Piute Reservoir is at 6% full, and the catfish are still there

Piute Reservoir is showing a lot of bare shoreline. KSL reported Oct. 14, 2026, from Junction that the lake is at 6% of capacity. Park manager Lance Eliason said that is half of the 12% it held at this time last year, and well under the 18% average for the date. The boat dock and buoys are already out of the water. Statewide, reservoir storage is about 32% of capacity.

The new water year started Oct. 1, and rain over the past few weeks has raised Piute by four feet. Eliason said snow has started in the nearby mountains and that monsoon rain bailed the region out. He also said the low pool did not kill the fish. He told KSL he had expected the water to be down to a river through the old boat ramp, and that an angler fishing that ramp a few days earlier was catching large catfish.

KSL notes it is too early to know the winter snowpack or next spring’s runoff. The fishing news in the story is the one Eliason gave: no die-off, and catfish still being caught off the ramp while the lake sits at 6%.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: KSL — Recent rain brings renewed hope despite low water levels at Piute Reservoir (Alex Cabrero, posted Oct. 14, 2026).