I am headed up to the Uintas this week to spend some time fishing, and hopefully learning a bit more about my fly rod. I have spent hours out on the Weber and Ogden rivers trying to teach myself the way of the fly fisherman, but have yet to hook up with anything. I'm hoping the fish up in the Uintas will be a little bit more eager to help me learn and refine my technique. Are there any specific flies that I should take up there to increase my chances of a hookup?
As always, any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
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When my wife and I backed pack in the Uintahs we would use mostly renegades, mosquitoes, prince nymphs, and uglys in sizes 10-14 using a floating line. Most any fly with some peacock in the body seems to work well. The fish up there don't see too many anglers and most often are not very picky.
Don't be afraid to use a sink tip and some streamers (small #10-12 buggers or leeches) if they don't want to take anything on the surface.
The hardest part about fly fishing the lakes in the Uintahs is finding room for your back cast. When I was learning I spent as much time in the trees as I did the water.[
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He's right about flies with peacock in them. My favorite is the peacock caddis for on top.
Advice: Cast it out, count to ten, strip it in at least half way before picking it up to cast it again. Steady 6" to 12" pulls at least half way in depending on how far you cast to begin with.
My favorite streamer pattern in the black mohair leech size 10. But there are days that it does not slay them and I go to my back up flies: the crystal killers in peacock, or red or light olive and even in black.
More advice: if the fish are feeding on the surface fish the top 2 to 3 feet if they are not then work your way down the water column.
P.S. I fished Trial Lake this past Saturday and caught 69 fish, Butterfly the Sunday before that and caught 55, Mirror the Saturday before that and caught 63 so they are up there and fun as heck to catch all the while being up out of the heat.
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Besides the ones already mentioned. I would throw in smaller terrestrials (specifically ants), parachute adams, caddis and more caddis, double renegades.
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