Summer Huntington Hatch

On a recent picture-perfect evening I was lucky enough to retreat to my favorite water - Huntington Creek in Central Utah.  The Huntington regularly delivers great mayfly hatches on warm summer evenings.  That evening was no exception and fly fishing the vigorous Mayfly hatch at dusk reminded me just why it is I fish this water in the summer.

Below is a video in which you can see the Mayflies swirl in front of me (you can also see a few eager fish rise in the background).

As the hatch continued the Cutthroat began rising actively to this abundance of mayflies. It's a good sign when I can't decide between watching the fish rise and presenting dry flies to them!

The video below shows more than a dozen fish rising in one minute (I had to stop the camera and get back to fishing).

The video below is for Lori who wonders if I ever do more than admire the beautiful scenery when I fish.  I felt like a "one-armed paper hanger" trying to film and land the fish so I chose the better part and put the camera away.

I quickly found a #18 Parachute Adams and a #16 Grey Hackle Yellow were the perfect flies for the evening and had a marvelous time casting to, landing, and releasing the typically beautiful and energetic Cutthroats like the one below.

The near perfect night, and the typical beauty of sunset against the trees in this narrow canyon, got better, however.  As I was winding down I sighted a large cow moose across the canyon. As I watched her stroll along I hoped her watering hole of choice this night was not the stretch of water I was fishing.

Another great evening on some of the best water I'll ever fish.

What a Difference a Month Makes

An earlier post reflected on the great spring Blue Wing Olive hatch on the Provo River. One of things that contributes to this is that river flows are low. When the spring runoff begins in earnest the heavy flows begin filling Jordanelle and Deer Creek reservoirs and are released down the Provo River. May is typically a very high river flow month.

The chart below graphs the amount of water flowing through the Provo River in cubic feet per second (cfs). This chart is from a CUWCD website and shows (right to left) the flows increasing substantially around the first of May and beginning to reduce again at the end of May (the river is running at approximately 600 cfs today).



My last trip to fish the BWO hatch was around April 10th. Flows on that date were only 1/3 of what is flowing today (less than than 200 cfs). That outing we were present for one of the most prolific hatches in recent memory. The fish were actively rising and we presented several versions of BWO flies. No success. We then realized there was also an active midge hatch. We changed to one of my top 10 favorite flies - the Griffith's Gnat - and that made all the difference.

Here are a couple of pictures from that trip:

A shot of "Brad's Hole"

A beautiful Provo River brown trout

A river runs through me...

The Return of Spring: Blue Wing Olives

It's hard to beat spring fishing on the Provo River. Perhaps it's me anticipating all winter the return of casting dry flies to rising brown trout. Perhaps it's the fish anticipating feeding on an active spring hatch. Perhaps it's me remembering the nearly forgotten sights, sounds, and feel of being in the river. Whatever the reason, the late-March to early-May Blue Wing Olive mayflies on the Provo are hard to beat.

My son Mason and I spent a couple of hours recently casting to fish on the Provo on a beautiful spring day in early April. He returns to BYU soon for his final year and we were eager to get in some good spring fishing before he does.

I heralded the return of spring, of course, with a trip to Eddie Robinson's. Barlow directed me to his favorite flies and I bought a generous helping of nymphs, emergers, and drys. (He also reminded me that they clean lines, a trip I have yet to make.)

Here is this year's selection. I wonder why I bother with the nymphs and emergers since it's really casting dry flies (far right) that brings me out in the spring.

This trip was to a stretch of the middle Provo I first fished last fall. I assured Mason we would find eager fish here. While our success was mostly on emergers and we saw no prolific hatch, it proved to be just as rewarding in the spring as in the fall.

Looking northeast to the mountains at the far end of the Heber Valley.

Mason releasing a fish he'll enjoying releasing even more next year.


It's always fun to be on the water. It's even more fun to share it with those you love.


Welcome spring! We've enjoyed winter but it's nice to have you back.

Brown Trout Can Read

On a recent fly fishing outing I worked upstream on a beautiful stretch of the middle Provo. It was a spectacular fall day and I was eager to find trout rising. I had no interest in anything other than dry flies this day. As I turned a corner I could see a fish actively working the surface. As I got closer I realized it was rising on the other side of a barbed wire fence. On the fence hung the following sign:

"With apologies to the many, and because of the actions of the few, no trespassing" (taken at some distance using my cell phone camera).

Apparently I was watching a fish that could read because it was safely feeding on the opposite side of the fence. I reluctantly turned around and found another stretch of water (below - again with camera phone) where, I am happy to report, I found many fish who could NOT read. They were anxious to rise to my #18 Parachute Adams. It turned into a wonderful fall day of catching and releasing beautiful brown trout with golden falling leaves on the river banks all around me.















So what if the river that runs through you also runs through private land as this did? My attitude has always been "there's plenty of water out there so I'll go find another stretch" as I did on this day. While I believe most serious fly fishers are respectful of private property, it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the whole bunch, which apparently was the reason for this sign.

The Utah Supreme Court issued an opinion on July 18, 2008 which recognized that the public has a recreational right to walk the privately owned bed of state waters while participating in legal recreational activities within the waters. The opinion reaffirmed its earlier rulings that the public can utilize the surface of state waters for recreational purposes.

I found an interesting article on the topic which reported "there was some confusion about what constitutes a privately owned riverbed. According to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the easement allows the public to walk on the privately owned bed while engaging in recreational activities that utilize the water. However, the court did not define what a privately owned river bed was in its opinion.

Victor Nelson, co-owner of RoundRocks Fly Fishing in Logan, who was interviewed for the article (and represents another of the great independent fly shops in Utah) said “we’re interpreting it as ‘stay in the water.’ That wasn’t how it was defined, but that’s what we’re advising,” Nelson said.

Sound advice from a responsible fly fisherman. Stay in the water...and look for fish that can't read.

Few and Far Between

Life is so full of great things to enjoy that I'll never fly fish as much as I'd like. This summer has been no exception. The difference is that, though few, the fishing opportunities have been far between. I fished in Utah, Montana, and Alaska. Great experiences all and very different.

One of the things I learned this summer is that when it comes to fly fishing, I feel a lot like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz: "there's no place like home." (The heels I tap together, however, are wading boots - and they're not red). Each time I fish somewhere else I come back to the rivers and streams of Utah with a new appreciation for their beauty, their great fishing, and their proximity to the things I love most - my family and friends.