Stillwaters, June 19th, 2024

The IDF&G Southeast Region office manages four area reservoirs as trophy rainbow trout fisheries (no bait, barbless hooks, two fish limit, none under 20”). These are Daniels, Springfield, Treasureton and Twenty-Four Mile Reservoirs. On site studies for each of these have determined size, weight and population estimates for rainbow in each. This information helps fly fishers decide which reservoirs are most interesting to try for trophy rainbows. Thus over the next few fishing reports we will offer this information. Daniels is the first reservoir we look at. See below.

The 2023 survey of Daniels Reservoir resulted in 217 rainbow trout sampled with an average size of 17.5 inches and 1.8 pounds. These averages have increased since the electrofishing survey completed in 2017 when the average length of rainbow trout was only 14.7 inches and average weight was 1.3 pounds. The largest individual trout sampled in 2023 was 19.6 inches and weighed 2.7 pounds. While it appears that the rainbow trout fishery at Daniels Reservoir is on the right track and fish are getting larger, no fish sampled in either the 2017 or 2023 survey had achieved the harvestable size of 20 inches.