I normally post in the Idaho part of the Forum, but I am posting here because I have a question.
You see, I posted awhile ago that I might be moving to Idaho Falls, Well, that changed. I might be moving to Salt Lake City, Utah. I have NEVER fished in Utah, I have ALWAYS fished up here in North Idaho and sometimes Washington and Oregon. I don’t know what the requirements are for boats, I don’t know where to fish, I don’t know where to get licensing, and I don’t even know what kind of fish are down there! I was wondering,
Can anyone tell me what fish are down there, What lakes and rivers there are, places for boats, licensing and regulations, boat requirements, and anything else I need to know about fishing in Utah?
Depending on what you’re looking for, you may be very pleasantly surprised as to just how great Utah fishing is. I know Utah alpine angling for large brook trout blows Idaho away! Now sturgeon and steelhead we sort of fall behind.
Oh boy you asked a ton of volumes of info… Boats do have to be licensed through the state tax commission, there are licensing divisions in each county.. You’ll have to contact them for all the details, but as mentioned it’s expensive so depending on your boat you will get hit… I have a pontoon inflatable 9’ er with an electric motor and it costs about $60 a year… However my 1970 vintage 16’ trihull with a 115 Merc on it is only a little bit more than that, but yes you have to license both of them… Oh yeah you need insurance on the boat as well… We have an invasive species deal that you will have to become familiar with, either you fill out a form each trip or you take the on-line course once a year and post your completion certificate on your dash in your truck and keep a copy in the boat.. (This is one thing Utah got right…) To put the boat on the water there are a list of state requirements like horn, flotation devices, fire extinguishers and etc… you’ll need to check into that for your specific boat… I found the info through a Google search when I was prepping my boat so I expect you can find it without too much difficulty… Utah doesn’t have the salmon and steelies you’re probably used to, but we do have some big lake trout in Flaming Gorge and Bear Lake.. Big Tiger Muskie in Pineview, small trout everywhere… Strawberry is good for Kokes and Cutthroat trout of nice size… Bear Lake has nice sized Cuts as well… Willard Bay is great for nice wiper, walleye and Channel cats… We have lots of fish here it’s just a matter of deciding what you want to chase and tune in here and ask some questions you’ll get some great tips on where or what to try… High country lakes in the Uintas and Wind Rivers are high lights for me each year… Powell is a bass mecca… And parts of Idaho trout are still fairly close if you want to do that… I even sneak up to the salmon river for my steelhead fix each spring… So you’re not heading to the complete end of the earth, it’s still a pretty great fishing spot.. Later J
Utah has a great variety of fish species. Trout (rainbow, cutthroat, brown, brook, lake, tiger, splake) grayling, whitefish, kokanee salmon, LM bass, SM bass, walleye, yellow perch, bluegill, green sunfish, black crappie, white bass, striped bass, wiper, northern pike, tiger musky, channel catfish, black bullhead, burbot and carp!
Whatever your pleasure, it’s pretty easily accessible. As far as quality, I think we have excellent quality fish in every category! Do a little Internet and on the water research and you’ll find them.
You will find the boating info on the state parks website. Stateparks.utah.gov
They also have the link for the invasive species paper Jeff mentioned. The DMV handles the boat registration. You can get a license online or at certain retailers. Here are a few listed. Many places offer the licenses.
My family is from Idaho, but moved to Arizona when I was young. We drove through Utah many times to fish in Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming. However since moving here, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how good the fishing is. I agree with others that in some times and places, the fishing is actually better down here.
I’m in Provo, so I fish the Provo River a lot, and Strawberry probably after that. The Uintas and southern Utah also have a lot of very good fishing. This forum is a useful resource in getting to know things. Feel free to PM me if you have particular questions.
My current boat trailer winch is aging with the weaking of a pressure plate that keeps press against the gears to lock in place. I have found the winch has released while in tow (thankfully for a safety chain) a couple of times, most other times when winching the handle wants to free spin backwards releasing tension on the strap. I can hold lever against gears to lock in place but as stated it sometimes releases in tow. This winch is a Fulton 2 speed 2600lb, so, I’m looking to replace and wanting to hear of any other brands which some had good results with. I don’t have an interest in electric type.
Sorry Roger, I don’t remember the brand I bought but I echo you comment about getting the two speed type, I’ve used it on several boats and it was money well spent but I don’t remember it being anything out of the ordinary but the low speed save me several times when retrieving my boat on a steep ramp at Porcuipine.
You could buy an internal gear set and rebuild your current winch. If you decide to replace, I would recommend another Fulton winch such as the Fulton FW32000101.
Until reading your post I didn’t realize that one could purchase a two-speed winch. I recently replaced my winch, and I definitely would have considered purchasing a two-speed one had I known that was a possibility.
The heavier the boat the more the need for a two-speed winch. On any of my smaller aluminum boats, it wasn’t really needed but once I got that first bigger boat, I never regretted getting one.
I broke down and purchased a two-speed winch. I attached the handle to the 8:1 bolt. My single-speed winch was 4:1. I will be selling my hardly-used single-speed winch.
