About sixty miles east of Starvation about 10 miles outside of Vernal is Red Fleet Reservoir and while walleye are a welcome species at Starvation, here at Red Fleet, biologists say they are a ticking time bomb.

Red Fleet Reservoir has often been called, Uinta basins little Lake Powell, because of its sandstone features on the northern end of the lake.  It's a popular lake for water sports and a great trout, bass and bluegill fishery.  About four years ago, biologists started getting reports from anglers who said they were catching a few walleye--a predator that doesn't belong.

"Well we first heard rumors 6 or 7 years ago, but we hear a lot of rumors, but we had our eyes open.  About 2-3 years ago we picked them up in the nets, we confirmed that in 2008 I believe.  We picked up a couple of age classes at that time,” said Kevin Christpherson, DWR, N.E. Regional Supervisor.

"And we've been watching it grow it hadn't really impacted the fishery then and we hadn't heard of a lot of them being caught, but that all changed this year," Kevin said.

In June, while conducting their annual net survey biologists discovered several age classes of walleye, some up to six pounds.   In many of their nets, biologists caught as many walleye as they did rainbows.

"Everything looks great now, we've got big fish in the reservoir and we are still catching rainbows and it seems like the perfect combination, but it won't last.  We are going to have too many predators in the reservoir and eventually they are just going to eat, they'll start eating each other and you'll start seeing a bunch of stunted small fish,” he said.

Kevin believes that in a few years, this otherwise great trout and bass fishery is going to drop off to near nothing.  “People won't want to come here, so we'll probably have to poison this reservoir and start over."

"Somebody thought they knew the best thing to do and they brought them in on their own illegally and there's a 2,500 dollar fine for that and up to a year in jail in fact for that.  It doesn't seem like a big deal but it is, it's going to cost a lot of money before it's done,” he said.

"I love catching walleye, but it's kind of sad that someone would take it upon themselves to move fish around like this.  I'm sure they have a management plan and it would probably work if people would leave it alone,” said Rod Miller, West Jordan Walleye angler.

Kevin suggests that anglers who have an idea should come to the RAC and board meetings, “send us a letter.  We are in the business of providing fishing, we try to meet everyone's needs but it doesn't serve anybody when people take matter into their own hands."

To encourage anglers to come and fish for walleye, the division has placed a "no tolerance regulation" on walleye at Red Fleet.  This means there is no limit on walleye and anglers must keep and kill any walleye they catch.  

About three hours from the Wasatch Front, fishing isn't the only thing you and your family can do here.  The State Park has 29 campsites and 32 covered picnic tables nestled among scenic red slick-rock formations.  

And located just across from the boat ramp is the Red Fleet Dinosaur track site where an 8-foot dinosaur called a Dilophosaurus left tracks bigger than your hand.

"It's probably one of Utah's little secrets i suppose.  For as pretty as it is and as much opportunity that it provides for everybody.  There are mountain bike trails if anyone wants to do that, there is a lot of recreation around here,” Kevin said.

So the next time you come to the basin, bring the boat, bring kids, catch some fish and enjoy this little Lake Powell.