Utah Wildlife Board approves 2023–24 fishing regulations and other amendments

Salt Lake City — The Utah Wildlife Board approved some changes to fishing regulations across the state, including classifying roundtail chub as a sportfish and establishing fishing regulations for the species. A few other items were also approved during Thursday's public meeting.

2023–24 fishing recommendations

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources makes changes to fishing regulations when data collected from biological surveys or angler catch data shows that a fishery is not meeting its objectives. The DWR also conducts an online survey to gauge public support for all regulation changes before formally recommending them to the Regional Advisory Councils and the Utah Wildlife Board. The DWR also considers requests from the public for regulation changes when those requests are supported by biological data, angler catch data and the online public survey.

"One of the changes approved by the Utah Wildlife Board for this next year's fishing regulations is to remove roundtail chub from the list of prohibited fish species to fish for in Utah," DWR Sportfish Coordinator Randy Oplinger said. "We initially started presenting this idea to the public last year, and there was a lot of support for it. These are a fun species to fish for because they take a wide variety of flies, lures and baits. Roundtail chub are found in the Colorado and Green rivers and their tributaries. Those rivers don't receive a lot of fishing pressure, so classifying roundtail chub as a sportfish species provides some new fishing opportunities on some waters that are not heavily visited. While roundtail chub are considered a species of greatest conservation need, they are a conservation success story and their populations in Utah are doing well enough now to withstand some fishing pressure."

The approved change will now allow roundtail chub to be caught in the following areas:

• Escalante River: From the confluence of Pine Creek downriver to the confluence of Lake Powell. All roundtail chub must be immediately released after being caught, and only artificial flies and lures could be used.
• McElmo Creek: From the Colorado state line downriver to the confluence of the San Juan River. All roundtail chub must be immediately released after being caught, and only artificial flies and lures could be used.
• Colorado River: From the Colorado state line downriver to the confluence of the Dirty Devil River. The daily fish limit will be two roundtail chub.
• Delores River: From the Colorado state line downriver to the confluence of the Colorado River. The daily fish limit will be two roundtail chub.
• Green River: From the Colorado state line downriver to Sand Wash boat launch. All roundtail chub must be immediately released.
• Green River: From the Sand Wash boat launch downriver to the confluence of the Colorado River. The daily fish limit will be two roundtail chub.
• San Rafael River: The daily fish limit will be two roundtail chub.
• White River: From the Colorado state line downriver to the tribal land boundary. The daily fish limit will be two roundtail chub.

The wildlife board also approved the following fishing regulations:

Southeastern Utah waterbodies

• Removing Green River Golf Course Pond as a community fishing pond, due to low survival rates of the stocked fish.

Southern Utah waterbodies

• Updating the daily fish limit at Navajo Lake to four trout/grayling, with only one exceeding 22 inches.

Northeastern Utah waterbodies

• Reducing the daily fish limit at Big Sand Wash Reservoir from 50 yellow perch to 10 yellow perch to help improve the quality and consistency of the yellow perch at this fishery.
• Increasing the daily fish limit at Big Sand Wash Reservoir from 10 walleye to 20 walleye (any size fish). This will reduce walleye numbers, which will help improve the quality of perch and the walleye at this fishery.
• Removing the seasonal closure at Brown Duck Basin to provide additional angler opportunities. Previously, Brown Duck Basin was closed to fishing from Jan. 1 to 6 a.m. on the second Saturday of July.
• Increasing the daily fish limit at Jones Hole Creek from two trout (only one may be a brown trout over 15 inches) to four trout (any species and any size fish). This should increase harvest opportunity and improve the health of the population. The regulation requiring the use of only artificial flies and lures would remain in place.
• Requiring all common carp to be killed immediately after being caught at Pelican Lake. This will help improve the quality of the Pelican Lake fishery.
• Increasing the daily fish limit at Pelican Lake from 24 bullhead to 50 bullhead. This will provide additional harvest opportunities and should also help improve the quality of the fishery.
• Reducing the daily fish limit on bluegill, green sunfish, black crappie, and yellow perch from 20 fish (a combined total) to 10 fish (a combined total) at Starvation Reservoir.
• Shortening the stretch of the river where special regulations apply at West Fork Duchesne River to exclude the stretch between North Fork and Wolf Creek.

Northern Utah waterbodies

• Increasing the daily fish limit at Tony Grove Lake to eight trout from Aug. 15 to Dec. 31 to allow anglers to harvest additional fish during the fall in a lake that is prone to fish kills in the winter.
• Maintaining the current daily fish limit at Stateline Reservoir of four trout or kokanee salmon but adding a four kokanee salmon bonus limit. (The total limit can be eight trout, if four are kokanee salmon.) Also adding a stipulation that no more than one can be a lake trout over 22 inches. All lake trout 22 inches or smaller must be immediately released.
• Maintaining the current daily fish limit at Causey Reservoir, which is four trout or kokanee salmon, but adding the stipulation that no more than one can be a lake trout over 22 inches. All lake trout 22 inches or smaller must be immediately released.
• Allowing the use of dead yellow perch as bait on the Lower Bear River from Cutler Reservoir to the Great Salt Lake.
• Willard Creek Pond will now be an official community fishery.
• Removing the nighttime fishing closure at Lost Creek Reservoir to provide additional fishing opportunities.
• Increasing the daily fish limit at several waterbodies in the Uinta Mountains from four trout to eight trout (with a four brook trout bonus limit) from Aug. 15 through Dec. 31. This change will provide additional harvest opportunities on waters that are prone to fish kills in the winter. This applies to Beaver Lake, Bridger Lake, Marsh Lake, Quarter Corner Lake and Teapot Lake. During the rest of the year (Jan. 1 through Aug. 14), the limits on these lakes will remain four trout with a bonus limit of four brook trout, which are the current limits. The current limits will apply year round to the other waterbodies in the Uintas.

Central Utah waterbodies

• Increasing the daily fish limit for all species at Mona Reservoir to make them double the statewide daily limits. This will provide additional harvest opportunities at a reservoir that frequently experiences low water levels.
• Increasing the daily fish limit for all species except tiger muskies at Yuba Reservoir to make them double the state daily limits. This will provide additional harvest opportunities at a reservoir that frequently experiences low water levels. The limit for tiger muskie at Yuba Reservoir will be the statewide limit of one tiger muskie over 40 inches — all tiger muskie 40 inches or smaller must be immediately released.
• Removing the fall seasonal closure for some of the Strawberry Reservoir tributaries to provide additional angler opportunities. This now removes the closure from Sept. 1 through 6 a.m. on the second Saturday of October from all the tributaries, except for Trout Creek. The current regulations for requiring catch and release and using artificial flies and lures — as well as the spring seasonal closure (from May 15 through 6 a.m. on the second Saturday of July) — will remain in effect on all the creeks.

The DWR will also look at expanding spearfishing opportunities in Utah and will present those recommendations in future public meetings.

Henry Mountains bison management plan

The board also approved the new bison management plan for the Henry Mountains herd. The previous bison management plan for the Henry Mountains was written in 2007. The approved new plan will be in place for the next 10 years and includes updated information on the history, status, habitat management, population objectives, and harvest management and strategies for the bison population on the Henry Mountains.

One of the goals of the plan is to maintain the Henry Mountains bison herd as a genetically viable, free-roaming conservation population of bison, while also balancing the population with the available forage resources that are also used by livestock in the area, and the long-term habitat in the area. Another goal of the plan is to manage the bison population by providing diverse recreational opportunities, which include hunting and wildlife viewing.

The management plan can be found on the DWR website.

Additional amendments to the Landowner Association rule

Previously, some changes to the Landowner Association rule were proposed in the June 2 Utah Wildlife Board meeting. During that meeting, the board voted to give LOA landowners the opportunity to propose future additional program changes to the LOA committee and the DWR. Any proposed changes that had the combined support of the LOAs, the committee and the DWR were shared at the public Regional Advisory Council meetings in August and September and presented to the wildlife board during Thursday's meeting.

The wildlife board approved the following amendments to the LOA rule:

• An LOA advisory committee will be established.
• Clarify that individual landowners in an LOA can be held accountable before action is taken against the entire LOA.
• Program performance metrics will have input from LOAs.
• Clarifying that LOAs and the DWR will work together cooperatively.

Utah Conservation Permit Program audit and other items

The wildlife board also approved the 2022 Utah Conservation Permit Program audit and annual report during Thursday's meeting. Conservation permits are offered to conservation and sportsmen's groups who then auction them at banquets, fundraisers and other events. The conservation groups provide 90% of the money raised from these permit sales toward conservation and research projects, including:

• Habitat enhancement projects
• Wildlife transplants
• Aerial surveys
• Deer survival studies
• The Utah Wildlife Migration Initiative research and associated big game captures and GPS collaring

The remaining 10% of the proceeds are retained by the conservation groups to help cover administrative costs. Over $7 million was raised for wildlife conservation through the conservation permits this year. Since 2001, the program has generated more than $72 million for wildlife conservation in Utah.

The public meeting dates for the 2023 Regional Advisory Council meetings and Utah Wildlife Board meetings were also approved during Thursday's meeting. The board also asked the DWR to put together a guiding document for selecting advisory committee members that can be approved at a future board meeting.

You can watch Thursday's meeting on the Utah Department of Natural Resources YouTube Channel.