Sometimes I forget that I live in Utah. It usually happens when I'm fishing. As a kid I dreamed of catching northern pike, but I always assumed I would have to travel to Minnesota to hook into one.

Yet there I was reeling one in at Yuba Reservoir.

I caught my first panfish in the early 1980s and I wasn't even in the Midwest. The first of many bluegill, and other panfish, I have come to land came from a now weed-infested pond in northern Utah. I have since developed a desire to land the biggest black crappie I can.

The first striped bass I ever saw caught was a 12-pounder hauled onto the back of a houseboat at Lake Powell in a huge bowl because we didn't have -- and didn't expect to need -- a net. I'm not sure I even knew what a striper was until that first trip to Powell. On a later trip to Powell I hooked a crappie, striper and largemouth bass on consecutive casts from the same spot using the same lure.

All I had ever heard about walleye was that they tasted good and were harder to catch than a greased pig. My first bugeye, as I prefer to call them, was a surprise while fishing for white bass at Utah Lake.

There is something about the red-eyed smallmouth at Flaming Gorge that should give me nightmares, but instead make me long for time on the water there.

Warmwater species are not the only fish I never expected to land in Utah, but I sure enjoy it when I do.

I was positive a trip to Alaska would be required to land my first salmon. But during a trip to Flaming Gorge to jig for lake trout I caught two kokanee salmon while casting spinners from the back of a boat and within swimming distance of the shore. I never would have thought to try except the biologist I was with said I had a good chance of hooking up.

Few of these unexpected fish brought as much wonder as the grayling I landed while fishing a remote lake in the Uinta Mountains. Grayling are definitely some of the coolest fish I've ever seen.

All of these species are, of course, not native to Utah. In a perfect ecological world, we would still only have the native fish that were here when the pioneers arrived. Essentially, they would be limited to cutthroat trout, at least when it comes to sport fish.

Introductions of the warmwaters species, brook trout, lake trout, rainbow trout and all the various hybrids have put pressure on the native fish. Biologists have recognized the value of the native species and are working to preserve and bolster the numbers. That being said, I feel that these "other" species have a role in Utah's wildlife scheme, as long as the non-natives are handled responsibly.

Finding species that fit in Utah's wide range of waters -- both in temperature and water quality -- is a tricky task. But if you spot water in Utah that remains throughout the year, it is safe to say there will be fish in it.

That can be daunting and is probably the reason most anglers tend to specialize on one species. To help anglers make the most of that diversity and embolden them to explore new species and techniques, The Tribune is launching a fishing resource page on the Web. The page will include a fishing report handled by staffers from Fish Tech Outfitters, myself and anyone who wants to pitch in stories about their trips. We also are launching the new Fishing Utah blog and including our popular Hook Shots feature on the Web page.

While we will be loading the fishing resource page with as much information as we can, we hope the anglers of Utah and those who fish waters in Utah and surrounding states will be inclined to share tips, techniques and reports.

Visit www.sltrib.com/outdoors to find the link to the page.

Brett Prettyman is a columnist. Reach him at brettp@sltrib.com