With the dog days of summer almost behind us and night time temperatures dropping into the 40's we welcome the cooler temps. This should be beneficial for our remaining PMD and caddis hatches. In the meantime, the middle Provo River flows have been ramped up to over 600 cfs which is a ton of water for this time of year. While the fishing may be tough it should help to create a killer fall fly fishing season in Park City. These higher flows can make for difficult wading and tricky fishing conditions so the key is to find the right water; slower, glassy, inside runs. Unfortunately, there are not many of them under these conditions and they are getting pounded on. My suggestion would be to size down your tippet to 6x, fish close, and use a light rig with smaller thread midge. Size 24-28. Then progress into the run with a little more weight using sow bugs, micro worms , PMD nymphs, or caddis larva. These flows won't last forever and should drop back to normal in the next few weeks. Again, these flows don't lend themselves to the easiest fly fishing but in the long run should make for great fall season! Have fun and we look forward to seeing on the water.
crack back pmd fly pattern
The Lower Provo is your best bet for consistent fishing this time of year. Flows are up a bit in the 180cfs range which has shut down the good dry fly fishing but the nymphing has been fantastic, Fish seem to be most active from about 9-1. The fish really start to spread out at this higher flow after being confined to deeper pools at the usual winter flow of 90-100cfs. Set up a nice shallow water nymph rig and look for fish sitting in the shallows, they will often move for a sow bug, or your favorite thread midge pattern.
The fishing on the middle Provo River was fantastic over the Thanksgiving weekend. I expect it will continue to be really good for the next couple of weeks before winter really hits. In the morning, there has a been a steady midge hatch from the Bunny Farm all the way up to the dam, especially on the sunny days. When we get a little overcast sky, we are still seeing some good blue winged olives in the afternoon. As a reminder, the brown trout are still spawning, so try to be careful where you step. As for nymphing, we have been fishing an inline rig with a bead set up to imitate an egg and dropping a small RS2 or thread midge behind it. As for dry fly fishing we are using a tandem rig. Starting our point fly with a CDC comparadun blue wing, size 20-22 and trailing with an orange asher, size 22-24. Keep in mind that with the low clear water you want to make your rig as long as possible and use tippet no larger than 6x.The lower Provo River has also produced some great action lately and should continue to fish well throughout the winter months. In the morning, we have primarily been nymphing egg patterns with either a sow bug or a blue winged emerger trailing the egg pattern. In the afternoon, there has been some descent dry fly action especially on the colder overcast days with a good blue winged olive hatch.
The middle Provo River has started to fish more consistently in the past week with a steadier midge hatch. We have had a couple guide trips and are concentrating our efforts from the dam down to the North Fields. The fishing has been a little slower in the morning and really starts to pick up around noon. This is typical of winter fly fishing conditions on the Provo River. In the morning, we have been nymphing slow, deep runs with a light nymph rig about 4-7 feet long. Our go-to flies for nymphing have been Blood Thread Midge in size 22-26, yellow Super Hair Midge in size 22-24, grey Emerger Midge in size 20-24 and olive Micro Tubbing Midge in size 22-24. As for dry fly fishing, it has still been a little inconsistent. During the day, the fish are rising to midge. We are fishing really long dry fly leaders, with a cluster midge pattern as a sight fly and dropping a variety of midges in size 22-26. Some of these patterns include the Mother Shucker, Foam Emergers and Orange Asher. With a winter storm arriving in the next couple of days, the dry fly fishing should be spectacular with the overcast afternoons. The lower Provo River is a little finicky as of lately. One day it will fish great, the next day it is hard to buy a fish. I think there will be a stronger baetis and midge presence in the coming weeks. There are still some really nice fish to catch. This is a good time of year to get a rainbow over 18 inches and in the 2 1/2 to 3 lb class. Currently, one day you may produce best results using a sow bug pattern, the next day you will have better success using only midge patterns. I know on a lot of these Provo River fly fishing reports we describe fly patterns that we personally tie. If there is enough interest, I will post a blog on the patterns that we are fishing with. Please leave a comment on Facebook if you would like me to include pictures of specific fly patterns.
The middle Provo River is still flowing at 145 CFS (cubic feet a second) from the Jordanelle Reservoir. Overall the fishing is fair to good depending on the day. The fishing has definitely been more consistent on overcast days compared to the typical sunny, Utah fly fishing winter days. The fish on the middle Provo River are still looking for various egg patterns but are starting to focus more on the normal winter midge diet. Small midge between size 22-26 start to hatch around 11 o'clock and last until about 2 in the afternoon. The nymph fishing has stayed solid during the hatch. The best set-ups have been small egg patterns or bead-head midge sizes 22-24 as your point fly and sizes 22-26 thread midge (colors: black, red, grey and cream) as the trailing fly. The dry fly fishing on the middle Provo River has also been pretty good when the midge are hatching. Look for fish in slower moving runs. Best flies have been the Orange Asher, Foam Emerger and Brook Sprout midge in sizes 22-26. Lately, one of the best tactics has been streamer fishing, especially in the morning before the sun hits the water. Keep in mind with the colder winter temperatures a slow retrieve has been most successful. The Lower Provo River is flowing at 102 CFS for the winter. This makes it very easy to get around when you are wading. The fish on the lower Provo River have really started to stay in their winter lies, which is any deep part of a run that is flowing at a medium to slow rate. Nymph fishing has been the best tactic on the lower. As a point fly, we have been using a small sow bug in sizes 16-20, and for droppers, various colored zebra midges in sizes 20-24. The best colors have been yellow, grey and red. I suspect that the dry fly fishing on the lower Provo River is really going to ramp up in the next month or so. I will keep you posted as the fishing really starts to pick up.
Winter is here but despite the change in weather, Park City fly fishing does not disappoint. We had guide trips out the last couple of days and the fishing on the lower and middle Provo River was borderline on fire. The middle Provo brown trout are in full spawn mode making egg patterns the go to method for fishing. As for the rigs, we are using a light weight, in-line rig (this is with the weights above the first fly or bead). From our indicator to our weights is about five feet. Then we tie a blood knot (the knot stops the weight from slipping to the fly or bead) with a piece of 3x tippet. Finally, we tie on our bead rig about 18 inches below our first knot. Our best bead colors have been: Glow Row, Apricot, Dark Row, Cheese, Caramel Roe and Tangerine. With the winter flows on the middle Provo River being so low we are still fishing as light of rigs as possible, especially with all the summertime moss that is floating down the river. In the afternoon there is still some really good dry fly action. Tiny size 22-24 blue winged olives are hatching and the fish are very eager to come up. I think I have said this before in previous middle Provo River fishing reports, but a long leader and light tippet is the key to success for these picky fish. The lower Provo River is still fishing really well with brown trout spawning and large rainbow trout looking for eggs in the fast riffles. It is not often that we are using identical rigs for the lower and middle Provo River, but this time of year they are fishing very similar. One thing I have found guiding the lower Provo the past couple of weeks is that a run and gun approach has been the most effective. Once you take a couple of fish out of a run it seems to shut down for a little bit, so working as much water as possible has been our best strategy. The streamer fishing has also been really good on both the middle and lower Provo River. This time of year my favorite colors are: yellow, orange, olive and tan.
As for targeting specific location on the river, we like to concentrate on the buckets and riffles behind the redds. This is where the big rainbows are gorging themselves on these irresistible eggs. Most of our guides, including myself prefer to fish a trout bead pattern over your traditional glow bug patterns. Best beads have been: glo roe, apricot and dark roe.
As for dry fly fishing, the best action has been in the morning, late afternoon and late evening. The morning usually brings some amazing caddis on top, but with this bizarre weather pattern we have had in the past month it has really hurt those caddis coming out. I suspect that by next week when we get back to sunny Utah weather, it should be game on. In the late afternoon, we have been seeing a prolific PMD hatch up by the dam and have had pods of big fish feeding on top. Right before dark, the caddis have been coming out and the fishing has been non-stop action for a couple hours well past dusk.
The Weber River is coming out of Rockport Dam at 229 CFS, this is still above average for summertime flows, but the fishing remains excellent. The fishing on the lower part of the river by Creamery Road and Judd Lane has been very good with caddis and PMD patterns. It almost feels weird to fish without a sow bug but the most productive patterns have been the Crack Back PMD nymph with a Graphic Caddis trailed behind it. Try to fish the shallow, faster riffles (the water in between the big holes) if you want to catch more trout and less whitefish. Up closer to the dam, we have had more success with a large sow bug patterns as your point fly and an assortment of PMD nymphs as your trailer. The past two weeks, our guides have seen some very large fish taken out of the Weber. It is good to see this blue ribbon fishery in such great shape. 2ff7e9595c
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