Heber Valley Life

Tag: Fishing

  • Get Hooked on Fishing

    Get Hooked on Fishing

    When families come to the Heber Valley, it’s usually to take advantage of the many outdoor recreational activities our beautiful valley boasts: mountain biking, hiking, snowmobiling, and more!

    As Spring awakens the land and the rivers swell with fresh mountain snow runoff, one of the more popular family adventures is fishing. And no wonder, with eleven new state fishing records set in Utah last year, alone! 

    Our valley is ideally situated at the base of the Uintah Mountain range – the birthplace of many rivers that not only supply water to our valley, but much of the Utah and Salt Lake valleys, as well. Bass, pike, and trout are abundant. Anglers come from all over to try their hand at a
    boast-worthy catch. Since it is likely that you’ll catch at least one fish per trip; it’s an ideal place to teach young people.

    As with all good things in life, fishing with kids takes some forethought. I’ve listed a few tips that will help you get started and provide a good framework for a successful trip. However, you know your children (or grandchildren) best, so take what you like, leave the rest, and have fun!

    Fishing Permits

    First things first. As the adult you’ll need a state-licensed fishing permit. Children under the age of twelve fish for free in the state of Utah. That means if you’re fishing with children ages 12-18, you’ll need to purchase a permit for them. However, the fee is less than an adult permit.

    Licenses are easy to obtain and can often be purchased the day-of at licensed sellers like: outdoor and sporting goods stores; grocery stores; and most fishing and fly shops. You can also purchase your license online through Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources (wildlife.utah.gov) or download and purchase it through their app. One of the advantages to purchasing it through the DWR app is that your permits are easily accessible on your phone. Current year license prices and fees for both residents and non-residents are listed on both the website and app.

    Get your fishing permits at: Walmart, Sportman’s Warehouse, Smith’s, or Lee’s Marketplace. Check out Fish Heads Fly Shop on Main Street for all your fishing needs.

    Where To Go

    Once you’ve secured your permits, you’re good to go. Utah has majestic rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, as well as an abundance of smaller ponds and fishing holes. In the Heber Valley, the easiest and most obvious spots to get to are the Deer Creek and Jordanelle Reservoirs. They both have easy-access day use areas with shaded pavilions and space to swim if the kids tire of fishing. Deer Creek Reservoir has at least eight varieties of fish to catch, including trout, perch, walleye, and sunfish, so chances are good you’ll get a bite. There is ample space for shoreline fishing, and a lot less competition for anglers if you get out there in the spring, before the summer temperatures hit. As soon as the daytime temps hit the mid-60s, you’ll be sharing the waters with more boaters, skiers, and windsurfers.

    If crowds aren’t your thing, consider the rivers and creeks. You’ll find plenty of space to spread out on the Provo River, Lake Creek, Rock Creek and all the tributaries in between — maybe you’ll discover a new favorite spot. Don’t be afraid to test different waters. Enjoying a fresh view is half the fun.

    Why Fish with Kids?

    Children are spending more time indoors than ever before. The research is clear; time outdoors in nature boosts mood, increases concentration, and slows activity in the brain’s prefrontal cortex (our brain’s main processing center) which reduces stress and anxiety. The benefits of time outdoors are myriad and well-researched. Spending time outside is good for everyone’s brains. Introducing new environments to your children can increase conversations; allowing for both the time and space to talk. Having a shared interest, or just taking the time to do something special with a child shows you care and are invested in them. This can have long lasting effects on your relationship. The younger you start, the better.

    The wonder of catching a fish, demonstrating respect for nature and natural processes of life, and connecting through shared success or dejection are skills that can’t be taught in front of a screen. So do the little bit of legwork required and take your children outdoors.

    Preparation

    Make sure you, yourself, are prepared. Children will be more at ease if they know you’re confident in what you’re doing. This doesn’t mean you need to be an expert angler, it simply means that you’ll be able to explain what the child might expect (the slippery texture of a fish, why it’s muscles reflexively move). Being able to talk through new experiences, introduce a few fishing vocabulary words, such as ‘lure’, ‘bait’, and ‘cast’, will make it a more enjoyable experience for everyone. This is where knowing your child’s preferences and attention span are key. It should go without saying that you’ll need to be more flexible when fishing with small children than you would on a solo venture.

    Keep the trips shorter to begin with. It’s more important to make the trip fun and engaging than to spend endless hours trying to catch something bigger or better. If a child is getting restless or bored, be willing to let them pick a new spot, switch activities, offer snacks, or even pack up and go. You can always try again tomorrow, or next week.

    What To Bring

    You’ll obviously need an appropriately sized fishing rod or two, as well as hooks, bait, and any other fishing gear you’ve found helpful over the years, but these other items are essential when it comes to fishing with children.

    • Sun-protection. Sunscreen, hats, UV-blocking shirts, etc. All the same precautions you’d take for yourself.
    • A camera or phone camera. You’ll want to capture all those fun memories you’re making!
    • A small cooler. If you plan on taking your catch home, you’ll want a way to transport it safely.
    • Extra fishing line, hooks, and a pocketknife or utility tool. Developing coordination and casting skills mean you may be tying more knots than you planned.
    • A fish identification booklet or phone app. It’s wonderful to know what you’ve caught, especially if you’re new to fishing. Research the types of local fish in your area before you go and look at pictures with your children. It will get you both excited to get out on the water.
    • Snacks and drinks! Plan to bring more than you think you’ll need and be respectful of your environment. Teach children to practice the “leave no trace” rule of thumb; if you packed it in, pack it back out. Help the next generation learn to respect our beautiful natural places.

    More important than any technique or great catch is the joy and fun you bring to the experience. Children reflect what they see. Be willing to be silly. Even if you go home with an empty cooler, the great memories you’ve made mean you won’t be going home empty handed.

    Additional Resources

    If you’re looking to give your kids a head-start and some great instruction, both Heber and Park City offer youth fishing programs.

    In Heber, the program is offered through the Wasatch State Park Community Fisheries program. Classes will take place over six Thursdays in June & July. The program is only $20, and kids aged 6-12 will learn basic knot tying, how to catch, hold, and gut their own fish. They are always looking for adult volunteers, so if you’re thinking of enrolling your child, consider tagging along and helping! You may just learn some new tricks yourself. Contact Kathy Donnell to get on the mailing list and receive more information for sign-ups ([email protected]).

    In Park City, lessons are taught in partnership at the Deer Valley Ponds. The club is offered through the Park City Municipal Athletic and Rec. Center (1200 Little Kate Rd, Park City, UT 84060). They also offer a flyfishing program in partnership with High Country Fly Fisher, for more advanced youth anglers. Go online to parkcityrecreation.org for further information.

    Registration for both programs usually open in March or April and fill up quickly, so get on the list as soon as you can.

  • Pigmentation of Pescatorial Pursuit

    Pigmentation of Pescatorial Pursuit

    Chris Peterson has tried almost every form of outdoor recreation. He has snowboarded, mountain biked, and backpacked, but the thing he keeps coming back to, the sport that connects with his soul, is fly fishing.

    He says, “For my personality, for who I am, fishing is the thing. It’s about those moments of magic where you’re face to face with the wild animal, these crazy looking creatures.”

    Fishing is not the only thing Chris happens to love. He is also passionate about painting.

    The Contemplative Man’s Recreation

    So, when Chris was contacted on his Instagram by Fish Heads Fly Shop owner Ben Diamond, and asked to complete a mural in their new space, it was a no-brainer. Chris was all in. One painting turned into two, and soon the shop had a vivid, larger than life trout, as well as an informative map of the Middle Provo River ready to inspire any adventurous angler.

    For Chris, painting and fishing hold one beautiful thing in common. They both take him to an ethereal place where he can experience the sublime. He said it reminds him of the subheading “The Contemplative Man’s Recreation” from a famous old book The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton published in 1653. Chris said, “For me, fishing and painting are both amazing and exciting adventures that I, in some way, use the same part of my brain for. The exploration of paint and the way that I interact with the canvas as it iterates to sort of take it [the painting] in a direction that is unexpected or not planned; that’s also sort of the way that I like to fish […] I’m looking for adventure as I go out there. I don’t want to go to the same old place. I’m trying to figure out how to solve a problem, how to get to this place where there’s like a transcendent moment, which is what you’re also looking for on a canvas.”

    Chris’s artwork is informed largely by his previous work in environmental advocacy, international rural development, teaching, and charter school development. Chris got his BFA in painting, but then stepped away from his art while he worked in nonprofit and public sector organizations as a manager, and earned two Master’s degrees. Eventually his path led him to teach art in an elementary school. While there, he started a nonprofit to fund art projects with kids. He became entranced with community development using art, and creating murals, as a tool. Chris said, “I had this experience doing these projects. I wasn’t controlling the outcome of them. It was more about the process.”

    These experiences led Chris back into doing art full-time. “I decided I was going to refine my art skill set, my artist vision, so that it was more powerful and said what I wanted it to say.” What is it that Chris wants to say with his giant, colorful trouts and massive portrayals of wildlife? Really, it is about commemorating the creatures that Chris has grown to revere. Chris says, “In a way, it’s like my way of talking about this thing that’s kind of painful, the plight of wildlife in the age of climate change and what their future looks like, but doing it in a way that’s celebratory of these animals and our experience to live in a place where we get to interact with them.”

    Walking into Fish Heads and having the trout with its dancing colors greet you at first sight does feel like a celebration, but it also becomes quickly apparent that painting a mural is not an easy undertaking. With a mural being so expansive in scope, it can be difficult to replicate something larger than the artist’s field of vision. How does the painting end up in the right proportions on the wall? Chris has a few tricks and tools that make the magic happen. A projector is critical in getting the drawing to scale in the designated space. Chris says, “The pattern of trout spots is not replicable, by me at least, without some tool to do it. I can’t just do it by eye. It doesn’t look right. There’s sort of a natural order to that stuff that you can’t replace.” He adds that using the projector allows the proportions to be right on, allowing him freedom to then go back into the framework with a variety of colors with different values and temperatures. The result is spectacular.

    Chris hopes that as people take time to view his paintings and have their own experiences with wildlife they can learn something about themselves. Chris hopes that this thoughtful observation will help build appreciation. He says, “For me, it’s more about recognizing the special moment we are in right now in the history of this planet. Don’t take it for granted and do what you can to not destroy it.” One of his future goals on his bucket list is to create a trout mural on an exterior wall somewhere in the Heber Valley. He hopes to paint giant trout murals around the world at key fly fishing and trout habitat areas as a way to commemorate the identity of that place and how it’s tied to that particular animal.

    Did you know?

    Fish Heads Fly Shop is the only full-service flyfishing outfitter in the Heber Valley.

    32 South Main Street, Heber
    435-657-2010
    fishheadsflyshop.com

  • There’s Something Fishy Going On

    There’s Something Fishy Going On

    In spite of previous efforts to manage the Jordanelle fishery, the stocked rainbow trout returns have been in a steady decline since 2004 and sit below the state averages in both creel and gillnet studies. The population of smallmouth bass is seemingly stable; however, these fish tend to experience an unexplained stunted growth rate after the age of two. The result of these two variables is that angler usage has decreased and citizens are not using this state-managed resource to its fullest potential.

    The Jordanelle Reservoir Working Group has a plan to change that.

    The Provo River watershed includes two captured bodies of water that sit both north and south of the Heber Valley. Completed in 1941, the southern reservoir is called Deer Creek — a body of water that has become an icon of beauty and recreation in the Heber Valley.

    The Jordanelle dam and subsequent reservoir are much, much younger. The dam, located on the north side of the Heber Valley, was completed in 1993. Shortly thereafter, the Jordanelle State Park was created, a fisheries management program was introduced and the lake was stocked with rainbow trout and smallmouth bass.

    Rainbow trout have been stocked annually since the program was started. Over the past 20 years, there have been several additional efforts to manage this fishery by introducing brown trout, Bonneville cutthroat trout, Utah chub and Utah sucker. At some point, yellow perch were illegally introduced to the reservoir and can be actively gathered today.

    Despite these efforts, sport fishing on the Jordanelle continues to decline.

    Mixing Sport And Management

    An advisory group called the Jordanelle Reservoir Working Group was created in 2013 to address the negative trends of the Jordanelle fishery. The group — comprised of selected respondents to an online survey and people directly associated with the Jordanelle Reservoir — represents various local citizen fishing groups.

    In April 2016, The Jordanelle Reservoir Working Group released a new fisheries management plan that is very exciting. A variety of sport fishing species were chosen to be introduced to the Jordanelle fishery to improve the composition of the fish population, encourage local anglers and promote the recreational benefits of the Jordanelle.

    The new fish species that have been introduced to Jordanelle are: kokanee salmon, wipers (a sterile hybrid between a white bass and a striped bass), tiger muskie (a sterile hybrid between a muskellunge and a northern pike) and splake (a sterile hybrid between a brook trout and a lake trout).
    The addition of these species to the existing virile rainbow trout, brown trout and smallmouth bass populations will add tremendous diversity for angling techniques and year-round fishing opportunities at the Jordanelle Reservoir.

    The fact that wipers, tiger muskie and splake are sterile will allow the Division of Wildlife Resources to really fine-tune both angling pressures and predator-prey relationships in the reservoir. Sterile species introductions are inherently non-committal — there is an achievable benefit for the lifespan of the fish, however if it is not working as planned, then the fish simply die off with age or predation.

    Ultimately, you can add more sterile fish without any anxiety of a long-term impact. Each of these sterile species will also gravitate to different places in the reservoir and respective points in the water column, creating angling diversity throughout the reservoir.

    The introduction of tiger muskie will put Jordanelle on a short list of destination angling targets for many serious fishermen. Precedents for this move can be found in Utah reservoirs such as Pineview Reservoir, east of Ogden. Since wipers often chase baitfish as prey in the summer months and create visible surface disturbances called boils, sight fishing for wipers is another destination target for anglers and will likely attract more angler hours at the Jordanelle. As for splake, the Jordanelle does not always ice over well enough to safely ice fish — but if it does, these fish will be the prized target for winter fishermen.

    The most exciting part of the kokanee salmon introduction will be the fall salmon run through the Rock Cliff section of the Jordanelle State Park. The kokanee are fun because they, like their oceanic cousins, turn bright red when the time comes to spawn and charge up their river of origin to complete their life cycle. It just so happens that Rock Cliff has an already established set of bridges, pavilions and amenities that make this a very family-friendly section of the Upper Provo River. The new fall kokanee run into the Upper Provo will be a very festive occurrence that many residents will enjoy in the years to come.

    Thanks to the efforts of the Jordanelle Reservoir Working Group, the reservoir has undergone a significant upgrade when it comes to sport fishing and wildlife viewing opportunities. This fall, dust off that underused fishing rig and throw a line into your backyard destination fishery.

    And if you don’t fish, that’s okay: pack a picnic into Rock Cliff, take in the colors of fall and enjoy the spectacle of bright red kokanee running upriver to spawn.

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