Utah Trip: The Provo - Part 2

After seeing what kind of crowds the Provo drew I sought out less pressured water. I figured if I went away from where the drakes supposedly were I'd find less fishermen. My logic proved correct and I found a location where no vehicles were parked. When I entered the stream caddis were every where. They were so bad in certain places along the bank I had to hold my breath. It didn't take a genius to guess maybe a caddis would be a good pattern to try first.

I could see fish rising but I didn't get one take on the caddis. The next step was to drop a nymph off the dry. This didn't get me anywhere either. I worked the banks looking for active fish. There was a deer trail that followed the bank and quite often I'd scare some kind of rodent run into the brush. There was a point around a bend where I really worked a seem that had rising fish. I had a difficult time getting my drift right. Eventually I had a mercy strike and the fish hooked itself while the fly was dragging downstream. The action was pretty boring after that. I went hours without a hit. I came to one section of the stream where there was a cobblestone island and two nice runs went along each side. I started to get really frustrated because I knew fish had to be in both of these runs. I stopped fishing and just stared out at the water hoping for some inspiration. I had been wanting to try streamers for quite awhile but I've never had a lot of confidence fishing them. I just got a new batch from The Fly Stop just for this trip. With the way the fishing had been I figured I had nothing to lose. I tied on an olive streamer and cast into the end of a run. As I was stripping the fly in I felt a tug like I had hung on the bottom. Instantly the fly was free and I noticed after bringing the fly in that it didn't have moss or any sign of hitting the bottom. Could it have been a fish?

 

My next cast I changed the retrieve up a bit. I did two big strips then a pause then another few strips. After the 3rd strip I felt a tug and saw a major splash in the distance. I had a fish on and it was a good one. The fish thrashed and my 5wt could handle the fish but could not over power it. When the fish came close I got my first good glimpse and thought for sure I was going to lose it. The fish jumped several times and it started to wind itself up in the leader. This was one of the few times I was actually glad I had my net. When the fish came close I scooped it up as quickly as possible.

I just stared at the fish in amazement. How did this happen? The fishing had been so slow up until this point. I never fish streamers. This is probably the biggest brown I have ever caught.

The fish was beautiful and the whole experience was surreal. I worked the streamer here and there and I'd notice movement several times where my fly was. I wasn't sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me, I'd cast and see a flash or see what looked to be a fish follow my fly several feet. There was another run similar to the first one where I had caught the previous brown. Just like before on my second cast I felt a massive tug. This fish was really working to stay deep. I managed to get it in the calm water where I could net it.

This brown wasn't as long as the first but it was definitely thicker. I was going way out of my comfort zone and being rewarded. Was this a fluke or is streamer fishing really this effective? I was definitely going to experiment more.

To Be Continued.... Part 3 Ogden Canyon