Big Dries on Strawberry Reservoir

Fishing Time: 8:30 am to 6:00 pm

Weather: Clear, windy the entire day, T-30s

Moon Phase: 12% Moon

Best Bait: Spinning Rod: White tube jig on ¼ oz jig head tipped with worm. Fly Rod – Chubby Chernobyl with bionic ant trailer.

Who Went: Chad Fuller, Stuart, Dunc

I’ve been itching to get to Strawberry to try tossing a dry fly around.  My cousin and his buddies have been doing it with success and it sounded like a blast to watch the big cutthroats come up and slurp up your fly.

Chad has been bugging me to take him up there, so we made the trip happen late in the year.  His brother in-law Stuart joined us.  We launched on a snow-covered ramp on the Soldier Creek side and the lake was glass.  Seemed like it was going to be an epic day.  20-minutes later a stiff breeze kicked up and didn’t stop the rest of the day.  We found a few canyons in the narrows to hide from the wind and one rocky point was on fire casting tube jigs into deep water and slowly letting them drift back to us.  It was too windy to use the fly rod, but we had fun catching a bunch of cuts and rainbows.

We finally found a small bay where the wind couldn’t get us and I pulled out the fly rod.  Within minutes I saw my first submarine come from the depths toward the shore where my dry fly was sitting waiting.  It was awesome to watch the big cut slurp up the big dry fly.  I was lucky enough to land five big cutts on the fly and now I’m hooked.  I will definitely be doing that again in the future.

When the sun slipped behind the mountain it got cold and the snow covered ramp we left in the morning was pure ice.  It was a bit scary as we couldn’t pull the boat up the ramp and the truck would just slide around on the ramp.  With a little ingenuity and dirt and gravel we were able to get out of there with the boat!  Cold but fun trip!

Midge Hatch on the Provo River

Fishing Time: 7:30 am to 1:30 pm

Weather: Partly cloudy, Cold, T-20s

Moon Phase: 82% Moon

Best Bait: midge pattern

Who Went: Roger Parks, Hyrum, Dunc

Roger and I made plans to hit the river and I was excited to dust off the old fly rod, but when he called to say his buddy, who is a fly-fishing guide, was coming as well, I wasn’t thrilled.  I envisioned a snooty fly guide that may not see eye to eye with my style of fishing.  I was wrong.

Hyrum was a stud and he taught me a lot about fishing the Provo.  He fishes the river weekly and knew every bend like his backyard. The morning was extremely cold and to be honest it was all I could do to keep casting and stripping that freezing cold water through my hands.  At one point I put my hands in my pockets and sat and enjoyed the amazing views in Provo Canyon and turkeys walking through the campground.

It turned into a beautiful day when the sun came out and Hyrum and I found ourselves on a deep bend with a midge hatch just beginning.  It was incredible to see how many fish were surfacing and some of them looked like really nice fish!

Hyrum hooked me up with a midge pattern dry fly and totally went into guide mode teaching me the ways of the fly.  Sounds annoying, but it felt like I was fishing with my buddy not a guide.  We caught some nice fish and had a blast.  The only annoying part of the day was me having to be home that afternoon for a commitment.  I didn’t want to leave!