Fishing

It's cold and clear in Utah as February dawns. That means plenty of outdoor activity opportunities.

Enjoy your time outdoors and always be safe.

Two tiny, aquatic critters have devastated fishing waters, plugged water delivery systems and ruined boats all across the nation, but so far, efforts in Utah have largely prevented the spread of quagga and zebra mussels.

In 2007, the Division of Wildlife Resources, the Utah Legislature and several statewide partners launched a massive effort to keep mussels from invading Utah's lakes and reservoirs. The mussels are mainly spread from one body of water to another by hitching a ride on boats.

Since 2007, evidence that quagga or zebra mussels might be in Utah has been found in eight waters. However, as of this month, only one of those waters -- Sand Hollow Reservoir near St. George -- is still classified as possibly having mussels in it, said Larry Dalton, aquatic invasive species coordinator for the DWR.

Over the past couple of weeks, anglers have been flocking to Rockport Reservoir in hopes of hooking into a prize catch of a different kind.

A contest in which tagged fish can be redeemed for cash and prizes has made Rockport one of the area's most popular ice-fishing spots this winter. Anglers by the hundreds have been drilling holes through the reservoir's thick ice in pursuit of the $2,500 top prize.

Recently, wildlife officials tagged and released 28 rainbow trout weighing about 1 1/2 pounds each into the reservoir. Each fish was given a number to correspond with a given prize.

MIAMI -- Late fall in south Florida means rough seas, extreme tides and cooler water temperatures. But it can also bring a bountiful variety fishing in the sheltered waters of Biscayne Bay.

Not many charter captains are better at riding the weather changes to produce quality inshore catches than captain Alan Sherman of Miami Shores.

The veteran former party boat skipper has parlayed decades of knowledge about the migration, spawning and food preferences of reef and estuarine fish into a successful light-tackle fishing business aboard his 22-foot bay boat in Miami's watery backyard.

It's going to be a beautiful crisp weekend in the Top of Utah. Time to enjoy the great outdoors. Here is the fishing report and area outdoors calendar.

Enjoy.

HEBER CITY -- The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has discovered a potentially deadly parasite to fish in one of the state's most popular trout fisheries.

Whirling disease spores were found in two of 60 kokanee salmon that were collected from Strawberry Reservoir near Heber City this fall.

While the disease can be fatal to small trout and salmon, DWR officials said they're encouraged because it primarily affects fish much smaller than most found in the reservoir. They also said that many of the rainbow trout and Bear Lake cutthroat trout in the reservoir are more resistant to whirling disease than others.

"The disease is not a fatal blow to the trout fishery at Strawberry," said Roger Wilson, chief of the division's aquatic section. "There is life after whirling disease."