Tailwater · Mixed · Utah

Strawberry River (tailwater)

Strawberry Reservoir venue image
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The Strawberry below Soldier Creek Dam is one of Utah's quiet gems — a tailwater that pours out of the bottom of the Strawberry Reservoir complex and meanders down through high sage-and-meadow country toward the Pinnacles.

Species

About as good as it gets

Low and clear — careful approach country. Take your time — read the water before you cast.

75% confidence in this read
Water temperature for cutthroat trout
Ideal
9°C est.ideal 9–15°C
0°14°28°
Why this score · for cutthroat trout
  • Temperature10028% weight
  • Flow8022% weight
  • Clarity8518% weight
  • Feeding Time5013% weight
  • Pressure757% weight
  • Insect activity6212% weight
Conditions
Level
Dry recently
No gauge reading
Water temp
9.0°C
Estimated
Clarity
Clear
Air temp
21°C
Wind
W 17 km/h
Gentle breeze
Pressure
1013 hPa
Rain · 24h
0.0 mm
No rain
Rain · ahead
0.0 mm
No meaningful rain · next 48h

Live readings — water temperature is an estimate where the gauge does not record it.

How to fish it · for cutthroat trout
When
Nymphing can work through most of the day.
Where
Cover mixed depths.
Method
Start with tight-line nymphs and adjust if fish rise or drift higher.
Kit
9 ft #4 rod, floating line, 12 ft tapered leader to 4–5 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
Excellent — water temperature is right today, though time of day could be better.
Through the year
0–3 scale · June highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Black MidgeHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Freshwater ShrimpHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Western Blue-Winged OliveHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Pale Morning DunHatch
2
3
3
2

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Gallery · 1
  1. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Open all year (statewide default)
  • SPECIAL REGULATION: the Strawberry from Soldier Creek Dam downstream to the confluence with Red Creek (Pinnacles) is artificial flies and lures only; the rule also applies to in-stream lakes and ponds in that reach
  • No overnight camping on Division land
  • Verify the current boundary and harvest rules against the UDWR 2026 Fishing Guidebook
  • Flow is set by Soldier Creek Dam releases — suppress runoff inference.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
About this water

The Strawberry below Soldier Creek Dam is one of Utah's quiet gems — a tailwater that pours out of the bottom of the Strawberry Reservoir complex and meanders down through high sage-and-meadow country toward the Pinnacles. The reach from the dam down to Red Creek is special-regulation, artificial-only water, and it grows fat, wild browns and cutthroat in numbers that surprise people who've only ever heard about the Green and the Provo. It's a small, intimate river — undercut meander banks, deep slow corners, weed-lined runs — that fishes like a spring creek as much as a tailwater: drag-free drifts, fine tippet, careful approach to fish you can sometimes see working the surface film. Cold, stable releases keep it fishing through the seasons, but at this elevation winter is real. The headache is honest flow data: the only reach gauge that ever sat below the dam has been dark since the 1990s, so we're reading a downstream proxy — take the cfs as a steer on release trend, not gospel on the water at your feet.

  • Mixed
Seasons & zones
  • Trout1 January → 31 December
Other water nearby · 4