Strawberry River, Utah

Soldier Creek Dam and the upper canyon

The tailwater starts at Soldier Creek Dam, the outlet of Strawberry Reservoir, and is reached from the reservoir side rather than from Fruitland. A foot trail leaves the dam and follows the north bank downstream for about eight miles of public water inside the corridor that The Nature Conservancy and the Bureau of Reclamation protected in 1987; public access on the trail ends a quarter mile above Beaver Canyon. There is no road along this reach.

Strawberry Pinnacles

The lower canyon is reached by driving south from US-40 near Fruitland to the Pinnacles, where Red Creek and Avintaquin Creek join the river. A dirt road follows the river upstream for about six miles to a gate that marks the end of public vehicle access. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources manages the corridor and does not allow overnight camping on its land here.

Below the Pinnacles to Starvation

Below Red Creek the river leaves the special-regulation water, picks up warmer tributaries and slows on its way into Starvation Reservoir near Duchesne. The short reach below Starvation Dam to the Duchesne River is a separate tailwater with its own character.

Brown trout and cutthroat

The Strawberry corridor is managed as a wild fishery. Brown trout are the mainstay through the canyon, cutthroat drop down from the reservoir and use the upper miles, and a few rainbows turn up. Callibaetis in the slower canyon stretches from June through September, caddis in summer and baetis in spring and fall are the hatches worth planning around; the rest of the time it is attractor dries and nymphs along the undercut banks.

Season and regulations

Releases from Soldier Creek Dam set the flow. No shop publishes a target for this gauge, so the range here brackets the long-term USGS summer average at the Pinnacles, roughly 40 to 120 cfs from June through October; spring releases can double that and winter drops toward 35 cfs. Check the gauge before the drive, because the road in is long.

From the Red Creek confluence near the Pinnacles upstream to Soldier Creek Dam the river is artificial flies and lures only, with the statewide Utah limit of 4 trout unless the current guidebook says otherwise, and no overnight camping on division land. The Strawberry River above the reservoir has its own closures for spawning fish. Confirm both in the current Utah fishing guidebook.