Utah Wildlife Board approves several changes to fishing regulations in Utah, other items

Salt Lake City — The Utah Wildlife Board approved several changes to the current fishing regulations in Utah, as well as a few other rule amendments, during a public meeting Thursday.

Updated fishing regulations for 2025–26

In order to implement some needed fishery management updates at various waterbodies across the state and to accommodate angler feedback (garnered through a recent survey), the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources proposed several regulation changes for fishing. The Utah Wildlife Board approved the changes, and the updated regulations will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. Those changes include:

Central Utah waterbodies

• Deer Creek Reservoir: Removing the requirement that white bass caught at Deer Creek Reservoir must be killed immediately, and instead referring anglers to the statewide limit for the species.
• Provo River Delta: Requiring that any June suckers caught at the Provo River Delta be immediately released. Any walleye caught in that area from March 1 through 6 a.m. on the first Saturday of May must be released (while the fish are spawning). The limit on northern pike in the Provo River Delta was removed, and any northern pike caught in that area must be immediately killed. The Provo River Delta area will be closed to nighttime bowfishing (from sunset to sunrise) from the first Saturday in May through 6 a.m. on the second Saturday of July.
• Utah Lake and its tributaries: Allowing spearfishing for white bass (in addition to northern pike) at Utah Lake and its tributaries west of I-15, including American Fork Creek, Beer Creek, Dry Creek, Hobble Creek, Spanish Fork River and Spring Creek Run.
• Stansbury Lake: Stansbury Lake was recently opened to the public and it's required that any largemouth bass caught there must be released. There will also be a 10-fish limit for bluegill, green sunfish and black crappie (a combined total), and a limit of two channel catfish.
• Yuba Reservoir: Allowing setline fishing at Yuba Reservoir.

Northeastern Utah waterbodies

• Pelican Lake: Keeping the daily limit of 15 bluegill at Pelican Lake, and changing the length limit so only five of the fish caught may exceed 8 inches. An angler may now use up to six lines when ice fishing at Pelican Lake, but may only check their own lines and are required to attach their name to each line, pole or tip-up if more than two poles are being used at a time.
• Strawberry River: Clarifying that the artificial flies and lures regulation also applies to instream lakes and ponds between the Pinnacles and Soldier Creek Dam on Strawberry Reservoir.

Flaming Gorge Reservoir regulation changes

Several updates to fishing regulations were also approved for Flaming Gorge Reservoir. These changes were made to benefit the kokanee salmon population at the reservoir, while also reducing the overly abundant population of smaller lake trout. The updated regulations will also create consistency with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's new fishing regulations for the Wyoming side of the reservoir. The Wyoming regulations will go into effect in October, and the regulations for Utah will go into effect Jan. 1, 2025.

The changes for Flaming Gorge include:

• Allowing the use of lake trout (caught as part of their daily limit) as bait — or legally disposing of them (without violating the state's wasting laws) — while fishing at Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
• Chumming will be allowed at Flaming Gorge, but only with legal baits, dead burbot or dead lake trout.
• Removing the daily limit for lake trout 28 inches or smaller caught at Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
• Decreasing the daily fish limit for kokanee salmon caught at Flaming Gorge to three fish. (Currently, the daily limit for kokanee salmon at all Utah waterbodies is four fish.)
• Removing the ice hole size restriction at Flaming Gorge. (Currently, there is an 18-inch restriction for ice-fishing holes at Flaming Gorge Reservoir.) The board tasked the DWR with evaluating the new unrestricted ice hole size for the first year of implementation.
• Requiring anglers to label their fishing rods or tip-ups with their names, if they're ice fishing with more than two lines.
• Allowing anglers to harvest both burbot and lake trout with artificial light when spearfishing at Flaming Gorge Reservoir from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31. No other fish species may be harvested using artificial light while spearfishing.
• Limiting the length of shooting line while spearfishing to 20 feet.

Northern Utah waterbodies

• Willard Bay Reservoir: Reducing the daily limit of yellow perch to 15 at Willard Bay Reservoir and its inlet channel. (Currently, the statewide daily limit for yellow perch is 50 fish.)
• Causey Reservoir: Allowing an angler to use up to six lines when ice fishing at Causey Reservoir, but requiring the angler to check their own lines and attach their name to each line, pole or tip-up if more than two poles are being used at a time.
• Cutler Reservoir: Reducing the daily limit for black crappie to 15 fish. (Currently, the statewide daily limit for black crappie is 50 fish.)
• Echo Reservoir: Removing the catch-and-kill regulation for walleye at Echo Reservoir and implementing the statewide walleye regulation of allowing people to keep 10 walleye, with one fish over 24 inches.
• Pond at Poulter Preserve: Adding a regulation that from the second Saturday in September through 6 a.m. on the third Saturday of the following May, only artificial flies and lures and catch-and-release fishing would be allowed. The rest of the year, the statewide community fishery regulations would apply, which allow the use of bait and allow a daily limit of two fish.
• Porcupine Reservoir: Allowing an angler to use up to six lines when ice fishing at Porcupine Reservoir, but requiring the angler to check their own lines and attach their name to each line, pole or tip-up if more than two poles are being used at a time.

Southeastern Utah waterbodies

• Recapture Reservoir: Closing Recapture Reservoir to underwater spearfishing for largemouth bass from April 1 through the fourth Saturday in June (during the spawning period).

Southern Utah waterbodies

• Manning Meadow Reservoir: Allowing bait and increasing the daily trout limit at Manning Meadow Reservoir to four fish. (The current daily limit is two fish.) The seasonal closure to protect spawning cutthroat trout there would remain in place. The board tasked the DWR with evaluating the change for two years.
• Barney Lake: Allowing bait and increasing the daily trout limit to four fish. (The previous daily limit was two fish.) The board tasked the DWR with evaluating the change for two years.
• Gunlock Reservoir: Allowing a daily limit of six largemouth bass of any size, and increasing the daily limit for black crappie to 100 fish. (Currently, the statewide daily limit for black crappie is 50 fish.)
• Quail Creek Reservoir: Allowing a daily limit of six largemouth bass of any size.
• Sand Hollow Reservoir: Increasing the daily limit for largemouth bass to eight fish of any size. (Currently, the daily limit is six largemouth bass, with only one fish over 12 inches.)
• Mill Meadow Reservoir: Decreasing the current daily limit of eight tiger muskie at Mill Meadow Reservoir to match the statewide daily limit for tiger muskie of one fish over 40 inches.

Statewide fishing regulations

• Allowing spearfishing to take place any time of day or night. (Currently, it is only allowed between sunrise and sunset.)
• Allowing the use of artificial light while spearfishing for Utah chub at any location open to spearfishing.
• Allowing spearfishing at 15 high-elevation waterbodies in the Uinta Mountains, including Alexander Lake, Wall Lake, Fish Lake, Hoover Lake, Whitney Reservoir, China Lake, Hoop Lake, Chepeta Lake, Papoose Lake, Wigwam Lake, Moccasin Lake, Paradise Park Lake, Hacking Lake, Upper Stillwater Reservoir and Spirit Lake.
• Reducing the number of hooks allowed per setline from 15 to 8. (Setline fishing typically targets channel catfish, which have a statewide daily limit of eight fish.)
• Limiting setline tending to only those anglers who have a setline permit.
• Prohibiting the mechanical retrieval of a setline.
• Requiring a setline to be checked at least once every 48 hours.
• Requiring that a setline be permanently marked with the angler's setline permit number.
• Allowing the use of airguns (archery tackle) to remove carp at any open waterbody, as long as the airgun is only capable of firing arrows or bolts, is pneumatically powered and is solely pressurized through a separate charging device.
• Removing the "bonus" brook trout limit at lakes and streams in the Uinta Mountains in Daggett, Duchesne, Summit, Uintah and Wasatch counties. (Currently, there is a "bonus limit" of four brook trout.)
• Adding four community fishing ponds across the state, including Dry Creek Highland Pond, Provo River Delta Gateway Park Pond, Jordan River Big Bend Pond and the Willow Spring Pond.
• Allowing anglers to kill and possess the nonnative fish they catch that are included on the prohibited species list and asking anglers to report those fish to the DWR. (Currently, anglers must release all prohibited fish species that they catch, including potentially harmful species.)

The board also tasked the DWR with evaluating increased opportunities for spearfishing in Utah, as well as studying the impacts of spearfishing in Utah.

Updated rule for property transactions

The Utah Wildlife Board also approved a few updates to the rule that provides the standards and procedures for how the DWR may buy, sell or exchange land. The updates are primarily minor rule wording changes to provide additional clarification and detail about the process — these updates do not change the process itself.

The changes include restructuring the rule to create different sections for acquisition, disposal and exchange of properties. This will help with clarity in separating those processes and to create congruence of value established in each section. A few other minor clarifications to the rule and associated definitions were also approved.

Conservation permits audit and annual report

The Conservation Permit Program was launched in the 1980s as a way to raise funding for wildlife conservation in Utah. Conservation permits are offered to conservation and sportsmen's groups who then auction them at banquets, fundraisers and other events. The conservation groups provide at least 90% of the money raised from these permit sales toward conservation and research projects like habitat enhancement, wildlife transplants, wildlife migration research, installing wildlife guzzlers and deer survival studies. The remaining 10% of the proceeds are retained by the conservation groups to help cover administrative costs.

"Since 2001, conservation permits have generated more than $88 million for conservation work in Utah," DWR Wildlife Section Chief Covy Jones said. "If not for the revenue from these permits, we and our partners would have much less funding to complete high-priority wildlife conservation projects. The conservation and expo permit funding has led to the enhancement of thousands of acres of crucial habitats, transplants and reintroductions of big game to several areas across the state, and the completion of important research to help us better manage big game populations."

During Thursday's board meeting, the DWR gave an update on the projects completed through the conservation permit funding and provided the annual audit of the program.

Expo permits audit and 2025 expo permit approval

The expo permits also help fund wildlife conservation in the state. These permits are not auctioned, but rather, are offered once each year through a drawing held at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Salt Lake City. Utahns and nonresidents who attend the expo can apply for these permits. There is a $5 application fee that goes toward DWR-approved wildlife projects and conservation initiatives in Utah. A small portion of the fee goes to the conservation groups hosting the expo to help cover eligible expenses related to hosting and running the permit drawing.

The DWR provided an update on the program, and the board approved the expo permits for 2025.

Other items

The Utah Wildlife Board also approved a new member to the Landowner Association committee, as well as the board meeting dates for 2025.

You can watch the full meeting on the Utah Department of Natural Resources YouTube channel.