “It’s still viewed as a weapon, so people need to be aware of that.”

According to the restoration program, June suckers are the only remaining native species in the Utah Lake system. Hedrick said she believes there is competition between the suckers and common carp, so reducing the unwanted carp population will help the suckers feed on their fill while also helping to clean up Utah Lake.

Hedrick believes the biggest impact of the changes could come from the limit changes at Flaming Gorge. The lake, which straddles the Utah-Wyoming border, has always been partitioned, with different state regulations applying to different parts of the lake.

With the possible changes this year, the only difference between Utah and Wyoming restrictions in the region will be the smallmouth bass limits.

Anglers interested in learning more about the proposed rule changes can find more information in a video of Hedrick posted on the DWR’s YouTube channel, or provide feedback at regional meetings held in late August and September.

The meeting for the central region, which includes Wasatch County, will be held on August 27 at 6 p.m. in Springville.

If voters approve the changes, they will take effect in Wasatch County and across Utah starting in January of next year.