Back to the Weber River

It has been a couple of years since I’ve fished the Weber River.  The last time, in fact, was when I was kicked off the river by a land owner.  I had just landed a 20 inch white fish and I saw the land owner jump over his fence to come down to the river to tell me this was private property and to leave.  

This was just after the Utah law was passed that said the landowner owned the riverbed.  This means that you cannot walk on the land beneath the water without the landowner's permission. That battle is still being fought in court (Utah Stream Access Coalition).

I was pleasantly surprised a couple of years later, that most the river between Echo Reservoir and Rockport is still accessible.  I did notice however, that there are "No Trespassing" signs; in much better view, on the stretch in which I was asked to leave.  

There are still ladders going over the fences clearly indicating where land and river can be accessed.  One thing that is new is that for certain sections you need to get a Walk-in Access Permit.  This is provided free of charge but you do need to apply by phone or e-mail to get one.  

This Walk-in Access number is then needed when filling out the Walk-in Access logs when you cross the fence on certain sections of private property.  Since this can be done over the phone it can be done at the access point.  The Walk-in Access number is given to you to record in the log and then the official permit sent to you by mail.

OK, on with the fishing.  Another thing for which I was pleasantly surprised was how good the fishing was, even in the middle of summer.  Nick and I each caught a dozen brown trout between 10:30 and lunch time, about 12:30.  Several of these were 17 and 18 inchers. 

 While enjoying our lunch a gentleman came off the river and stated “that was a lot of work for one fish”.  We showed him what was working and he got in his Jeep and took off.

After lunch we hiked and waded back to where we had stopped previously.  The afternoon provided just as good fishing with a Pale Morning Dun (PMD) hatch coming off.  Either small (size 18-20) nymphs imitating PMD’s or green colored caddis pupae (size 14-16) imitations worked well.  

Those large 18 inch Browns were sure hard to land in the fast current. This made the fishing more exciting yet hard to leave each day.  Walking back on the dirt road it is amazing how far you can fish in an afternoon without even noticing until the long walk back.