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PANGUITCH — Utah wildlife officials are allowing anglers to once again catch fish at Panguitch Lake, after closing the reservoir off amid concerns over cracks in its dam earlier this month.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources lifted its emergency fishing closure at the reservoir Monday morning. While that allows people to return, the Garfield County Sheriff's Office asks people to keep away from parts close to the dam.
Justin Shirley, the division's director, issued the emergency closure on April 10 after cracks were found within the top 2 to 5 feet of the Panguitch Lake dam on April 8. The reservoir is a popular fishing spot in the region, offering species like rainbow trout, Bear Lake cutthroat trout and tiger trout. Shirley said the closure was meant to keep people away from the reservoir while crews repaired the dam.
The state's fishing rules at Panguitch Lake have been restored with the order lifted. Anglers are allowed to catch a combined total of four trout per day.
"We're thrilled to announce that Panguitch Lake is officially back open for fishing," Garfield County Office of Tourism officials added in a statement Monday.
The update comes a little more than a week after Panguitch city officials lifted an evacuation notice because crews successfully built a buttress across the damaged area.
A 17-mile stretch of state Route 143, from Panguitch to Panguitch Lake, reopened on April 12, the same day the evacuation order was lifted. A flood watch for the region, which the National Weather Service issued as a precaution amid the emergency repairs, has since expired.
The Utah Division of Water Rights ramped up controlled releases of water from the dam during the emergency repairs to get the reservoir's levels below the damaged area. The reservoir dropped 15 inches by April 15 and was expected to have reached the desired levels by this week, Utah Department of Public Safety officials wrote in an update last week.
Construction on any needed permanent repairs to the damaged area is expected to begin sometime after the reservoir's levels are low enough. State officials said the damaged area of the dam was constructed around the 1930s or 1940s, decades after Panguitch Lake was converted from a natural lake into a reservoir.
