Middle Provo River Fishing Report: July 25, 2013: Water levels, hatch reports, and large browns

After fishing my old stomping grounds on Washington's Upper Lewis River about a week ago (above Swift Reservoir), I found myself a little homesick. I'll have to save a summary of the trip for another post, though I'll take this opportunity to mention the two steelhead that I caught : ). Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely thrilled that the Provo River is so close to home, but it can be a little tiring fighting the river traffic, as everyone rat race's to their favorite run. This certainly is not a complaint about the anglers of the Provo, because I have had the pleasure of meeting and a great cast of characters, many who have been kind enough to help net fish, give fishing reports, and even swap a few lies, errr, I mean flies. Still, the Upper Lewis has that off-the-path feel, as does many sections of the Upper Provo, only with more river, wild steelhead and rainbows, and old evergreens along the bank.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the section of the Middle that I fished received little traffic. Water levels have also dropped some, and it's much easier to locate seams and holding spots. The water levels are high enough that large browns are actively seeking undercuts and hanging grass. It can be a bit tricky floating a hopper, bwo, or nymph along the undercuts without getting caught up, but it's well worth the risk.

(weather: calm/faint breeze at times, sunny/overcast, high 80s, no water temperature taken--thermometer broke)

Brown that sent me down river and through the "woods"

As for insect activity, I observed smaller caddis flies throughout the day (size 14 or 16),  light bodied duns (size 18, yellow) and grasshoppers. Please see the complete list of macroinvertebrates of the Provo River.

I arrived on the Middle around 6:45 am. Fishing has tended to be slower in the early morning, but I was itching to go. This morning seemed to buck the trend and I was into the fish until around 1 pm when the action dropped off. At this time, I switched from my nymph set up to duns, and I probably averaged a fish an hour--mostly smaller. Around 3 pm, I switched back to my nymph set up and hooked into back to back monsters--literally, unhooked one and went back to the same run and hooked into another behemoth of equal stature. I was also grateful that another angler, who was with his son, stopped and watched, and then offered to help net him. The brush is pretty thick at the moment and the first brown took me down river and I was forced to follow along the river bank, which required several line loops over larger brush in order to keep pace. I was pretty fortunate it didn't break free, especially given that the brown twice made it into some undercuts.

What am I?

I also saw quite a few critters today, including two beavers, an otter, two does--one crossed upriver from where I was fishing and this guy, which I am not sure what it is. 

There you have it, best of luck!

-Brendan