5 days ago
Daily fishing limit increased at Utah reservoir over low water levels
Utah wildlife managers have issued an emergency change to the state's fishing guidebook, doubling the daily number of trout an angler can take from a reservoir in northeast Utah as its levels slip.
Anglers are now able to keep up to eight trout of any species every day at Crouse Reservoir, up from the previous daily limit of four, through an emergency order that Utah Division of Wildlife Resources deputy director Michael Canning authorized on Tuesday. The order remains in effect through the end of this year.
'This emergency change will allow the public to harvest more fish from the reservoir so they can be used and not wasted as water levels continue to decline this summer,' Canning said in a statement. 'Increased harvest will hopefully improve the survival of any remaining fish, as well.'
Crouse Reservoir, located about 30 miles northeast of Vernal near the Uintah-Daggett county border, is often filled with rainbow, tiger and brown trout. While many reservoirs in the area are at least 60% full, Crouse Reservoir struggled from a below-normal snowpack, said DWR spokeswoman Faith Heaton Jolley.
It's closest to the Northeastern Uintas and Yampa-White-Little Snake snowpack basins in Utah and Colorado, respectively, which peaked at approximately 83% to 89% of the region's median average, per Natural Resources Conservation Service data. Some of the localized sites closest to Crouse Reservoir fared worse than that. Most of the region's snowpack collection melted prematurely, as well, which can reduce the efficiency of the snowpack runoff.
The reservoir currently holds about 350 acre-feet of water, which is about 20% of its full capacity of 1,750 acre-feet, according to the Utah Division of Water Rights. Senior water rights dictate that most of what's left will go toward the Pot Creek drainage downstream, state wildlife officials said.
They add that anglers looking to catch trout should use a boat or small watercraft out on the water because thick vegetation along its shoreline could make access difficult otherwise.
