Santa Clara Scouting trip 3/8/10

[Sil240sxrwd]

My uncle and I were planning a trip to fish the Santa Clara river below Baker Reservoir in Southwest Utah this month, but neither of us has ever fished it.. So I took it upon myself this morning to make the trip up there and scout it out by hiking in with my wife... I read some blogs online that fish were holding in some pools a mile plus down the river, so we hiked a good 20-30 min in. I brought along my trusty lil 3 wt (just in case []). Started hitting up some pockets as we followed the trail and received not a single strike the whole way in.. Water was really clear and I did not see one fish the whole length of the river down. Twas a bust.. but saves my uncle the hassle of trying to fish it I guess lol.
When we arrived at the private property line, we turned around and headed back to the car at the Reservoir parking lot.. Baker Reservoir was really low...Not one fisherman around.. I had fished it last year mid summer but was skunked. I recall the report saying the fishing was not going to be good until the stocking at the end of this month and they had not stocked it since March of '09... I thought I would try my luck around the dam for a lil bit before we left anyways... Pulled my 6 wt. out of the trunk. Added a sink tip (compliments of Flygoddess) that I had yet to try out. and tied on a Calibaetis Nymph that I had tied. Walked down the dam and started fishing.. Second Cast FISH ON! Nice fat carry over Rainbow.. didn't get a chance to measure him but he put up a good fight. I followed the damn to the other sandy shore parallel to where I caught the Bow and started fishing there... Saw the line jerk as I was slowly stripping and set the hook..after a nice strong fight landed my PB Brown on the fly! Now I know it don't compare to most of the browns you guys catch up north but I was damn proud of my 15.5 incher!!! I have caught about 20 or so browns since I started fly fishing but most in the 8-12 inch range.

Left the reservoir with my head high! lol.. Enjoy the pics =)

Special Thanks to Flygoddess for sending me the sink tip to try out. It was just what I needed to get my fly down deep from shore. Saved me from buying a spare spool with sinking line []
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[troutgass]

Way to go on the Baker fish.[] I live in St. George and have wanted to hit the Santa Clara as well, but don't know exactly what stretch would be the best. Maybe the river below PineValley Reservoir would be better????

I got my tube out last fall on Baker and caught some bows, but the water was really low. I heard that there are some BIG browns in Baker, but hard to catch.

Thanks for the report and pictures.
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[riverdog]

I think below Pine Valley is a better place to fish the Santa Clara. However your mountains get clobbered with snow on these El Nino winters. I'm heading back down to Washington Co in another 10 days and wasn't going to bother with the Santa Clara. Any report on how much snow is up around 7000 ft now would be appreciated. I'd stay home if I was interested in fishing in the snow[laugh]. Does anybody ever check out the Beaver Dam Wash above Motoqua? I used to love to fish there in the winter but haven't seen any trout in there the last couple trips a year or two ago.
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[troutgass]

We are getting hammered this spring with rain and snow. This is the first time since I have lived in St. George that we are surrounded 360 in snow on all mountains. Even the south mountains are getting pounded. I think some places are at about 200% of normal. I would say after this last storm today that the snow line is at about 3000'

I did some research and have wanted to fish the Beaver Dam Wash above Motoqua but haven't got around to it yet. Not sure if there are any fish in there or not. I can't find any reports on fish stocking that area. Leads creek has some small cuts that might be open in awhile.
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[riverdog]

I don't think Utah ever stocked Beaver Dam Wash betwen Motoqua and the Nevada border. Nevada stocked rainbows in Schroeder reservoir as well as the stream right across the border from Utah. The last El Nino winter in 2005 when the Santa Clara flooded, Beaver Dam Wash also flooded big time. From the debris in high in trees in wide canyons that thing had more water than the Colorado. Anyway it damaged the Schroeder dam and they then took it out. I don't think they stock the stream anymore and they haven't rebuilt the dam. After that the water remained above normal levels ( normal is tiny like 5 cfs) for a good year or 2 and nice size rainbows were even more plentiful than when they stocked it. They seemed to have disappeared since. Unless they begin to stock the stream I think the only chance of getting trout back above Motoqua is if higher cooler water flows like this year allow fish to migrate back down from further upstream where natural reproduction takes place. I think upstream further in Nevada and back into Utah it's mostly cutts. If you ever check it out send me a pm no matter what you find. Be warned it a very rough drive and you drive across the stream like 6 or 8 times and sometimes all or part of the stream will jump it's bed for the "road". If I ever saw trout swimming in the road I would stop and fish otherwise I usually went to the end by the 2 cabins ( now 1 since 1 burnt down).
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