Fly Fishing the West Series

On May 14, 1804 Lewis and Clark and what has come to be known as the Corp of Discovery set out from St. Louis, Missouri headed for the Pacific Ocean. It turned out to be an epic journey uncovering the beauty and majesty of the American West. One major reason for the huge success and notoriety of the journey is the fact that Meriwether Lewis and others kept meticulous journals of their daily experiences. In this spirit of the adventure and trying my best to record these experiences, Fly Fishing the West has become a series of reports and pictures summarizing fishing trips I have made beginning in Nov. 2008. The purpose of the series is to provide some hopefully useful information to the reader for future reference, should an opportunity come to visit any of these locations. (Note—The summaries include more information that just about fishing. This lends credence to the notion attributed to Henry David Thoreau that, 'A man may fish his entire life before he realizes that, what he is trying to catch, is not fish at all...')

Rainbow Trout

Rainbow Trout
Caught by Tyson Lower Provo River

Friday, April 15, 2016

Fishing the Lower Provo River Vol. 28 APR16


Fly Fishing the West
Vol. 28, Issue 1
August 7, 2016
Lower Provo River, Provo Canyon, Utah 

Thursday, August 7, 2016—Tyson and I arrived at the Lower Provo River at about 6:45 am just below the trailer court below Deer Creek Reservoir. We hiked down to the stream about 75 yards below then upstream along the railroad tracks about 150 yards to what we call “Big Bend”. The weather was clear but cold (about 30 degrees F).  The sun was not yet up (see Note 1 below). I fished the bend behind a rock in the stream. We were ‘Euro-nymphing’ (see Note 2 below) with a setup by Tyson. I had a size 6 stone fly nymph (weighted by a double bead head on the dropper line and a size 16 bead head midge. On the second cast I hooked and landed a chunky, 16 inch rainbow, see PICTURE 28-1. The fish took the trailing size 16 midge. Tyson then caught a nice brown (14 inches on a long size 14 beadhead sowbug) by a log just above Big Bend. We then waded across the stream to the south bank and moved downstream from Big Bend fishing the long chute of water (about 150 yards long). We caught about 5 browns 14-16 inches and two other big rainbows, about 18 inches, see PICTURE 28-2.
We left about 11:30 am. 

Other Miscellaneous Information/Observations:
  1. It was cold when we arrived. No one else was there. For the first 1 ½ hours we had ice buildup on the pole guides. The ice could be removed by dipping your pole into the stream. After about 9 am when the sun began to fill the canyon it warmed up to pleasant temperatures. There was no wind.
  2. Euro-nymphing is a method Tyson has trying for several years. We went to a Fly Fishing Expo on Saturday, April 2, 2016 near Sandy, Utah and attended a 2 hr. class on Euro-nymphing by Lance Egan, a famous fly fisherman on the US World Fly Fishing Team, and works for Cabela’s in Lehi. We used the same basic setup as he recommended in the class. That included a 6-8 foot leader (about 0x to1x) attached to a ‘sighter’ (high visibility florescent yellow/red leader) about 2 feet long, then a 6 foot tippet (about 4x). About 3 ½ feet down the tippet is a 6 inch long dropper to tie a fly and another fly is added at the end of the tippet. No weights are used, only weighted flies.
  3. About 10:30 am two large wild turkeys flew right over our heads crossing the stream.
  4. The water was cold and clear with little ‘milfoil’ (seaweed type growth). The water level was very low making wading with hip waders no problem at all. 
  5. Non-resident Utah fishing license for 2016 for 2 years is $148. The annual license is good for the 365 days subsequent to the day it is purchased.
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