Busy Beavers and Other Wildlife on the Middle Provo

As I’ve written before, I love to take note of nature while I’m on fishing trips. 

I thought nothing of the beavers on the Middle Prove River until I came across their work on this huge tree.  This must have been one optimistic beaver.  This would be a tough tree to saw down with a chain saw let alone beaver teeth.  

Some of their houses are quite large, like a beaver condominium.  

I ran across a couple while the water was frozen and saw them slip under the ice into the pond and their house.   

Notice all the trees that the beaver family chewed down around this pond.

Also on this river is a bald eagle with its nest.  The first time I noticed it was when a bird watcher with binoculars pointed it out.  You could watch it fly around and then land on its nest and peer out looking over the field.

The last trip I took I saw a couple of garter snakes.   

One near a log that I was crossing near the river and the other on the trail sunning itself in the warmth of the spring sun. 

On the same trip I ran into a couple more dogs playing in the same pool that the black and golden labs had jumped into a couple of weeks ago.   

This time I took pictures.  For me, this will forever be the dog pool. 

We also often see mink along the river.  These seem quite curious.  I'm sure they are wondering if we are also trying to catch a nice trout for dinner.

 

The White Fish King on the Middle Provo River

Ron and I stopped by the Four Seasons fly shop again; this time to find out what they would recommend for streamers on the middle Provo.  A Home Invader was recommended so I picked up a few, including a larger one to use on my next trip to the Green River.  We then headed back to the deep pool where the dogs had joined us the previous week.  I fished the entire pool with the black wooly bugger that caught the two trout the week before.  Then I replaced the fly with the Home Invader and fished through the pool again –nothing, even without the dogs.  It is such a fishy looking pool too; riffles entering the pool with a drop off into deep water; slower, deeper water in the middle, and then shallower, faster water at the end of the pool.  This type of water should be perfect.  I didn’t even have one follow the streamer.  I had as good of luck with the dogs splashing.  

I continued using the Home Invader for the next hour, but after Ron had caught his third trout on nymphs I gave in.  

I tied on a San Juan worm and scud that worked so well two weeks earlier.   

Right away I caught my first fish…a white fish.  This reminded me it was still winter and typically fishing nymphs on the bottom yields quite a few white fish.  At least I know I’m getting deep enough, right?  Around the next bend was another pool with riffles with a drop-off leading into it.  There’s got to be a nice trout waiting in the deep water for a nymph to be swept off the rocks in the riffles.  The third drift over the riffles and into the pool provided a healthy strike.  I was excited by the weight I felt on the end of the line.  After a short fight however, I discovered it was another white fish, a twenty-inch white fish.

I went back to the pool and tried again.  Within a cast or two, I had another strike.  I felt the head shaking and knew it was yet another white fish.  

It was the same size as the previous one.  This was still a lot of fun.  By now I was hot and sweaty but the sun was about ready to set behind the beautiful snow-covered mountains. If I didn’t have a three mile hike back to the car, these white fish would have ended up in the smoker.

Streamer Fishing on the Middle Provo River

 I rigged up with a black wooly bugger and headed toward the deep pool that I had seen the previous week.  As I made my first cast, two playful labs, a black lab and a golden lab, jumped into the pool and looked at as if to say “aren’t you going to throw us something?”  Needless to say, all the fish in the pool were spooked.  The dogs’ owner rounded them up and apologized.  I just had to laugh.  The dogs just wanted someone who would play with them.   

Ron and I usually see 5 or 6 cars in the parking lot but rarely see anyone on the stream at this lower river location.  This is a perfect place to take dogs for a walk.  Sometimes we also see bike riders, bird watchers or just couples out for an evening stroll.  Even when I’m not fishing, I love being near the river.

Moving on downstream, I continued to streamer fish while Ron continued to nymph.   

Ron quickly caught a nice brown trout but it would be a good hour before hooking my first fish.  With streamer fishing, you have periods where you don’t catch anything for what seems like hours.  The consolation is that you are hoping to catch that one big one that makes it all worth it.  

This one wasn’t the one fish I was hoping for.  It was an alright sized brown, don’t get me wrong, just not one to brag about.  Shortly thereafter I caught a hatchery rainbow. 

Oh well, I was a nice evening being on the river catching fish.