Middle Provo River at Midway Utah

Fly Fishing the West
Vol. 10, Issue 1
Wed., September 23, 2009
Middle Provo River, Above Midway, Utah

Steve, Jerry, and I arrived at the Middle Provo River at about 7 am parking in the Fisherman Access on the north side of the road (several miles passed a round-about near a new subdivision) north of Midway Utah. We headed about ¼ mile upstream passing a beaver dam on the right. (We came here again a month later and there is now a second beaver dam a pool below the first dam.)

Steve and Jerry fished the slower water at a distinct bend in the river. I went upstream about 200 yards fishing the rapids. This was an amazing display of activity. Fish were breaking the surface constantly. A ~16-inch brown trout jumped about 2 feet out of the water right in front of me. A caddis fly would fly around near the surface of the water, land on the water briefly, then fly off. As I watched this a trout took one of the flies right off the top of the water. I switched from nymphing having tried a sowbug, flashback midge, and black ant to dry flies on top. I tried a lot of flies then finally caught a 9” brown on a size 12 red/brown pattern with a lot of hackle. After about 2 hours here I moved down to where Steve and Jerry were. I caught an 8” brown on a size 18 flashback midge. I tried a sow bug with no luck. (Several fisherman that know the Middle Provo say it is sowbug water but I have not had any luck with it as of yet, like on the Lower Provo. I switched to a caddis larva, size 12 (emerging pupa if you are looking in a fly shop) and on the first cast caught a 12” brown. We left about 12:30 pm to return home.

Other Miscellaneous Information/Observations:

1. The weather was nice and sunny and it warmed up from the cool morning pretty rapidly.
2. This is a beautiful spot on the Middle Provo River, which has been under an ongoing renovation project (Provo River Restoration) for a number of years. The river is easy to walk to, not a lot of trees.
3. Non-resident Utah fishing license for 2009 is $12, $32, or $70 for a 1-day, 7-day or 1-year license, respectively. The annual license is good for the 365 days subsequent to the day it is purchased.