December 20, 2012: Middle Provo Fishing Report: Water Levels, Water Temperature, & Ice

Middle Provo, 8 AM-- My car's temperature gauge reads 14 Degrees Fahrenheit and temperatures for the day would stay well below freezing. Fortunately, two pairs of thick wool socks, thicker neoprene waders, and a snowboarding jacket helped to neutralize the cold. Since last week, the water temperature dropped another degree and a half  to 40.5 F.

For as cold as the weather was,  fishing started off with a bang. Within the first several casts, I hooked into large brown and then another shortly thereafter. Fish are still taking baetis nymphs, UFOs, and grayish scuds--they seem to take anything that is tiny. My hands took a beating, especially when unhooking and releasing fish. After releasing a medium-sized brown, my lead fly was embedded in the mesh netting and it required nearly 10 minutes to free the stubborn bugger. I then tried to shake off all of the water from the net, to prevent it from freezing up--I had to dip it in the water to thaw it out, and I somehow managed to completely hook a UFO into my pointer finger. Fortunately I was able to remove the fly with minimal effort and between the weather and several sips of Eagle Rare Bourbon, I didn't feel a thing.

By midday, the fishing dropped off noticeably. I probably caught 75% of my fish before 12 pm. By about 1 pm, the repetitious nature of casting four or five times, having to go to the bank to remove ice from my lead guide, then removing gunk from my flies, and then starting the whole process over, began to take a toll on my mental well-being. So it is quite possible that the fishing didn't drop off, but my abilities to dead drift nymphs suffered greatly.

It probably sounds like I am complaining, but it's weather like this that I enjoy the most. I didn't see a single person on the day, I miraculously found my pair of clippers amongst some rocks that I had lost several weeks earlier, and I saw many winter wondrous sights, which I tried to capture with my camera and failed--will still show. I also enjoyed several smokes that I received from a good friend. After polishing off the last bit of coffee around 8:30 am, I lit up one of Drew Estate's Dirty Torpedos from their Natural Line. Normally, I am not a fan of flavored cigars, but the light chocolate flavored cigar tip, combined with its smooth and medium-full bodied, complex flavors, really worked well for a morning smoke. Again, this caught me a little off guard considering the many unfavorable reviews that I have read--perhaps the cigar I received, or maybe the wintry conditions, made the difference. Also, I am no cigar snob and I haven't refined my taste to the point that I turn my nose down at "lesser" cigars.

I followed up this tasty torpedo with another smoke around 2 pm. This time, I sampled one of CAO's Italia Ciao. While unintentional, the timing of this smoke was impeccable. After performing the described pattern of casting, removing ice, freeing gunk, and repeating, and repeating, and repeating, I was starting to feel a bit lifeless, especially given that I was going through these motions with very little return on my effort investment. From the first puff to the last, this cigar packs a powerful zesty punch. It's hands down one of the more complex and flavorful smokes that I have had in a while. For a more frequent smoke, I'd probably lean more towards CAO Brazilia's line, but this one did more to warm me up and give me the extra umph to repeat the tedium. So there you have it, I'm not a big cigar buff and I am certainly not qualified to write reviews, but these were both tasty and selected at the right moments.

Until next week!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

-Brendan J. (Provo River Fly Guy).