General Information - See our Scofield Map
Location: Near the town of Scofield, about 10 miles south of Highway 6, about 100 miles from Salt Lake City.
Elevation: 7,630 feet, near the tops of the mountains.
Utah State Park with two units: the main area by the dam and Madison Bay on the north end. Both feature developed campsites, RV hookups, heated restrooms, concrete boat ramps and fish cleaning stations.
Attractions: Fishing (one of the best rainbow waters in the state), camping, boating, hiking. (The lake water is too cold for swimming or skiing.)
Other Area Attractions: The tributaries to Scofield offer great fly fishing. Fish Creek, in particular is often good above the reservoir. It offers wild and stocked cutthroats, with some over 18 inches. The mountains around Scofield provide prime habitat for deer, elk, black bear, cougar and other wildlife. The scenery at Scofield is magnificent. It's a high mountain area with dense stands of pine and aspen.
GPS Coordinates (UTM):
Madison Bay boat ramp: 0487996 E., 4406257 N.
Main boat ramp by the dam: 0488946 E., 4404501 N.
Mouth of Fish Creek: 0485460 E., 4403218 N.
By Dave Webb
Scofield Reservoir has been fishing well this year. I fished there on Memorial Day, May 25, from 6 p.m. until dark, and I was pleased by the number of fat rainbows I caught. The bows in the reservoir are in great shape - almost as broad as they are long.
I was surprised because I saw only four other boats on the entire lake. There were a few people fishing along shore, but not nearly as many as I expected. Ok, it was the waning hours of a three-day holiday and most people had broken camp and were heading back to the city. Since Scofield is less than two hours from Salt Lake City I figured I could fish until dark and still make it home before midnight. I was surprised that more people didn't stick around and enjoy the evening fishing, which is often the best of the day.
I wanted to get a good overview of conditions at the reservoir and so I trolled from Madsen Bay down to the mouth of Fish Creek. The water was generally clear but there was floating debris in front of the inlets. The water temperature averaged about 47 degrees. My graph showed fish spread throughout the reservoir but the biggest concentrations - and the biggest fish - seemed to be in the bays and coves. In particular, the coves to the north of the Fish Creek inlet held good numbers of large fish.
I tried several flies and lures. The most productive was a black-and-chartreuse Panther Martin spinner trolled just under the surface - no downrigger or leaded line needed. A yellow-and-red Tasmanian Devil was also quite effective.
There were several groups of shore fishermen and they seemed to be doing well. Scofield is one of our most consistent producers for shore fishermen. The water is cool enough that the fish can stay close to shore even through the heat of summer - they don't move into deep water where shore fishermen can-t reach them, as is the case in many of our trout waters.
Probably the most productive way to fish the reservoir is from a tube or pontoon boat casting flies or lures. You can drive up the the water's edge just south of the mouth of Fish Creek, and in a couple places just north of the tributary. From there it is easy to throw in a tube or a canoe and work the coves.
I've often found the period between sunset and dark to be magical. As the sun's rays lift above the water and color the clouds the fish often start to bite. Such was the case on this trip. We enjoyed about an hour of excellent fishing. But that was no surprise. That's why we were there - enjoying the quite solitude of an excellent fishery as the holiday campers fought bumper-to-bumper traffic to get back into the city.
Traditionally, Scofield has been one of our most important fisheries. But it has been mediocre during the past few years. Now, it looks like it is making a comeback.
