Utah Visibility Overview (please contribute!)

[bltpyro]

There is nothing worse than planning a nice spearfishing trip a ways away just to find out the visibility is horrible and spearing/diving is useless. As we had read that Causey reservoir is supposed to have good visibility from one of the below links, our high hopes were killed by 2 ft of visibility since we went at the wrong time. I am hoping this post can be a collaborative effort to give fellow spearos/divers an idea of when the better times to go to certain areas are, or if they are worth going at all any time. I will include non-spearfishing waters as well for diving practice. If there is any place you have been with good visibility or something cool to see (is there still a ghost town standing under Electric Lake?) go ahead and post it. I will try to keep the first post updated with reports. If it turn out to be useful I would love to see something similar for other states as well to make trip planning easier.

Useful Resources:
http://www.underwaterdynamics.com/di...tah_diving.php
http://utahscubadiver.com/sites.aspx
http://www.utahdiving.com/divemap.htm

Utah Visibility Reports
Spearfishing waters:

• Causey Reservoir
7-3-10
2 ft

• Deer Creek Reservoir
July – August
6-8 ft on top, 8-14 down

• Fish Lake
7-31-10
20+ ft

• Flaming Gorge Reservoir
7-17-10
10 ft at top through large algae chunks, 15-20 feet down

• Jordanelle Reservoir

• Kens Lake

• Lake Powell

• Lost Creek Reservoir

• Pineview Reservoir

• Red Fleet Reservoir
8/30-9/1 5-15 foot visability

• Starvation Reservoir
9-11-10
Indian Campground, 7-8 ft on surface, 10-15 down lower until silt stirs up

• Steinaker Reservoir
8/25 5-10 foot vis

• Willard Bay Reservoir
Heard visibility never good enough?

• Yuba Reservoir
Heard visibility best early June but bad after? One part of reservoir ok vis other bad?

Non-Spearfishing waters:
• Blue Lake – DWR word of mouth says OK to spear tilapia

• Bear Lake

• Strawberry Reservoir
8-14-10
15 ft

• Electric Lake – sunken town still there?

[Spearsd]

red fleet 8/30-9/1 5-15 foot visability
steinaker 8/25 5-10 foot vis

[Paul Benson]

Red Fleet gets murky really easy, don't make a special trip for it. Ive seen awesome viz at Starvation once this summer and at Antelope Flats at Flaming Gorge. But all of this depends on the wind. Went to Starvation last Saturday, got two walleye and half a dozen carp just diving along the dam. Hopefully headed to the Gorge this weekend. Ive been wondering about the viz on the Wyoming side of Flaming Gorge if anybody know anything.

[drbabs]

anyone trying Powell this spring? Or causie/ causey?

[inshanity]

Originally Posted by drbabs

anyone trying Powell this spring? Or causie/ causey?

I'll be trying Powell I think. If I do Causey, it wont be until June when the season opens for game fish.

[Paul Benson]

Utah is old news. What are the lakes like in Wyoming?

[bltpyro]

Dove blue lake Saturday, Feb 12, 2011. 5ft vis.

With the good weather that week we thought we would have some good visibility. We were the first ones in the water so thought we might beat the stirred up silt, but no luck. Even our bad days at Deer Creek seemed better than here. We learned from some of the other guys there that it is because of the Tilapia eating the plant life that held the soil together that the visibility has been getting worse and worse. The water was very nice though. It was cool getting there and seeing the steam rise up from the lake. We got some good practice diving trying to find the deepest spot. I have to say going deep isn't as fun when you can't see that well. The stirred up silt plays tricks on you making you think you are about to hit the bottom but then end up swimming through it. Didn't see much in the way of life. By the time you got near a fish you would only see the silt trail it left behind. Only saw one tilapia, but it may have been a bluegil.

Can you only edit posts for a certain amount of time? Would like to update the main post but it looks like it isn't an option.

[Istickfish]

I don't have specific dates but I spear northern utah all summer long so I can give you some generals. Contrary to what was posted above Willard does have decent vis 6-10 feet early in the year before the boats come out in force, april-may. Pineview has 5-10 foot vis all summer on weekdays, don't bother on weekends or after a windstorm, except in the narrows where you might get a break from the boats. In september and october after the boats are gone for the most part the water really clears up. Causey has good visibility through June about 10-15 feet but through july and agaust all the algea clouds up the water and you will be lucky to get 5 ft. I dove it once in october after the kokanee restriction is lifted and vis was about 6-8 feet. I have only dove lost creek a few times so this may not be true all summer but visibility was pretty good at 10-15 feet with an overwhelming number of crawdads. The Gorge has always been great for me with vis from 20-? ft.
Russ

[Mojave Green]

Mead 1/28/11

[Birdman]

July 25th starvation 5-8ft vis
July 23rd deer creek 3-5ft vis
will post jordanelle when return not expecting much with all those beautiful boats.

[Fimp Sac]

July 29th, Strawberry 20-25 feet. We were in the Ladders area scooping up crawdads.

[xanderbp]

Dove the gorge on thursday and friday morning. Viz was great 20-25 but didnt see any fish. We were at jug hollow, antelope flats and mustang. Had to end the trip early cause of sick kids and wife

[Paul Benson]

Dove below Flaming Gorge dam Saturday. Was neat to see all those fat trout and was surprised at the size of the Suckers but did not see one carp. Did find some lures and fishing nets. The viz was good but I was expecting Willow Beach good below Hoover Dam but still fun.

[Steeltalon]

Found this article posted today about Lake Powell....anyone interested?

Fished from Bullfrog north to as far as 2 mile Canyon last Thursday and Friday. The best areas for us were from the Horn to Good Hope bay. We tried to find Crappie for the first part of Thursday, we were only able to catch 4 of them. We then switched and tried for Walleye. We ended up catching 10 walleye, 5 SMB and 4 incidental Stripers on Thursday. On Friday we ended up catching 14 more walleyes, 4 more Crappie, 6 SMB. 1 LMB and 1 huge, foul hooked Gizzard shad. The best action for walleye for us was off of points by notches off the main channel.

We had the best luck with Pumpkin Tubes or grubs on a 1/4oz head tipped with a piece of night crawler. We found the best depth we were catching them to be between 12 and 20 feet. The smallmouth were in the same areas, they seem to be just moving up. A few more degrees of warming and it should really turn on. We found the water temps ranged from about 54 to as warm as 58 by late afternoon in off color bays off the main channel. We did catch a few of each species on deep diving crank baits. The best fishing action for us was later in the day from about 1 PM to about 6pm.

A note for Wordlings and others who may be headed down. The TICABOO RESORT 435 788 2110, is under new management and ownership. They are very nice people, The hotel is being remodeled it is open and with very affordable rates. The restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch with a limited menu, the food is good and the prices are very reasonable. The Gas pumps are open with CC, they said they are planning to open the store at the gas station in the future. I hope they get lots of support, it is nice to have options it is a good place to base a Lake Powell trip from.

[Birdman]

jordanelle 3-5ft tops for me anyways,
anyone seen causey lately?(vis)