Free viewing event happens June 9, 2012

Heber City — You can learn more about the cutthroat trout in Strawberry Reservoir—and get a great look at the fish—by attending a free wildlife-viewing event on June 9.

You can get close to Bear Lake cutthroat trout at this year's viewing event. The event runs from 9 a.m. until noon at the fish trap at Strawberry Reservoir.

Photo by Scott Root

The Division of Wildlife Resources will hold its annual cutthroat trout viewing event from 9 a.m. to noon at the U.S. Forest Service visitor center. The visitor center is just off U.S. Highway 40 on the northwest side of the reservoir.

Strawberry Reservoir is about 25 miles southeast of Heber City.

Bear Lake cutthroat trout leave the reservoir this time of year and swim up several tributaries to spawn.

The Strawberry River runs adjacent to the visitor center. Part of the river also runs into a fish trap and egg-taking facility that the DWR runs behind the visitor center.

In the facility, DWR biologists divert the fish from the river so biologists can take eggs to use in DWR hatcheries. After taking the eggs, the biologists release the fish back into the river.

Scott Root, regional conservation outreach manager for the DWR, says the biologists won't be taking eggs during the event this year. "But they'll still take fish out of the water and hold them up for visitors to see," he says. "We'll also provide information about the Bear Lake cutthroat trout that are in Strawberry, including information about why this strain of cutthroat trout is so important to the reservoir's fishery."

Win $25,000

Root says the Strawberry River and the other tributaries to the reservoir are closed to fishing. But you can still catch a big cutthroat in the reservoir itself. Or you might catch a rainbow trout that's worth $25,000.

Root says 300 rainbow trout were tagged recently as part of a tagged fish contest. He says many prizes are available, including $25,000 that will go to the angler who catches the rainbow with the lucky tag.

The contest runs from May 26 to Oct. 15.

"If you catch a tagged trout," Root says, "take it to one of the marinas around the reservoir to learn what you've won."

Fishing regulations

Root reminds you that all cutthroat trout in Strawberry between 15 and 22 inches long must be released immediately.