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Utah fishing in April

Pre-runoff prime time and the biggest stocking month so far.

April is one of the two busiest stocking months of the year, and fishing is wide open below about 7,000 feet. Rivers hold at good, clear flows until the snowpack starts coming off — usually late in the month on the lower rivers, later up high — so the first three weeks are a window for the Weber, Provo, Logan, and Blacksmith Fork. Reservoirs are turning over and fish push shallow; walleye and white bass spawn at Utah Lake and Willard Bay; largemouth start moving up at Sand Hollow and Quail Creek. Mid-elevation lakes lose their ice by month's end.

Where to go in April

Strawberry and Scofield right at ice-out, Deer Creek and Jordanelle for rainbows and smallmouth, Willard Bay and Utah Lake for walleye and white bass, the Weber and Provo before runoff.

Species in season

What the DWR stocks in April

Historically April is the #4 stocking month in Utah — about 10% of the year’s plants (1,367 recorded events across 191 waters). These are the waters stocked most often in April:

• Willard Bay Reservoir — 47 plants over 6 years · 9,086,882 fish · Box Elder Co.
• Flaming Gorge Reservoir — 35 plants over 5 years · 1,092,754 fish · Daggett Co.
• Highland Glen Park Pond — 33 plants over 6 years · 10,138 fish · Utah Co.
• Jordanelle Reservoir — 32 plants over 5 years · 811,288 fish · Wasatch Co.
• Fish Lake — 32 plants over 4 years · 249,916 fish · Sevier Co.
• Willow Park Pond — 32 plants over 6 years · 19,736 fish · Salt Lake Co.
• Sunset Pond — 27 plants over 6 years · 6,576 fish · Salt Lake Co.
• Salem Pond — 26 plants over 6 years · 26,243 fish · Utah Co.
• Sandy Community Fishery — 26 plants over 6 years · 12,173 fish · Salt Lake Co.
• Spanish Oaks Pond — 25 plants over 6 years · 15,749 fish · Utah Co.
• Bountiful Pond — 21 plants over 6 years · 20,612 fish · Davis Co.
• Manila Creek Park Pond — 21 plants over 5 years · 9,383 fish · Utah Co.
• Rockport Reservoir — 20 plants over 5 years · 226,218 fish · Summit Co.
• Cove Pond — 19 plants over 6 years · 12,531 fish · Salt Lake Co.
• Jensen Nature Park Pond — 19 plants over 6 years · 9,710 fish · Davis Co.

River flows in April

Across Utah’s gauged rivers, April flows typically run about 97% of each river’s year-round median (period-of-record USGS data). Comfortable wading flows on most rivers.

• Lake Fork River — typically ~28 cfs (25% of annual median)
• Ashley Creek — typically ~32 cfs (41% of annual median)
• Yellowstone River (Uintas) — typically ~58 cfs (49% of annual median)
• East Fork Sevier River — typically ~33 cfs (55% of annual median)
• Diamond Fork — typically ~79 cfs (58% of annual median)
• Middle Provo River — typically ~173 cfs (73% of annual median)
• Green River (below Flaming Gorge) — typically ~1,288 cfs (78% of annual median)
• Mammoth Creek — typically ~28 cfs (78% of annual median)
• Upper Weber River — typically ~154 cfs (82% of annual median)
• Ogden River — typically ~38 cfs (82% of annual median)
• Duchesne River — typically ~125 cfs (83% of annual median)
• Rock Creek (Uintas) — typically ~42 cfs (83% of annual median)

April tips

• Ice-out at Strawberry is the single best week of the year for big cutthroat on the bank — check the storage chart for the inflow bump.
• When a river's flow crosses its seasonal median on the 72-hour chart, runoff has started; move to a tailwater or a reservoir.
• Kokanee start showing at Flaming Gorge, Strawberry, and Jordanelle for trollers running dodgers at 20–40 feet.

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