# Taking a River Break



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

As much as I would have enjoyed floating on my tube all day, the river was calling me this week. I live quite close to the Provo and have seriously neglected my neighbor this year.

My plan was to hit the mouth of the canyon, flip some spinners, dunk some worms, and even try out the fly rod if the mood was right.

My fly rod is set up with sinking line and I've never quite felt comfortable enough with my cast to attempt moving water with it. My cast has improved a bit and I figured I could keep my bugs out of the trees, mostly. I'm still a really sorry case with a fly rod, but everyone needs to start somewhere, right?

Parked behind the gas station, I wandered down by the old Deer Creek pumping station and crossed the bridge to find a little "elbow" in the river that always seems to produce for me.










I was very surprised to see the water so low. Casting space was tight, but I was able to strip through the hole a few times without seeing any evidence of fish.

Upstream, I managed to place my bugger right into the wash below a canal diversion and missed an immediate strike on my dropper (egg pattern). Too bad, since it looked like a pretty good fish.

Further up, I missed several hits and lost my dropper, but then I hooked up with my first fish on moving water with my fly rod.










Nothing special, but it made my day, nonetheless.

My goal had been achieved and I lost my leader a few casts later, so I strolled back to the car and got my spinning rig out.

With my size zero Blue Fox under a bridge, I pulled in my smallest trout to date:










Precious. :lol:

Walking up and down the same stretch, I ended up with quite a few browns on a Panther Martin that looks similar to my favorite Blue Fox (Sportsman's was out AGAIN!) before I called it a day. I took pics of a couple:




























It was a short trip today, but I enjoyed myself and it's always nice to wade a river for a couple of hours.

Happy Fishing, Humans.


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## REPETER (Oct 3, 2007)

Sweet fish LOAH. You're really getting into that bugger tossing, good job. :mrgreen:


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Nice report! I know fishing the river wasn't your first choice, but sometimes it's nice to switch things up. I've been getting the itch to do some river fishing as of late. 

Congrats on getting your first fish with the fly rod on moving water. Those are some pretty nice looking Browns, even that little fella. :lol: Awesome job dude. Hope you are able to get back out on your tube soon.


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## Jitterbug (Sep 10, 2007)

Hey Loah! Just curious... did you see many other people fishing that section of river? I fished up above the railroad trestle yesterday and I that place had been getting hammered all day! Nice report!


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

mjschijf-

I've actually caught a fish on moving with a fly rod before today, but it wasn't my rod. Orvis1 let me use his set up early last year and I got a little brown that day.

Jitterbug-

I was at the mouth of Provo Canyon. Are you talking about the Middle Provo in Midway?

I only saw one other fisherman all day and he was nowhere near me.

I was sneaking around in the area of the old power plant.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Oh boy !! Look at the quality of them pictures..?!?! :shock:

Good pic's LOAH !! Pretty fish too !

That one monster could almost swim through that ring you got on your left hand.... :wink: 

Thanks for sharing LOAH, you know I'm mess'in with ya !!


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## Nueces (Jul 22, 2008)

Nice pics. That's always amazing when you hook a fish that isn't much bigger than the lure. The fish have great colors.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Good to see you and the provo still get along but surprised you didn't spend the morning at your nemisis deer creek LOL! Thanks for the pics!


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## Jitterbug (Sep 10, 2007)

LOAH said:


> I was at the mouth of Provo Canyon. Are you talking about the Middle Provo in Midway?
> 
> I only saw one other fisherman all day and he was nowhere near me.
> 
> I was sneaking around in the area of the old power plant.


No, i was talking about the area just up from the Sundance turn off. One of my favorite spots on the LP but must be everyone else's too... at least that day. 

I should try that old power plant spot out sometime. It would be a lot closer for me and if no one else is around then that would be an added bonus. How deep would you say the pools are down there?


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## flyguy7 (Sep 16, 2007)

Olmstead?


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## Jitterbug (Sep 10, 2007)

Nope... up river from Sundance.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

flyguy7 said:


> Olmstead?


Yeah, I didn't call it that because it's not well known to most. "The Old Power Plant" seems to suffice. :lol:

Jitterbug-

I know the area you speak of, but I hardly ever fish the AFL section. If I catch a nice fish (over 15) out of the Provo, I'd like to take it home. Maybe next time I'm on a C&R kick, I'll try up there, although I usually do see a grip of people around there. Turnoffs from the highway are somewhat sparse and the one above that is always packed.

The pools where I was can get really deep. The river splits upstream a little bit and on the Timp side, the flow right now is very light, but the holes are still up past my waist in a few spots. In fact, I didn't fish one stretch that looked really nice because it was almost to the top of my waders and the bank wasn't very walkable. The only way to get anywhere over there would have been to tresspass.


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## Size Matters (Dec 22, 2007)

It looks like you had a awesome day thanks for sharing the pictures.


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## flyfitch (Sep 22, 2007)

Loah, the best way to fish a river with a fly rod is to use a weight forward floating line. Add split shot to the tippet to make your fly sink. It is easier to control how fast and how deep your fly drops. It is also possible then to see your line on top of the water, to be able to see the drag on your line and fly. It will make fly fishing a river much easier and hopefully more succesfull. You can use the same reel, just get a new spool so it is easy to switch between lines. Save the sinking line for throwing streamers on the still water. I hope it helps make the Provo more successfull. I would love to go with you sometime if you need any more pointers.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Thanks for the tips. I'm well aware that floating line is more suitable, I just don't have any.  

My sinking line was part of the reason I hadn't attempted fly fishing the river until now. Just recently, I got to feel the difference between the two lines and the floating has a much lighter feel while casting, I've noticed.


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## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

Dude! Good job on gettin a fish on the streamer, thats a fun way to fish rivers when conditions permit. Good report!


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