Cottonwood Creek is not well know and receives light fishing pressure, yet it has become one of our better streams. It flows along State Road 29, through Straight Canyon, between Joes Valley Reservoir and the small towns of Orangeville and Castle Dale, south of Price. It's about 140 miles from Salt Lake City.
It was raining when we headed down Hwy 6, heading toward Price. When we crested Soldier Summit and looked to the east the sky was only partly cloudy and we hoped the storm would miss the Joes Valley area. The mountains sometimes channel storms south, leaving that area dry.
Nope, we got hit hard by rain, sleet, snow and cold wind. The wind was strong and made fishing conditions difficult. Enough snow fell that it collected in some spots.
But the fish, they didn't seem to mind. The stream was low and clear and the fish were hungry. I had intended to cast streamers to them with my fly rod, but the strong wind made that next to impossible. Instead, we fished lures and jigs. Fish hit everything we tried. I started with a small Rapala and got strikes in virtually every hole. Most the fish were small and very aggressive. Even tiny fish would smack the lures.
We tied on jigs trying to get deeper, thinking large fish may be holding near the bottom in the bigger holes. My brother, Glen, tried a brown marabou jig and almost immediately hooked a large fish that gave him quite a fight. He was fishing from a big rock, up 4-5 feet above the water. The fish was heavy enough that he knew it would break off if he tried to horse it up the cliff face. There was no easy way for him to get off the rock but he finally jumped to the far side, hoping he could keep pressure on the fish. The strategy worked and he managed to land a fat brown that looked to be about 16 inches.
Glen hooked another large one that broke his line. I never managed to land anything bigger than 12 inches. One memorable fish charged at my jig, its mouth wide open, and startled me so much I jerked the hook away before it could hit.
The water was so clear, we could often see the fish strike our lures. Great fun.
Most streams that flow from reservoirs have clear water and are somewhat protected from flooding. That is somewhat true here but several side canyons can bring in heavy runoff at times.
SR 29 to the reservoir is plowed during the winter and Joes Valley is a popular ice fishing water. If offers splake and an assortment of trout.
The stream parallels the road. It is often a steep scramble from the road down to the stream. Large boulders have rolled into the canyon bottom, creating large pools in the stream. The boulders and brush make it difficult to walk along the stream in places. Still, the stream bank offers open areas where there is plenty of room to backcast while fly fishing.
All in all, this is a beautiful stream, well worth a visit.
