Utah's trout fishing is built on tailwaters. The Provo, Weber and Ogden all run off Wasatch reservoirs within an hour of Salt Lake City, and the Green below Flaming Gorge is the state's destination river. Around them are freestone canyons in Cache Valley, cutthroat streams draining the Uintas, and small desert rivers in the south that most anglers never think about. The rivers with the strongest case get a paragraph below; the rest are listed by region.
The Wasatch tailwaters
Provo River, Utah
The Lower Provo through Provo Canyon is Utah's most-fished river and still one of its best. Pull-outs along US-189 give walk-in access, the river wades below about 600 cfs, and the tailwater rainbows feed on midges and sow bugs every month. The Mother's Day caddis, a black size 14 Brachycentrus, is the most famous hatch in the state; it fires when the water reaches the low fifties, usually in late April or May, on warm overcast days. Green Drakes in June, PMDs in July, Tricos in July and August.
Provo River — Middle, Utah
The Middle Provo through the Heber Valley is Blue Ribbon water under Utah's program and the home of the state's largest accessible browns. River Road parallels it with Walk-In Access sites across the ranchland. The big fish live under sod banks and the cast has to land inches from the grass; Mother's Day caddis and fall Blue-Winged Olives are when they feed most freely.
Weber River, Utah
Below Echo Reservoir the Weber is a brown trout tailwater with WIA access between Wanship and Coalville and a lower canyon from Echo to Ogden that is streamer water for the largest fish. Its Mother's Day caddis runs a week or two behind the Provo because of elevation, which makes it the backup when you miss the hatch there. Whitefish are everywhere and take midges through the winter.
Ogden River, Utah
The Ogden below Pineview Dam is a Blue Ribbon tailwater in a canyon along UT-39, with designated pull-offs and stairs to the water. Its rainbows are more selective than the typical Utah tailwater fish. Midges from October through April, Mother's Day caddis in May, PMDs in July and August. The city section below the canyon is easier water for casual anglers.
The Green below Flaming Gorge
Green River, Utah
Seven miles from the dam to Little Hole, then twelve more through Red Canyon and Browns Park. The A section is cold and clear year-round with a walk-in trail, so it fishes in January as well as July, and the fish are visible and educated: sizes 18 to 22 on light tippet are standard. The June cicada fall is the exception, when the biggest fish in the river take a size 6 foam bug. The B section from Little Hole to Indian Crossing is a committed full-day float with no takeouts, and browns become the majority of the catch through Browns Park. Scuds fish all year; Blue-Winged Olives in March, April, October and November.
Cache Valley freestones
Logan River, Utah
Logan Canyon along US-89 is the classic Utah freestone: pull-offs from First to Third Dam, campground access in the mid canyon from Wood Camp to Tony Grove, and wild Bonneville cutthroat above seven thousand feet. Salmonflies in May, Golden Stones in June and July, caddis all summer, crane flies in September and October. Runoff clears in mid to late June and the two weeks after are the best of the year.
Blacksmith Fork, Utah
One canyon south, UT-101 follows the Blacksmith Fork through Hyrum Canyon for about fifteen miles with the same hatches and a fraction of the Logan's pressure. Rainbows in the main canyon, browns in the deep pools, cutthroat above Hardware Ranch. The lower canyon below Hyrum Dam fishes midges and Blue-Winged Olives in winter when the upper canyon is iced in.
Bear River, Utah
Utah's longest river holds native Bonneville cutthroat in its upper reaches near Woodruff along US-89 and browns in the Cache Valley WIA sections. It qualifies for the Utah Cutthroat Slam. Salmonflies in June, hoppers in July and August.
Uinta Basin and the high country
Strawberry River, Utah
The Strawberry below Strawberry Reservoir is a small technical tailwater where Bonneville cutthroat, not rainbows, are the dominant fish, and they are more willing on a dry than the educated rainbows of the Provo. Strawberry River Road reaches the canyon, with the best water in the miles below the dam. Golden Stones in July, crane flies in September.
Duchesne River, Utah
River Road through the Tabiona valley reaches a brown and rainbow freestone with a Salmonfly hatch in June and August hopper fishing along sagebrush banks that is the best-kept secret in the basin. The West Fork near Hanna is a small cutthroat stream.
The high Uintas drain through the Uinta River, the Lake Fork and the Upper Provo, all Bonneville cutthroat water reached by forest roads and, higher up, by wilderness trails; all three fish best from July through September and count toward the Cutthroat Slam. The Upper Provo along the Mirror Lake Highway is brook trout water once the road opens in July.
Southern Utah's desert trout rivers
Fremont River, Utah
The Fremont runs through Capitol Reef National Park, with UT-24 access around Bicknell and smaller water upstream at Loa. Wild rainbows here are unusually willing dry fly fish because so few people bother them. Caddis from May through July, Golden Stones in June and July, hoppers in late summer. A park fishing permit applies inside Capitol Reef.
The Sevier River and its East Fork are valley rivers along US-89 between Bryce Canyon and Kingston with rainbows, browns and, in the East Fork headwaters, native cutthroat. The Price River is a small mountain-to-desert stream best on Huntington Creek along UT-31, and the Paria is a curiosity with a small population of wild rainbows in the upper canyon. The San Juan through Bears Ears and the lower Green through Labyrinth Canyon are desert float water where trout share the river with carp and warmwater fish.
Utah access and timing
Much of Utah's best trout water crosses private ranchland, and the Walk-In Access program is how you fish it legally; Utah DWR publishes the current WIA maps and they change from year to year. The tailwaters fish all year, with midges from October through April and the Mother's Day caddis as the spring event. The freestones clear from runoff in mid to late June. Special regulations vary by section on the Provo, Weber, Ogden and Green, and the Cutthroat Slam has its own registration; check Utah DWR before you go.