Pinto Lake in Summit County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Utah holds Pinto Lake, in Summit County. It stands 10,030 feet above sea level. Roughly 46 acres: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. With about 1.1 miles of edge, you can try several depths in one session. On our Summit County list it sits near the top for size. Nearest town is Kamas, 25 miles off. Francis lies 25 miles off, Oakley another 26 miles. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Pinto Lake

  Depth is unmeasured here, so let the shoreline guide you. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Records held for Summit County cover brown trout, rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, brook trout and Utah sucker. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. Pinto Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs 18°F to 55°F. Hard water is a season in its own right here. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around early June. Break-up near early June, freeze-up near mid November: that is the shape of an average year. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Pinto Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Our records carry no access rule either way. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Nothing formal is recorded here: no ramp, no car park, no marked path. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. If the gate is shut, Governor Dern Lake at 0.6 miles is the nearest alternative. None of that is settled for Pinto Lake in what we hold.