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Willard Bay Reservoir


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Willard Bay
Willard Bay

Description:

Current Conditions

Information Updated:06-16-13
Highs86 (7 Day Average)
Lows60 (7 Day Average)
Day UseOPEN
CampingPARTIALLY OPEN
SurfaceOPEN
BoatingOPEN
Water Temp68-71 (Measured in the South Marina)
Water Level Low ( Make sure to stay out of any marked closed area or a citation will be issued)
FishingFair

Willard Bay Reservoir is located about 10 miles north of Ogden, with two off-ramps from I-15. It is not a big lake, by comparison to some of the other wiper waters in the country. This manmade shallow bowl is only 10,000 acres in size, but it has several clearly defined areas popular with wiper chasers. In several places around the lake there are underwater "trenches" gouged out by heavy equipment during the dredging and dike building process. These depressions sometimes provide enough extra depth to attract and hold more fish.

Willard Reservoir is a portion of the Great Salt Lake that was diked off and dewatered. It was then filled with water from the Weber River that would otherwise have flowed into the Great Salt Lake, and stored for irrigation and other uses as may be needed on the northern Wasatch Front.

Willard Bay is a very popular reservoir with both boaters and fishermen. The current state record Wiper, weighing in at 9 lbs. 12 oz., was caught at Willard Bay. Wiper - a hybrid between a white bass & a Striped Bass, are are known for being aggressive fighters, and are very popular with local Utah anglers.

The Northeast corner of the reservoir has traditionally been a good place to catch crappie. Most years the water is high enough to provide flooded stickups, where crappies prefer to spawn. However, in low water years, they have to settle on using some gravel and weed beds...and not much of that. When this happens, there is likely to be a poor spawn with low recruitment.

Wipers are caught all over the reservoir, with trolling being the most popular method to catch them. A popular place to troll is past 'the lightpole', the light pole that is out on the dike. See below for more fishing location tips.

Fish Species:

Current Regulations:

Fishing Tips - Where to fish: