Middle/Lower Provo Report 4.4.16

[ru22dizzle]

Started the day on the middle and found some good midge hatching, but not much BWO, there were NO heads or noses coming up either. However, they were really keyed in on the emerging patterns in size 18 fished subsurface. Unusually, no takes on sows or zebras for myself or the guy I was fishing with. We fished the middle from 9-1130.

We moved to the lower and found some better BWO hatches and several noses up and some coming straight out of the water. They were keyed on the BWO in 18 and really taking sows well too. Ended up with some really nice fish for the few hours we were there. (from 12-3)

Here is a brown from the Lower taking rainbow sows off the bottom.
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[Blackellunge]

gorgeous trout! thanks for the report. gonna give the lower a try on thursday
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[Fowl-Hook]

Beautiful Picture!!!!
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[tubbyama]

thanks for the report. Great pic!
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[doggonefishin]

[quote Blackellunge]gorgeous trout! thanks for the report. gonna give the lower a try on thursday[/quote]

If you are still going, there was a huge midge hatch on the lower yesterday. Prepare accordingly. Not that many BWO's however.
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[BHuij]

I may run into you; I'll be there with a friend on Thursday afternoon. I'll be fishing flies on my spinning rod and he'll probably have his 5wt. We'll come with lots of midges!
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[ru22dizzle]

Thanks man. Hopefully you can get into some beauties yourself. Sounds like a good selection of midges may do the trick too. Of course have your sows ready too. Tight Lines!
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[ru22dizzle]

Thanks! It was a really pretty fish!
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[Blackellunge]

info is much appreciated!

be out there later this afternoon
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[ru22dizzle]

Thanks for the additional info. The Lower Provo is pretty long with a lot of different hatches going on. Good to know what to expect depending on where you are fishing.
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[Blackellunge]

midges and bwo's took fish last night ~~me and my buddy caught about 15 trout in 3 hours (from 5-8pm) . i have very limited experience fly fishing and i got a 14" brown. man that really put a bend in the 5wt!!!! ( my biggest fish ever on the fly) super fun. ill be back soon
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[doggonefishin]

Nice work! Sounds like you had a lot of fun.

This is a nice time of year to fish the Lopro, before the flows go up and the crowds get worse.
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[BHuij]

No love for me. I fished from about 3:30 to 5:30 with only one bite on a sow bug. Tried zebras, sows, and beadhead PTs without any real success.

Still. A bad day on the river beats a good day in the office Next time I want to stay a bit later and get in on the dry action. Looked like a midge hatch was just starting when I left.

Oh and protip: look for a spiderweb near the banks. Usually easy to find and they make it real easy to identify what's been coming off the water that day. I saw probably 10 midges for every BWO in the webs I was looking at.
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[BHuij]

Went ahead and tied a whole bunch of midge patterns in various colors and smaller sizes. All I had last time was zebra midges in black size 16, which was quite a bit bigger than the actual bugs I saw.

I think having some pupa patterns will also help when I head back out on Tuesday, this time a bit better prepared.
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[doggonefishin]

How are you rigging your flies? Are you using a spinning rod still?
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[BHuij]

Yeah, I was using my 5'6" UL Berkley Cherrywood with 4lb mono and a 4lb fluoro leader. Just drifting the nymphs near the bottom using a small foam float that also provided casting weight.

I think when I go tomorrow I"ll try my longer 6'6" UL rod and an even smaller float; as well as double rigging with a pupa higher in the water column and a larva towards the bottom. I also want to try fishing some areas with faster current. I was fishing deep and slow spots and I think the fish were probably getting too good of a look at my flies before committing.

I didn't see any rising trout during the time I was there, but if they start going for stuff on the surface; I've had success fishing dries with my spinning rod using a clear casting bubble before on the LoPro.
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[doggonefishin]

You may consider rigging up a "bounce rig" with a weight on the bottom and your flies above it. It works well with spinning gear. Keeps the flies in the zone and you can detect the soft bites easier. Back in the day, I used to do this effectively on several streams.

I was back up there today. The water was higher and a touch off color.
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[BHuij]

I tried just about every larva and pupa in every size and color that I had yesterday, but not a bite. The browns just north of Vivian Park were feeding very actively on the midge hatch going on, and even started rising after the first hour or so I was there.

I'm guessing something is wrong with my presentation. I'll be heading back probably Friday morning with my actual fly rod to see if that helps me entice the fish a bit better. Seemed like with my 4lb mono and float rig I was getting a lot of drag that was hard to control.
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[doggonefishin]

I had a couple hours free between my work schedule and a staff meeting and just got back from there. It was still very good for the short time I was fishing. I did well with sowbugs and caught a couple of toad browns on San Juans.

Don't give up. The Lower can be tough. I have a long ways to go but I didn't used to catch much there either.


[quote BHuij]
I'm guessing something is wrong with my presentation. I'll be heading back probably Friday morning with my actual fly rod to see if that helps me entice the fish a bit better. Seemed like with my 4lb mono and float rig I was getting a lot of drag that was hard to control.[/quote]


You are probably right that it is presentation. Again, I would recommend the bounce rig as previously discussed for either a fly rod or gear. I might also use an indicator to detect sensitive bites, which is the norm. Finally, get some size 16 and 18 sowbugs in tan or gray. I seem to always be able to have some luck there on sowbugs, no matter how finicky they are on other stuff.
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