hey all, with summer on the way, I am planning to go check a few spots in the high country to see about snow. while I am up there I want to fish a few streams and maybe the north fork of the provo. other than buggers and minnows, what would be the best producing dry or wet flies. im interested on finding some good nymph patterns that work for swift water and still water the same. any info is very much appreciated. thanks ahead of time
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My fail safes are little bead-head prince nymphs and pheasant tails. Scuds and little zebra midges are good just about anytime as well.
Dries, I would probably go with a BWO this time of year. Good luck.
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Small bead headed hares ears for underneath and small renegades have never failed me in the high country.
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If the water is still quite high and fast as most places in the mountains are now I always stick with tungsted b.h. nymphs, the bigger the better. As the water starts to come down then downsizing the nymphs and fishing dries can be more productive. But after many years of drought we can forget how long it can take for these streams to settle down during a truly normal snowpack year. I thing the bigger heavier nymphs just get down deeper into the limited strike zone and the fish only gets a split second to decide to go after or not. Yesterday up above 7000 ft I caught a couple dozen trout on a single size 10 prince nymph. Finished up behind a group of 3 trying dries and throwing spinners and rapalas who all had gotten skunked.
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You are going to get a lot of different opinions on your question, but I will give you mine on what I think are some of the best patterns for this time of the year. If you are going to be using dries, I would have a good assortment of PMD's. This is a great fly on about any stream in Utah north to south. You will also want some Adams (I like parachutes the best) Calabaetis Dry, Light Kahills, and a hand full of Royal Coahcmans. These are all pretty good patterns for this time of year. Nymphs and wet flies are kind of a what you like to use most of the time in my opinion. In faster moving runs, use Bead Head Prince Nymphs in about a size 16. I would actually fish this as a dropper under a Larger Royal Wulf. Fish it about 18 to 24 inches off of your dyr. Size 18 to 20 Copper Johns are another good bet. Serendipitys work well and I hav found that Sow Bugs work well. Then you would also want to have some Chamois Caddis, Pheasant Tails, Brassies, and Hairs Ears. These are fairly basic patterns but they ar work well abd I tie up most of my clients that I guide with these patterns as they are failry simple to fish and are very effective. Good Luck and give me a report on the Provo! I will be fishing the Pinacles and Strawberry River under Starvation this week end.
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Hey FB2 did you ever fish the North Fork of the Provo or any other streams up that way. I was thinking of stopping there after hitting Lost Lake yesterday but the whole area was storming. It looked pretty darn fast- probably several weeks before dries will be very productive, but thought it might be fishable with nymphs. I know the descent snowpack is good for the fish but it sure makes spring stream fishing tougher.
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