I recently moved to Salt Lake City from Minnesota and have (not surprisingly) found the access to quality lakes tough to deal with. I am thinking about taking a spring pre-spawn trip somewhere within driving distance. I would be taking my kayak so in an ideal world I wouldn't be fishing huge bodies of water. I would not want to be driving more than 12 hours or so. In your opinion's what would be some of my best options. I was leaning towards the NorCal area but I am open to anything. I was going to spend 4-6 days fishing depending on how much time I can get off work. Thanks!

NorCal is easy...2 days on Clearlake, a day on Berryessa, and 2 days on the Delta

 

All big water areas that can be easily fished from a kayak, it’s driven from where you are launching from 

utah has plenty of bass fishing. utah lake, strawberry reservoir, flaming gorge, powell, quail creek, sand hollow and i just found this http://www.utahfishinginfo.com/utahfish/largemouthbass.php

1 hour ago, zeth said:

utah has plenty of bass fishing. utah lake, strawberry reservoir, flaming gorge, powell, quail creek, sand hollow and i just found this http://www.utahfishinginfo.com/utahfish/largemouthbass.php

It definitely does and I am familiar with all those lakes and reservoirs, I am just thinking about getting the the best possible fishing within a 12 hour drive or so. Kind of a fun destination spring trip for me. I fished sand hollow and quail creek 2 weeks ago and the fishing was pretty slow. 

4 hours ago, camman said:

NorCal is easy...2 days on Clearlake, a day on Berryessa, and 2 days on the Delta

 

All big water areas that can be easily fished from a kayak, it’s driven from where you are launching from 

Thanks for confirming my original thoughts, I'll do more research into potential launch points. 

Lake  Powell is your best choice in Utah, big windy lake however for a kayak. You drive from Salt Lake City to Clear Lake CA via hwy 80 in less then 12 hours. Berryessa can be windy also. The Delta is so massive, around hwy 12 Rio Vista there are decent sloughs that are good for a kayak.

Tom

My pic would be Lake Powell....the upper end.  So beautiful.

On 12/15/2018 at 6:46 PM, starkeer said:

I recently moved to Salt Lake City from Minnesota and have (not surprisingly) found the access to quality lakes tough to deal with. I am thinking about taking a spring pre-spawn trip somewhere within driving distance. I would be taking my kayak so in an ideal world I wouldn't be fishing huge bodies of water. I would not want to be driving more than 12 hours or so. In your opinion's what would be some of my best options. I was leaning towards the NorCal area but I am open to anything. I was going to spend 4-6 days fishing depending on how much time I can get off work. Thanks!

What Camman said is a perfect trip. I will add the Pacific for Rock Cod; Half Moon Bay.