Fall Fishing Heats Up in Salt Lake City's Reservoirs and Mountain Lakes

This is Artificial Lure with your Salt Lake City area fishing report for Sunday, September 7, 2025. Early fall is finally peeking in, and you can feel it in the fishing—it’s that magic window when hot summer patterns are winding down, but the fish are still feeding hard before things cool off. First up, today’s weather in Salt Lake looks friendly for anglers: sunrise hit around 6:56 AM with sunset coming at 7:46 PM, giving almost 13 hours of light action. Temps are ranging from the high 50s this morning up to the high 70s by late afternoon. Skies are partly cloudy with a light breeze, keeping things comfortable at the bank or on the boat. Unlike the coasts, we don’t get tides in Utah, so no tide swings to worry about. The fresh catch talk around the valley centers on the big reservoirs and mountain lakes. According to the latest updates from Sportsman’s Warehouse, Deer Creek Reservoir is sitting at 62% water level, still plenty for fishing but some shallow areas are starting to expose. Trout bite has been best right at dawn and again in the evening, when the water’s coolest. Folks have been catching good numbers of recently stocked rainbows on garlic, corn, and cheese-scented dough baits fished under a casting bubble off the bottom. For lures, throw a Jake’s Spin-A-Lure, Kastmaster, or Panther Martin if you’re moving and covering water. Rapala Originals have also fooled several bigger trout patrolling near-dropoffs. Bass fishing at Deer Creek, Jordanelle, and Utah Lake’s rocky points has picked up a bit this week, especially for those rigging soft plastic worms or Ned rigs. Drag a worm along the bottom or pop a skirted jig around submerged weeds—reports say green pumpkin and chartreuse have been pulling in both smallmouth and largemouth consistently. If you’re after walleye—especially at Deer Creek—try hair jigs or curly tail grubs in pearl, chartreuse, or glow. The bite’s a little deeper mid-morning, so target that 15–25 foot contour. They’re not easy, but patient anglers have been rewarded with a couple fish per outing, especially tight to rockpiles just after first light. Up the mountain, Strawberry Reservoir has been hot for kokanee salmon if you’ve got a boat. Trolling small spoons or squids behind dodgers at around 25–35 feet is money right now. Shore anglers are picking up a few cutthroats and rainbows on PowerBait and nightcrawlers suspended under a bobber, particularly near the marina and boat launch. For the fly rodders, Provo River below Jordanelle Dam remains a solid bet—attractors like hoppers and Chernobyl ants are working in the afternoon, paired with a dropper nymph such as a zebra midge or pheasant tail. Flows are stable, clarity is good, and a few browns have even been chasing streamers tossed near undercut banks. Hot spots to check out today: - Deer Creek State Park: Fish the east shore by the dam at sunrise for trout, or work the points for smallmouth and walleye. - Upper Provo River (near Woodland): Wade-friendly water This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.