Middle Provo river report.

[flyster]

Just got back from a nice week vacation on the middle Provo. After reading reports of the start of the Drake hatch a week before I arrived I was really pumped up to think I timed it just right to be up there. Well all the info that I read online was not to be for the week I was there. I also read the there was a lot of fishing presser due to the online reports. Flows were still up (610cfs) for this time of year and the water was stained. When I finally hit the river I couldn't believe how full the river parking lots were. I went to three places and all were just about full. People from all over the country were fishing the Middle Provo.
The fly shop guides said to fish the slower deep holes with nymphs for best results. If anyone knows me I do the opposite what people tell me. No Drake hatch, fast stained water made things interesting to say the least. I took one look at the rive and said to myself pocket water was going to be the ticket. Not to many people fish this type of water I don’t know why (maybe they were listening to the guides) but it is my favorite type of fishing. Short slick spots with fast moving water on both sides was my target spots. I started with a large stimi (size10). Caught a few fish but nothing larger than 12 inches. I was also getting a lot of what I call looky-loos coming up and just eye balling my fly. As I was walking along the bank looking down river I noticed a caddis fluttering side to side and flopped on the water it only took about six inches of drift when a nice brown came from the shallow side to nail it with a hard swirl. Well momma didn’t raise no fool ( did I open a can of worms?) I tied on a flyster special deer hair caddis size 16 and started to pick off fish in just about every sweet spot. This would be the star fly of the trip. Sorry no pics of large fish due to the fact they all SCHOOLED me bolting down river in the fast current popping off my 4X tippet while looking at my backing a few times. This also happened a few more times when I put on a size 18 Pheasant tail nymph after pumping a fishes stomach to see what they were keying on. There was a nice PMD hatch but only a few rises to them. This river has a lot insect life in it so chunky happy fish are in the Middle Provo. Here are a few pics. The last pic is what I believe to be a Dandy lion the size of a softball.

[midger]

Nice, healthy looking fish.

[lucfish]

I have a good friend that lives in Herber and he mentioned to me that the river was pretty crowded this year, but that looks like east walker type crowds. Still it looks like you got your share. Thanks for the pictures and report.

[stanbery]

Very nice post and pictures.

Jon

[RSetina]

Sounds like you had a great trip to the Provo. That's one river on our list to fish one day. We better get to it! Congratulations on figuring out what they were eating too. Way to go.

[Fishfreak911]

Nice report there Flyster! Maybe I will have to hit the Provo when I drive thru next month.

WTG on figuring it all out. LOVE the pic of the stomach contents! Great looking browns, but I think you were undergunned and need a new LARGER net.

Thanks for taking us along for the ride w/o the fuel expense.

[beachbum]

Great report, John! It must have been fun fishing some new water, figuring it out, and getting some nice fish.

[highflyer]

Great post. Thanks for the pics and comments. What gear were you fishing that day? Rod in particular.

Thanks,

Alan

[super dry fly]

I still have a derelict Middle Provo report coming from a few weeks back. Caught the first days of the Green Drake hatch on Monday July 18th. Those are some amazingly big bugs. I love this river even with the crowds beacuase of the variety of ways it can successfully be fished. We also caught most of our fish on top while many there refused to focus on anything but their thing-a-mi-bobber.

Once I get my computer issues resolved i promise a Utah and Sierra report from the past two weeks.

Gabe

[flyster]

What gear were you fishing that day? Rod in particular.

Thanks,

Alan

I took four rods with me but only used my Sage graphite II 9' 4WT Light Line. I just couldn't put it down. For some strange reason I could drop a fly in a Frisbee at 25 paces with this rod. I also used a 12 to 14 ft. leader to help with the fast currents that would just blow your fly line down river. I would throw a curve or a puddle cast with a mean reach mend up river just to get a few feet of a decent drift in the slick spots. Here is a pic some of the slick spots.

[1mocast]

Nice Fish Jon! I personally like faster waters....The feesh need to just react or miss a meal!

Glad you took your LL out.

[flybob]

Awesome Report John!

Those are some pretty fish, love the whole net shots!

I also like the "Slick Spots" shot!

Thanks for sharing
bob

[Sasha]

Nice report and pics.