Trout below Smith Lake

Anybody having any luck? Anyone have any advise on doing this? Thanks in advance.

Ultralight and a rooster tail will catch them

Look at "supper tonight" a few threads down

Maybe I'm wrong on this but seems like they're either there or they aren't. They're stocked fish, so they aren't necessarily hard to catch. Rooster tail. Worms. Fly fishing gear. Power bait. If they are stocked and hungry, you can catch them.

Jwalker done caught em all

Me and Joseph went one day last year and caught about 60 i guess. They must have just put them in. Ive never seen fish so agressive. I caught one and before i got it in, it ate the bait on my second line. When i got it in, it had both of my lines hanging out of its mouth. They werent big fish that day but we caught a bunch of them. The herons sitting across the river really appreciated it.

Thanks guys.✌

I think the limit is 5 day per person, don't get lit up by Mr Green Jean's

You can keep 5, you can catch as many as you want. No culling.

1> If you want to catch more (and who doesn't) use a clear 2 or 4 lb line. Fluorocarbon isn't a bad choice.
2> If I can't catch them on a tiny inline spinner I'll tie on a #10 egg hook, add a single tiny splitshot, and a piece of whole kernel corn from a can. I also keep power bait and salmon eggs on hand.
3> Personally I've had much better luck up near the dam. I guess everyone's got their favorite spots though.
4> if it has sat on the bottom for more than a minute or two reset or rebait.
5> Be ready to egress in a hurry if they open the turbines. The water rises faster than you would think.
6> Watch your line closely when using natural baits. They may swim towards you while swallowing the hook.
7> Don't go the day after JWalker77. All of the fish will have sore lips.

Much appreciated info. Thanks Metalmuncher

This pretty much sums up what a buddy told me

We went upstream and caught them on corn around some ledges but some fly fishermen were giving us the stinkeye. They didn't catch much I guess.

You aught to see how they look at you when you pull a stringer of 8-10 of them big ones up out of the river and head to the truck with them. Those things are some fine eating. I think they are about the best fish straight out of the water. I sure like to eat some two or three times a year.

I like to confuse em' even more and fly fish....and then walk back to the truck with a stringer full...

Youre going to Hell Jono. Flyfishermen shall not keep fish. Its commandment #1 in the flyfishermans bible

How do y’all cook them?

I usually just gut them and grill them whole, skin on.

I've started smoking them. Brine them the night or morning before and smoke them real low. Man, so so good.

A lot of them want to create a "Blue Ribbon" type area with no bait (corn, lures), flies only, barbless hooks, release-only, etc. Some have pushed for that for a while.

A couple of weeks ago some guys came upriver on jet skis. Whooooeeee, the fly guys lost their minds.

Dang sure have to be aware of what's going on with the water down there. Not paying attention and you'll be scrambling or get in trouble.

Clem that's actually hilarious about the jet skis. Were you there or just heard about it?

I'm happy for the guys that want to go catch fish and let them go. There are times (very few) that I do the same when I just need to get away and want to fly fish. However, they are farmed, stocked fish. Who cares if you take them home. There will be another bucket of em' dumped in a few weeks.

Everytime I'm there someone will start talking to me about how they know some of these big fish are breeding in there...they just know it! How else can you explain all these smaller fish????
(They list the size fish they stock each month)


All of this to say. It's a super fun resource to have, people take themselves to seriously. Who even needs options on what to do with the fish they catch

I put my boat down river, where the sipsey meets the mulberry, and almost made it up to the pumping station. We thought we might find some good fish in a deep hole down river. I would not recommend that. Nothing bad happened, just didnt catch any fish. Water temp didnt vary more than a couple degrees from the bridge down to the mulberry. Only place where it changed any was where a couple of creeks ran in, it would drop a couple degrees.

J did you go up the mulberry? Use to be a great place to arrow some big carp this time of year.

No. I was out looking at a job one day and drove past the boat launch where the sipsey and mulberry meet. We went back in a few days, put in and went up the sipsey. Only time ive ever had a boat in that water. We really didnt take alot of time to fish. We had this idea in our heads that there would be some deep holes where some big holdover resident fish would be. We never really found what we were looking for. Trout being as skiddish as they are, we were probably doing mire harm than good with the boat.

Never had much luck there either. Waters to finicky and I’ve
Was told it wasn’t a safe place to leave a truck.

Saw the riled up posting about it on FB. They were hotter than wet hens.

I also saw on there a guy who said smallmouth bass wouldn't and couldn't live in the Sipsey water below Smith Dam because it was too cold. I guess all the smallmouth bass that live in the Great Lakes and Canada are superfreaks. But they couldn't handle the cold waters below the dam.


FB is fun to learn things. LOL

I drove all the way up there early friday morning and the dang water was on. I should have checked, i always do, but its never on first thing in the morning. Had my mouth all set for some fried trout too. Dadgummit

They’ve been pulling a lot of water lately. Hope to get up there one morning this week.

I may be letting the cat out of the bag here but when I use to hunt in springville I would see trout in big canoe creek especially this time of year. I believe they where brown trout.

Took the kids and wife morning of 10/2. Bite was slow all morning downstream. Must of been slow up stream as well, as we went up to the pump station after we were done and there were only 2 vehicles left, with one of them just getting out and starting the trek down to the water.
Got 1 bite and 1 decent fish and the guys next to us got 3 bites and 2 fish.
Saw a paddle guide boat and a kayak come upstream.
We plan to go back so the whole crew can get a rainbow.