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Show Renovated Southern Utah Waters Shows Improved Fishing Don't put away your fishing rod yet! With fall hunting just about over and winter approaching there may be a tendency to forget about fishing, but you might want to start thinking about plans for a winter or spring outing. Recent gillnet surveys conducted by Division of Wildlife Resources biologists at Piute and Koosharem reservoirs showed good trout numbers. Both of these waters were chemically treated in 1985 to remove nongame fish and since that time have probably been overlooked and largely forgotten about by many area fishermen. Piute Reservoir has had a long history of poor sport fishing and has never attracted much attention. Nevertheless, stocked trout have done especially well and some good fishing could still be available this year before the reservoir freezes. Practically no one has even tried fishing Piute since it was renovated and restocked. It may Jake a change of old habits to think about serious fishing at Piute, but a planned trip could be well worthwhile. Good numbers of 11-13 inch size trout were found in the nets, with some trout ranging up to 2 pounds. Piute is currently open to fishing year-round with a limit of 6 trout. Koosharem Reservoir will be open to fishing on January 1. Most trout found at Koosharem were 9-11 inches, in-ches, but were very abundant. Although trout are not yet large, growth should be good and prospects for fishing look favorable for next spring and summer. Chemical renovation projects were just completed this fall at Johnson Reservoir and Mill Meadow Reservoir. Both of these waters will be closed to fishing in 1987, but Piute and Koosharem should provide good alternative opportunities on a local basis. Renovation projects have been an important part of fishery management in Utah for many years and although such projects temporarily close some waters, they have produced many years of excellent ex-cellent fishing. Johnson Reservoir and Mill Meadow will be back in production and in excellent shape before another season is hardly over. |