St George Area Trout Streams

By Dave Webb

Leeds Creek in late winter

I get a question like this several times a year, so I've decided to post my answer here.

Mark P asks: I live in Henderson NV and want to do some fly fishing on some streams in Southern UT (st george-cedar city) area. Other than Leeds Creek where should i go and is Leeds Creek worth the drive? I used to live in UT and worked for Sportsman's Warehouse and went Fly Fishing all the time. I'm a little rusty now after living in Vegas for 6 years. Send me in the right direction please....

My answer: Leeds Creek by itself is not worth the drive. It has wild cutts, but they are small. The stream is overgrown and hard to fish.

There is some good reservoir fishing around St George, but not much for streams. The best is the Santa Clara River up and downstream from the town of Veyo. Air temps will be very hot there during the day. The streams runs through a gorge, overgrown, home to some rattlesnakes. But there are nice browns there.

By far the best in the region is the Colorado at Lees Ferry. Most people take a jet boat upstream to fish, but there is a nice walk in section. Lots of rainbows. Not as big as in past years but still nice.

In southern Utah you have to get over the mountains to the area around the town of Hatch before you find good streams. Asay Creek and Mammoth Creek come together to form the Sevier River. Both offer good fly fishing, but both cross lots of private property so there is not a lot of access. The Sevier River itself has decent fishing in the Hatch area.

Better is the East Fork of the Sevier, upstream and downstream from Otter Creek Reservoir. Immediately below Otter Creek the stream flows through Kingston Canyon, and has some nice browns.

Upstream, south of the town of Antimony, the stream flows through Black Canyon. It has good browns and cutts in that area. A tributary called Antimony Creek comes in just south of the town of Antimony. Up in the forest, above the farms, it has very fast fishing for brook trout. But the East Fork area is quite a drive from the Vegas area. It would make a great weekend trip, but probably too far for a day trip.

Hope this helps. I'd love to hear if how you do, if you get over there.