02-04-2021, 09:42 PM
2020 was a nightmare for us Southern UT fishermen. The only good time was with the initial outbreak in early spring and local waters shutting down to county residents only. As soon as that lifted, the CAs and NVs started POURING into our local waters. As an avid bass fisherman and trout fly fisherman, there were mornings that we arrived to SH and it was already closed for the day due to overcrowding. All the plates we saw were NV and CA, with very few UT. It was the same scene at our higher elevation trout waters...Panguitch, Kolob, Minersville, etc were LOADED with out of state people. We talked several times with the owner of that little burger shack at Panguitch and he KILLED it this year! Busiest year he's every had up there. So, it may be good for commerce...but it will take a toll on fisheries and over-all enjoyment of our tax-funded waters. I agree something should be done to reduce out-of-state access. Not sure how that would look, but something should be considered. I always like opening day as a kid, it was more exciting than Christmas to us! I like the idea of letting fisheries "rest". Although our fishery's as kids closed during the winter months, and opened in the spring...I like the idea of closing trout waters during the heat of the summer months, especially those that allow bait fishing. Any fish caught on bait and released is probably going to die, but there is zero chance of them surviving during warm water months. These summer months are also when the NV and CA hoards show up at our lakes. Anyways...hoping things will open more up with the COVID restrictions this year and give those NV and CA people more options.