Matt Warner Reservoir

Thanks to guest blogger, Jessi Perry, for writing a guest post about this awesome place! (She is receiving triple credit in our Summer Contest for writing this guest post!) Here is what she had to say:

Photo courtesy of Jessi Perry

Matt Warner Reservoir is located in Uinta county near Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Northeastern Utah. It was nNamed after outlaw Matt Warner. It was originally built for agricultural purposes in 1938, but was sold to the Divison of Wildlife Resources for fishing in 1978.

There are over five miles of shoreline, but it also has a boat ramp. It is a medium sized reservoir.

You can get to the reservoir from US 191 between Vernal and Dutch John. There is an intersection between mileposts 224 and 225 turn East onto a gravel road. I think it says Diamond Mountain. Follow it for about 8 miles, and go straight where the road bends to the left for another about half mile. When the road forks, take the right fork. Follow it for maybe 3 miles or so and turn to the north. Follow for just a little ways and you will be at the reservoir. Along this gravel and dirt road keep your eyes open and you will see lots of elk; there were several herds of elk all over. We thought there may be elk farms but I have been told that they are wild. I have never seen so many elk, both bull and cow elk. It was really neat to see.

My favorite part was, of course, the fishing. The fishing was great. We arrived there at around 8 in the morning and by 1 in the afternoon we had as many fish as we could eat. There were five of us fishing. 
The fish were good size rainbow trout. Most of them between 14-16 inches long. We went home that day with 11 fish but had we stayed I am sure we would have reached our limit.

Most importantly, for me, is that there were not a ton of bugs. There was a grassy area for my kids to play in, and not just rocks. Since my youngest is 18 months old and not so graceful yet, this was perfect for him to play with some toy trucks we brought.