Lower Provo River, Provo Canyon, Utah (SEPT 2010)

Fly Fishing the West
Vol. 20, Issue 1
September 2, 4, 13, 2010
Lower Provo River, Provo Canyon, Utah

DAY 1, Thursday, September 2, 2010-- Norman and I arrived at the Lower Provo River at about 2 pm on a beautiful, warm Fall day about one mile below the Deer Creek Reservoir just below the trailer park. Where we parked there must have been about 15 other vehicles. None-the-less we were able to fish the ‘Big Bend’ just below the trailers. It was a warm day (about 60 F) and the water was up a bit such that it would not have been easy to cross the stream. We fished the ‘bend in the river’ pool for about 20 minutes nymphing and caught a 14” rainbow nymphing with a size 18 flashback midge with a strike indicator. I had another fish on that moved upstream then flipped the hook. I then hooked a large fish that I could not move out of the current. At the same time this fish was on a large raft with about six people in it came down the river and floated right over the fish on my line. (There were a number of smaller rafts that had come down the river.) The big raft could not turn even though the people in it could see I had a fish on. Although it went right over my line, it did not interfere with the line directly. However, just as the raft went over the fish the line snapped. The people in the boat, watching the events unfold gave a big sigh when they saw that the fish got off. I can only guess that the shadow of the boat may gave spooked the fish and it darted away quickly enough to break the line (5 lb. test). The experience of catching these fish in the middle of the day tended to dispel my growing opinion that there was a spot in the middle of the day (from about 11 am to 4 pm) where the fish were not actively feeding.

At about 3:45 pm we drove down to the Trestle and hiked about ¼ mile down the north side of the stream to ‘Jason’s Run’. There Norman caught a ~14” rainbow on a Tyson’s size 16 sow bug (nymphing with a strike indicator). We left at ~5:00 pm.

DAY 2, Saturday, September 4, 2010-- Tyson, and I left Provo at 6 am and arrived at 6:25 am at the parking area above the river where one can hike down and along the train tracks to just below the trailer park on the Lower Provo River. (We had to wait about 15 minutes for daybreak. The weather is sunny but cool (about 40 F) and the water was up a bit like Thursday (see above). Tyson on his first cast had a fish on nymphing with a strike indicator with a size 16 pale morning dunn wet fly (yellow body with hackle down the sides). I then hooked a large fish on a size 18 flach back midge nymphing. The fish swam immediately to the far side of the pool at the river bend where the line broke (5 lb. test). I had another smaller fish on in the same spot but did not get him in. Tyson then caught a ~14 inch rainbow on a size 6 brown streamer he tied on the far side of the pool. He missed another strike as well. We left about 9:45 am.

Day 3, Monday, September 13, 2010-- Tyson and I arrived at the Lower Provo River at about 6:30 am on a beautiful, warm Fall day about one mile below the Deer Creek Reservoir just below the trailer park. There were no cars in the fishermans’ parking areas above the trailers. We fished the ‘Big Bend’ and water just below near the trailers. The weather is sunny but cool (about 40 F) in the early morning and the water was up a bit, such that it would not have been easy to cross the stream. We fished the ‘bend in the river’ pool and below for about one hour. Tyson caught 3 rainbows on a streamer he tied (about size 6 brown with a double hackle and a size 8 ‘stinger’ hook in the back of the fly. (He added that because in experimenting with this fly he tied he was getting lots of strikes but not hooking the fish. We left at 7:30 am (workday for Tyson.)
Other Miscellaneous Information/Observations:

1. There was some milfoil and/or river grass growing in the riverbed along the river’s edge of ‘Jason’s Run’ on Thursday, Sept. 2, but it did not impact nymphing along this stretch of the river.
2. Non-resident Utah fishing license for 2010 is $70 for a 1-year license. The annual license is good for the 365 days subsequent to the day it is purchased.