8th Day Fly Fishing – February 26th, 2023 – Lower Provo, UT 168cfs
Some days, sitting at home in Sandy, UT gets really boring. Especially if it has been multiple days in a row. So on this cold day I ventured forth and decided to fish a regular spot on the Lower Provo. I was hoping for a midge hatch and as I was getting there around noon, I felt the timing was right. The rig on days like these is ultimately my Scott G2 – 9′ 4wt. The more I fish this rod, the more I love it! The primary appeal is that it really does it all – dry flies, nymphs, streamers (leeches). On a day like today, I am never quite sure what will work, which is why the 4wt is my go-to.
Today, the first thing I realized was that there were huge amounts of snow in Provo canyon. It made getting to the water tricky, but because of the low flows, getting up and downstream was quite easy, just follow the river’s edge. As I reached my favorite run, I noticed that several browns were sipping midges on the edge in an eddy current. Enthusiastically, changing out my tippet and fumbling for a suitably sized midge this was just what I was hoping for. As I completed the rig and began to cast, the wind picked up and promptly put down the fish. None the less, I stuck with my rig thinking I could tease one up, as there was still an occasional rise, but they just were not frequent enough to tip the odds in my favor. So the first hour amounted to tying on a dry fly and tippet, fishing that rig with no success and changing it out for a dual soft hackle rig. Luckily for me, the change-out was really straightforward thanks to my tippet ring!
This run is perfect for swinging soft hackles. With the low water and slightly slower flows I knew I would not need a lot of weight and because we were still early in the season, I went for smaller soft hackle patterns in size 16. I also tried a Ray Charles with no success an ended up with two soft hackles. With no success at all, I began to work my way down the run. The lower water meant that the majority of the run was knee deep or less. As I worked my way down the run the water depth rose to mid-thigh and the action picked up. A nibble here, a tug there and I eventually had my first fish to hand. A small brown.
After a few more eats, a few violent, I was concerned that I was not hooking up the bigger fish. I dedcided on a hunch to switch out one of the soft hackles for a leech pattern. This particular one was a small red and black pattern, with a brass bead, as I knew that tungsten was going to be too much weight for this flow. It worked! A few casts later and I hooked into a bigger brown and brought him to hand.
Then things got really slow. I worked my way downstream and finally got into some smaller fish with multiple eats and two fish on for a moment, but they both came off. At this point the winds had been pummeling me for a few hours now and. I was cold and called it a day.
It was great to get up close and personal with this hen though. Kind of made my day.
