Fly Fishing The Lower Middle Provo River

I’ve recently started going to the Trout Unlimited/Stonefly Society monthly meetings.  One of the latest meetings was on the topic of the Middle Provo River, taught by Mark and Brandon of the Four Seasons Fly Fishers in Heber.   

 They discussed, of course, the fly fishing, insect hatches, access points and seasons.  You may recall that I have written about the Middle Provo before.  This is probably the most popular stretch of river in all of Utah.  

The thing that caught my attention at this presentation was that most people fish the upper half of the Middle Provo River.  This is where the flows and insect hatches are most consistent.  The lower half of the river however, sees fewer fishermen.  It still has good fishing, just not the consistent dry fly fishing you see upstream.  Since I’m more of a nymph and streamer kind of guy anyway, I thought I’d give this lower section a try.  Ron and I stopped in at Four Seasons on the way to the river to see what they would recommend for this lower section.  Mark picked out some small midge and mayfly nymphs as well as scuds and small brown San Juan Worms.  We also picked up a map that indicated parking, trails and the names of the various fishing holes.   

There were a few cars in the parking lot, but we only encountered one other fisherman on the stream.  I started out with the brown San Juan worm and the scud as a dropper.   

The first part of the river that we fished had a small island.  As I started to fish around it, I caught a nice 12 inch brown trout after 3 or 4 casts. 

 This was a good start.  While fishing around the island, I caught another brown and a rainbow.   

Continuing downstream for the next hour, Ron and I kept trying the various nymphs that Four Seasons recommended and we caught five more browns.   

On the walk back to the car, I was tempted to tie on a streamer and fish through the deep holes.  With the sun slipping behind the mountains and knowing we had a long walk ahead, I decided I would save this for the next trip.

Fly Fishing in the Smoky Mountains

 

Nick and I stopped at the Smoky Mountain Visitor’s Center to see when the Park would be opening since this was at the time all the National parks were closed due to the government shut down.  Fortunately the Park opened that day due to all the nearby towns pitching in to open it up, at least through Sunday if needed.  Perfect timing!  After securing hotel arrangements in Gatlinburg at the hotel nearest the park entrance Nick gave me a tour around the west end of the park.  The sites were amazing.

The following morning we went fishing on the Little Pigeon River.  This was fun dry fly fishing for small rainbow trout in a beautiful setting.  We parked by the ranger’s station where the river turned away from the road a bit where we could fish in solitude away from the gravel road.  We immediately started catching lots of trout eager to take whatever we would offer, mostly an Adams or small caddis. 

 

The biggest fish was about 10 inches long.  It darted out from under an overhanging rock out of one of the deeper holes.

The morning that we fished the Little Pigeon River the Park seemed like a rain forest, very beautiful.  Everything was so green and wet.  The rocks were especially slippery.  When it started drizzling I hid under an overhanging rock, but not Nick. 

 

He just kept right on fishing in the rain.  We noticed a group of kids wading and playing around the rocks in the river and we wondered what they were doing.  Come to find out, they were catching crawdads.  Looking in their big bucket we saw that it was quite full of large crawdads.  This will make a tasty meal for the family.  Nick and I did catch one crawfish earlier by placing a rod tip near its claws.  It grabbed the rod tip and hung on.

The park was so beautiful with outstanding vistas that it was hard to break away to fish when there were still so may gorgeous sights to see.  This is one thing I admit I am guilty of, being so intent on fishing that I don’t appreciate the scenery and gorgeous settings that most trout streams are part of.  I am glad I was able to see this part of the country and especially the wonderful Smoky Mountain National Park.

Fly Fishing The South Holston River

Nick and I pulled into the South Holston River Fly Shop to check what was working well on the South Holston River. 

The news was that the reservoir was high due to rain during the previous weeks, a lot of water was being let out and the river was flooded. 

So much so that there wouldn’t be any wade fishing and the fish would be tough to catch. 

The only way to catch fish, they recommended was to float the river. 

Nick and I decided to go exploring.  The GPS on Nick's iPhone came in very handy.  We drove up to the dam and indeed, the reservoir was quite full.  The river itself was flooded with water well up onto the grassy banks. 

We’ve fished high water before.  Driving around we found a few areas we thought we could access.  The guys at the shop did state that between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM the water would be at normal flows.  That meant that the high water wouldn’t hit the spot where we could access the river until 9:00 AM because it would take three hours to get to that point of the river.

In the morning the river looked completely different…so different that we forgot to take pictures, sorry.  The river was slowly flowing with lots of rocks sticking out and easy to wade.  We fished with small nymphs and caught a couple small rainbows. 

As 9:00 approached we made our way closer to the shore in anticipation of the rising water.  The rush of water was right on time and in a few moments the river was completely changed.   The rocks could no longer be seen. 

The river was fast flowing and the water was up on the grassy banks.  Since we could no longer make our way up and down the shoreline at this location we moved to another spot with fewer trees and brush along the shore. 

We switched to high, murky water condition flies like San Juan Worms and Wooly Buggers and used a lot more split shot.  After getting used to the new water level we started catching rainbows six to fifteen inches in length.  In fact, we caught more than when the water was low. 

The next morning we arrived to the river earlier to allow more time to fish with the lower water.  Approaching the river it was again amazing at how low the water was.  The structure of the river bottom was surprising.  It was like a smooth lava rock river bottom (not freestone) with large boulders sticking up above the water.  It was easy to cross the entire river.  We wondered where the fish were.  The water was clear but we couldn’t see any fish.  We fished the deeper portions and in the wakes behind the big boulders but only caught a couple small rainbows.  We figured they must be hiding in deep crevices among the lava rock. 

Having seen this stretch the day before, we knew to stay near the shore as 9 o’clock approached.  Again it was astonishing and scary how fast the river transformed into a high fast flowing river.  Staying mostly on the grassy banks and casting over the streamside brush, we cast as best we could.  It seemed we caught more fish in this high, fast water than previously in the clear, slow moving water. 

In this high water I noticed a small trout swimming fast along the top of the water.  Behind it was a large brown nipping at its tail.  I cast my streamer near the two fish and the brown turned quickly and engulfed it. 

In this water it wasn’t hard for a fish this size to take out a lot of line.  I was glad I had on a streamer with a big hook and 0X tippet attached.  The hardest part was getting the fish through the waves made by each of the big rocks. 

Eventually I was able to horse it into the net.  What a beautiful fish, certainly a trophy for this water and location. 

When I let it go, it just quietly slid backwards over the water covered grass and into the deep water.

 

Last Cast at Paradise

There is another pool at paradise called the chair pool.  Paul and I hadn’t fished it all day because it was always being fished by others.  He had heard rumors that there were some large fish in it so later in the evening, when it was only being fished by one other fisherman, we decided to go to the vacated end and try our luck. 

 

We first scouted out the very top of the pool to see if we could find a way to the other side.  It seemed too full of brush to make our way through so we fished on the road side.  Where the water went under the road and into the stream we could see some large trout hanging out  In the clear, exposed water they were much too skittish to catch.  Back at the pool, however, it was large enough with enough vegetation in it that you could cast to the other side without being seen. 

 

I had tied on a black Dungeon with red eyes; although I was a little worried this fly was too big.  Oh well, big fly, big fish right?  After a couple of casts against the far side I hooked a huge dark-colored rainbow, biggest one of the trip.  It immediately jumped and threw the hook.  I watched as its enormous tail went back underwater.  The rumors were correct.

By now it was approaching 7 o’clock and we needed to be leaving.  I drove us toward the shop to return the big net we borrowed and to change out of my waders.  At the last turn before the shop is the pond that yielded up that 20 inch brown. 

 

Remember my blogs about that last cast?  I couldn’t resist.  I pulled the car to the top of the pool and got out the fly rod.  Ok, two casts to the middle of the fast water entering the pool and then one right on the side of the fast water.  Right as the streamer hit the water, Paul saw a flash.  Could this be another big brown? 

 

This brown stayed tight against the shore and I was able to quickly bring it in. 

 

It was another 20 inch fish with quite a bit darker coloration than the previous brown.  A twenty inch brown on the last cast is a great way to end a memorable fishing trip.  Thanks Paul!

 

Fly Fishing in Paradise

It was the day before my 54^th birthday and my good friend Paul had invited me to fly fish a private stream in Paradise, Utah.  This was also to be my first outing the whole year.  Can you believe that?  Yes, maybe I was going through withdrawals. 

Paul first took me to his favorite hole where he had good luck before.  He wasn’t fishing but was acting as my guide for the trip.  I had a glo bug on from my previous trip and figured it was close enough to fall that an egg pattern should work. 

 

In a couple casts I had my first fish of the day, a 16 inch rainbow.  In a few more casts I landed another. 

 

This was a good start for the day. 

 

 It sure felt good to be out on the stream again.

After fishing upstream a bit, we came to a series of pools.  I positioned my casts so the flies would land in the fast water and float down into the deeper, slow water. 

 

After catching a couple more rainbows, I decided this would be a perfect situation for a streamer.  I tied on a black wooly bugger and stripped it across the current flowing into the pool.  Trout would chase the wooly bugger and often even hit it.  After seeing this happen, I would vary the speed of the retrieve and finally caught a few. 

 

Either the trout would follow a fast streamer and then it would stop and the fish would have to decide whether to strike or not.  Or as I slowly stripped it, the fish would follow and I would start stripping fast and the fish would see the prey was going to escape.  This was fun fishing and I lost count of the fish I caught after a dozen or so. 

Heading over to the stream again, Paul suggested using a caddis pattern (bead head hare’s ear) and Prince Nymph. 

 

The water was real clear and it was tough getting a good cast without spooking the fish.  It was fun seeing the fish swimming and darting away.  Oh yeah, I found a garter snake in the road so I gently picked him up and took him to the bushes on the other side so he wouldn't get run over.  I love seeing wildlife like this.  I saw a leopard frog on this tip as well.

 

I was able to land a few and hooked a few more that managed to get off the hook. 

 

We then headed over to the frog water. It was rumored that there were monster brown trout in the slough which were difficult to catch.  We were able to find the large trout but they would also see us and dart under the vegetation. 

We then went to the big pool that was closest to the shop.  It had fast water at the top of the pool entering the pool underneath the road similar to the first pool I mentioned.  I cast into the middle of the fast water and quickly caught a rainbow on the hare’s ear. 

 

Another cast brought similar results.  Then I cast right next to the shore, still in the fast water.  This time I hooked a fish but it didn’t immediately jump.  It swam out of the current and into the deeper water of the pool.  I first thought it was a white fish but as I brought it closer it did jump and we could see it was a large brown.  Paul was excited and came down to the shore with the big net and I coaxed the trout over so he could net it. 

 

This was a gorgeous fish, buttery brown and pretty spots.  This made the whole trip worth it.  I quickly laid it against the net so I could note how long he was before carefully letting it swim out of my hands.  Back at the car I measured the net to the spot I had noted, 20 inches long.