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I was told Stoddard Slough was a place I should check out. So I took a drive to scope it out and from what I found I didn't see that it was even fishable. Very over-grown and flow was about non-existent.
I assume I was I the correct place...I found two of the "Stoddard Wildlife Management Area" signs as well as other notices to anglers about the limit.
Does anyone have any information on this area? Fished it recently?
Is this just way beyond my skill level?
Thanks
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its not beyond your skill level, its just tougher this time of year to fish. come back in the fall or wait until early spring. dont get me wrong you can still catch fish there right now, but its a pain in the nuts with all of the weeds right now.
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Stoddards Slough is a natural spring that around 1940 was established as a fish hatchery for "German Brown" brood stock. This is from Jan. 15, 1938 Deseret News:
"Stoddard's Slough has long been one of the popular fishing sites in Morgan County. Probably no place in Utah is better adapted to the raising of fish. Stoddard's Slough has plenty of spring water with a temperature of 50 to 54 decrees. The water is free of acids and contains an unusually high oxygen content and will permit the state to load the ponds with fish without any danger of suffocation."
They planned on 25,000 German Brown spawners to produce 15 million eggs annually.
I recall fishing it in the early 1960's when many of the hatchery buildings were still there, including a cement trough that ran under a house with no floor but two boards to get from one side to the other. I assume all the buildings and troughs are now gone.
I remember my dad putting on what he called a "rock roller" (probably a cased caddis larve). He hooked a large brown that ran under the house and wrapped himself around an old 2x4. No one had a net and we laid down on the boards and tired to reach down and grab that brown in our kid-hands, but he easy slipped from our grip and eventually broke the line. In my mind it seems like it was 25 inches or so, but more likely 16 to 18 inches. Still, the biggest fish I had seen in my young life.
I keep thinking of returning to reminisce but I suspect the memory is better left as is.
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The trick to fishing Stoddard Slough is to use a long rod and keep the offering right is the middle of the stream. A 10 to 15 ft rod is needed or you have to find a way to keep your lure or fly away from the edges. Lots of planters but there are some big ones as well. One place to try that is easier is that culvert, where the water runs under the road, big fish in there.
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