In 2025, I drew a coveted muzzleloader mule deer tag for the Henry Mountains Unit. A little research of the unit revealed a little gem of a reservoir that the Utah DWR stocks with fingerling tiger trout in June of every year. You can't find much information about Bastian Reservoir online, but I did speak with a DWR officer before my hunt who had fished the reservoir.
With my work schedule, I was able to head down three days before my hunt to scout the unit. With the knowledge that there were tiger trout in the area, I packed some fishing gear to take in case I ended up in the Mt Hillers area while scouting or during my hunt.
Bastian Reservoir is small, is in a very dry area of the mountain, is used heavily by cattle, but it does have a really good spring-fed source of running fresh water that has been diverted into the reservoir and there are quite a few decent-sized fish to catch.
If I'm ever down in the area again, fishing for tiger trout in Bastian Reservoir will be near the top of my to-do list.
Bastian Reservoir on Mt Hillers is stocked with fingerling tiger trout in June of every year.
Bastian Reservoir on Mt Hillers is a great little tiger trout pond. I watched a 20-inch class tiger trout follow a Rapala into shore and a few casts later, now with my fly rod, I hooked a large one (maybe the same fish) that dove to the bottom and broke me off on something. Other than the really nice one, I caught a lot of 12 to 14-inch tigers with my 5-weight Redington Classic Trout fly rod with Reddington Zero reel using balanced leech flies below a small indicator.
Balanced leeches like this, with size 12 to 18 jig hooks, are my favorite lure for fly fishing still water tiger, brook, and cutthroat trout.