Bottle Hollow Reservoir, where the tribe's permit comes first

Yes, and the permit is to be at the reservoir at all, not only to fish it. Bottle Hollow sits on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation and is managed by the Ute Indian Tribe, so the tribe's permit is what counts. A Utah state fishing license does not cover this water. Permits have been available through the tribe's Fish and Wildlife Department and over the counter at Ute Plaza in Fort Duchesne.

Through the tribe's Fish and Wildlife Department and, in recent years, over the counter at Ute Plaza at 7750 East US-40 in Fort Duchesne. The department's published number on utetribe.com is 435-722-5511; a fisheries number of 435-722-3282 has also been shared in fishing coverage. The tribe issues a Fishing, Camping and Boating Proclamation each year. Confirm the current outlets, fees and rules with the tribe before you go.

The rules are set by the tribe's annual proclamation and change with it. Recently published rules have limited access to the hours from half an hour before official sunrise to half an hour after official sunset, closed the inlet to fishing, required watercraft off the water by a set evening time through the summer, and prohibited alcohol. Take the current version from the tribe rather than from a travel page.

As compensation. Under a 1965 deferral agreement between the United States, the Central Utah Water Conservancy District and the Ute Indian Tribe, the tribe agreed to defer development of part of its reservation land so that water could be diverted out of the Uinta Basin to the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project. Bottle Hollow was built to compensate the tribe for economic losses tied to stream fishing and to provide recreation, fishing and wildlife activity.

A motel and convention center built beside the reservoir with federal money and dedicated in 1970, meant to bring jobs and economic diversity to the tribe. Its convention center hosted business meetings, including ones about the Central Utah Project, and the site carried dinner theater, reunions and community events through the summers. It declined when the basin's oil boom collapsed in the late 1980s, and most of the remaining buildings were demolished in 2009.

It was emptied in 1989 because the gate stems on the outlet works were damaged and could not be opened fully, and because stagnant water had left the fishery in poor condition. It stayed dry for about two years. Core samples were taken from the bed, since the reservoir sits over a late 1800s U.S. Cavalry dump site, and they showed only small amounts of naturally occurring mercury. Refilling through the Bench Canal was under way by May 1992.

The account repeated locally and in visitor material is that soldiers at Fort Duchesne in the late 1800s tossed their empty bottles into a ravine on the way back to the post, since alcohol was not allowed inside it, and that the ravine became known as Bottle Hollow. It is an account rather than a documented record, though it is consistent with the cavalry dump site the core samples were taken over in 1989.

Rainbow trout are stocked regularly, and in some years lake trout have been stocked for a tournament. Rainbow and brook trout were restocked after the reservoir refilled in the early 1990s. The tribe's own Fish and Wildlife page has addressed a parasite found in bass there, stating that the fish are safe to eat when cooked thoroughly and that it is safe to swim and recreate in Bottle Hollow. Confirm current stocking and limits in the tribe's proclamation.

About six miles east on US-40 and roughly a mile west of Fort Duchesne, the headquarters of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. It is the nearest substantial open water to Roosevelt. Because the permit is arranged with the tribe rather than bought at the water, plan the phone call before the drive.