I’ve been fishing up at Deer Creek lately just off the bridge on the road to Midway. It has been good fishing, but there are always loads of people there. I always feel crowded or feel like I am crowding someone else. The DWR website lists Deer Creek as hot fishing right now. Can anyone recommend any other spots at DC that they have had luck with from shore? I don’t wanna steal anyone’s secret fishing hole or anything, I would just like to find a more open area that I can have success from the shore. I do have a float tube, but I like taking my dog with me, so it is nice to have some shore fishing options.
The Wallsburg Bay arm has some good shore fishing. You have to walk a little bit but there are parking areas and restrooms. The edges can be steep. I’m not sure what they are like right now with the higher water levels.
There is usually good shore fishing at Rainbow Bay. It is the State Park, so there is a fee (or annual pass) to park. There are good restrooms.
I park directly below the entrance, and walk around the South end of the bay, almost out to the point. What is good about this area is that the depth goes from shallow to a steeper fall off as you walk further out. So you can choose the depth to fish depending on time of year. Plenty of elbow room usually, because most don’t want to walk very far.
Good Luck!
Thanks for the info! I’ll have to try rainbow bay. I’m not sure where the Wallsburg bay is, but that sounds good too. I don’t mind walking a bit to get to a good fishing spot (and my dog loves a good walk). After the crappy weather moves out, I’ll have to try Deer Creek again, and let you know what I catch.
**Here’s a map. **
Hope it helps
hey bud u can’t take dogs to deercreek i found out the hard way ‘ticket’
Really, you can’t bring dogs to Deer Creek? Even outside the parks? Where did you take your dog and got a ticket for it? That is ridiculous.
When I was a youngster of at the most age 5 (many moons ago) I was fishing at Deer Creek and decided to wade in the water while fishing. I took off my shoes and rolled up my pant legs and just stood on the shoreline in at most a foot of water. A boat came by with official writing on the side and told me to get out of the water immediately. As I recall the man yelled something about didn’t I realize that Deer Creek was drinking water? I can’t imagine what he would have done had he seen a dog in the water.
**Here is a copy and paste from the online Deer Creek regulations. As has been pointed out, Deer Creek is a drinking water source and as such is heavily regulated. **
Dogs (and other pets):
Dogs are allowed only in the campgrounds but they must be kept on a maximum 6 ft leash at all times, never left unattended and you must clean up after them.
I can understand having a no dog policy inside a state park, but is the no dog policy universal for the whole resevoir? I’ve seen fisherman with dogs almost every time I have fished at DC.
I can understand having a no dog policy inside a state park, but is the no dog policy universal for the whole resevoir? I’ve seen fisherman with dogs almost every time I have fished at DC.
The lake is owned by the water users. It is administered as a State Park. Rangers, sheriffs and DWR officers enforce the rules of the water users. If they see someone with a dog in or around the lake, they have the authority to write a ticket. If you don’t get caught, no problem.
Same for motorized craft on the ice in the winter. Not allowed but there are always a few who push it. Some get busted. Some don’t.
Anybody with a dog needs to check the regulations for any body of water they fish. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Most state parks are fairly lenient but whenever you are on a water designated as a drinking water reservoir there will be tougher regulations.
Many lakes in California do not allow tubes or toons…or even swimming or wading. Some even prohibit the use of natural baits. Hasn’t gone that far in any Utah lakes yet.
Wow, I had no idea. I don’t really understand this policy, but I guess I won’t be taking my dog up there. It just seems kind of funny to me because animals are probably in the water all the time. I even saw a sheep along the shoreline when I was fishing there last summer. I wouldn’t think that a dog would create that much of a sanitation issue with the water quality. This is an interesting subject to me. I’ll have to research more about it. Thanks for filling me in on this rule before I took my dog up there and got a ticket.
You can go a little bit farther up to Jordanelle where there are no restrictions on dogs at the reservoir and the bankfishing, in my opinion is better and easier access.
**I have to agree with you. It is one of those regulations that make you go HUH? But, like a lot of the laws we must still obey it was put in place in the distant past…before Deer Creek became a playground for the power squadron and a whole lot of other anglers. **
**I am sure that wakeboarders and water skiers do not always return to the “sanitary facilities” whenever they have a need to “download”. Ditto for a whole lot of anglers who just use the “pollution solution” when they gotta go. I have heard from one of the rangers that there can be a pretty high bacteria count in some spots around the lake on a busy summer weekend. At least dogs seldom use the water as their latrine. And people do not carry plastic bags to clean up after themselves. **
And, with the agricultural “runoff” from upstream, as well as dead wildlife and farm animals that find their way into the water, an occasional doggy having a good time splashing in the water doesn’t seem like so much. I am guessing that a lot of the people getting dunked off skis or wakeboards have more objectionable material on their skin than most dogs. And don’t forget all of the oil and gas from the motors.
I know what it is to have a faithful furry kid you like to have with you wherever you go…and they usually have a really great time being with you. You hate to leave them in the backyard or with somebody else, but laws are laws and you gotta know them. Like a lot of laws, you don’t have to understand or agree with them. You just gotta live with them.
Yes, they certainly do get serious about dogs at Deer Creek for some reason, more so than at any other reservoir in my experience. It seems a little overboard even to me, and I’m a regulator. You can’t even have a dog in a boat. And they WILL enforce it if they see it. I don’t agree with it, but that’s the way it is.
I’ve never tried fishing Jordanelle. I’ll definitely have to do that this summer. I get in the habit of fishing my normal spots, and I forget to branch out and try other fishing holes. Any reccomendations on where to fish at Jordanelle?
Yeah the guy that yelled at you was probably running a two stroke and dumping oil into the water(all two strokes do) while he worried about your stinky feet being in the water.
Sorry, not to get back on the subject that started all of this, but I just fished the Wallsburg bay today…SUCKED!! The water is high and the banks are muddy AND I spoke to a young DWR officer that stated that they are going to start cracking down on where people park up there to get to the Wallsburg bay area. I asked what was going on with that and was told that the parking on the south side of the bay area (the big dirt parking lot type area) that cars parked there would start getting tickets due to that being an “undeveloped area” and was never intended to be a parking area. I of course asked in a very nice manner how come the state park did not post signs stating such? and was told that they did not have to do that as it was never stated as being a parking lot to begin with. The tickets will be $35 and your license plate # will be put into a data base and on your third offense you will be towed. NEXT, the parking in front of the gate leading into Wallsburg or even off to the sides of that small drive, NOPE not any more. Same thing there. The “nice” DWR officer told me to pay and park in the state parking lot and to walk up the bank into the bay area. AND if you are caught in the Wallsburg “picnic/camping” area when the gates are closed it is trespassing!! So I didn’t believe this DWR officer, so I did a little investigating. I asked the state park person over at the building by where you pay, she said “yes there is going to be some very big changes on all that unlawful parking”.
So I just wanted all to know before you go fishing up there like has been done in the past and come back to you car to see a ticket in your window.
There are restrictions at Jordanelle for dogs. I took mine up last year for a swim and there are signs all over stating no dogs anywhere there is access to the lake. Be careful where you go or you will get a ticket. There are spots not signed but they are not easy to get to and not by the parking.
It sounds like they are trying to make it difficult to fish at Deer Creek. I mean, I appreciate what the state parks do. I like having the facilities and the well kept boat launch, and when I own a boat (one day in the distant future) I won’t mind paying to use the nice facilities. Right now, I just enjoy running up and throwing my line in the water. I don’t see anything wrong with parking in a dirt parking lot and walking down to the shore. I don’t want to pay to park my truck just to throw my line in from shore. I guess the state parks can do whatever they want, but it seems like they are making it harder for the casual fisherman to fish at DC. I’m sorry for complaining about this issue. I was just really excited to take my dog out fishing with me all summer, and I thought deer creek would be an awesome (close) place to fish on a regular basis. All the regulations are tickets that I am hearing about make me wanna find a new fishing spot.