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Utah Lake is the state’s largest fresh water lake.

The 24-mile long, 13-mile wide lake is surrounded by large cities, yet doesn’t receive as much recreation as other bodies of water in the state.

Utah Lake provides excellent boating, fishing, hunting, birding and other recreational opportunities.

DWR Outreach Manager Scott Root suggests that one reason the lake is not being utilized for recreation is because the public is unaware of public access points to the lake.

“I have had many people, especially hunters and anglers, ask me about access to the lake,” Scott says. “Historically there have been disputes over ownership of many shoreline areas, which may have made people a little shy about venturing to the lake.

Most of the disputes have been settled and we want people to know about several public access points so we have created a brochure and webpage to help.”

If you visit’ wildlife.utah.gov/utah_lake_access

you’ll find directions to 25 different access areas around the lake.

The page also includes photographs, GPS coordinates, facility and fee information, parking tips and other information that will help you access and enjoy Utah Lake.

“With today’s technology,” Root says, “you can load the page from a smartphone while you’re at the lake to learn more about what to expect at each access point. Hopefully, the webpage will help people feel comfortable about recreating at Utah Lake. We will add more access points to the page as new access sites are added or improved.”

Hot weather means hot fishing success at Utah Lake

Summer angling at Utah Lake is excellent right now for channel catfish, white bass, largemouth bass, black bullhead catfish, bluegill, crappie and other species. It is not uncommon to catch a catfish weighing over 5 pounds by simply using night crawlers from shoreline.

Anglers are also catching many white bass by casting and retrieving small action lures, tipped with bait. There is no limit on white bass so anglers often return home with buckets full of these tasty fish.

Largemouth bass anglers have been quite successful this spring and summer by casting and retrieving traditional bass lures near vegetation.

More and more anglers are finding out about the many largemouth bass in the lake.

Many of these bass are weighing in at over 5 pounds . Regulations on largemouth bass include a limit of 6 bass but, only one can be over 12 inches.

There are many other species of pan fish that are luring anglers to Utah Lake such as bluegill and crappie. A small bait-tipped jig is a good choice for catching these fish species.