Provo River Return

Provo River brown trout

In my most recent post, I looked back on a cross-country fishing/blogging trek I did with one of my boys 11 years ago. That post reminded me of one of our favorite stops — the Provo River in Utah — and of a brief return to the Provo with my daughter Autumn a couple of years ago.

Autumn and I also made it all the way to the Pacific Coast by car, but our trip was mostly vacation, and the primary objective was to see the world’s largest trees (sequoias), tallest trees (redwoods) and oldest trees (bristlecone pines). We had time for a couple of fishing stops, and the Provo was close enough to a possible route home that I couldn’t resist a return visit.

Good that we stopped. The river was substantially more crowded than it had been nine years earlier, and we struggled a little initially to find decent looking spots where we weren’t stepping in too close to where someone else was fishing. We ended up finding a nice section down a trail, though, and thick-bodied brown trout were plentiful and willing to play I didn’t count, but we caught a lot of trout, and most were good ones!

Trout in the Provo mostly see flies, and our Rebel Tracdown Minnows and Crawfish prompted a lot of action from feeding brown trout.

My experience with Asher on the Trout Trek had been similar. I’m pretty sure we caught more fish and better fish from the Provo than anywhere else on the trip — and in both cases, most fish were brown trout. We also caught most of our trout on Tracdown Minnows. The biggest difference was that he and I had far less competition from other anglers.

I’d first learned about the Provo River from a friend who had gone to school at Brigham Young, which is located in Provo, Utah. The best waters were only a half hour from campus (and some areas even closer), so it was an easy escape for him. At the time, the Provo’s trout-filled waters were largely undiscovered, and the few other anglers who used the he river mostly fly-fished. Like what Asher, Autumn and I found (except to an even greater extent, I’d guess) the trout would readily attack his lures.

The Provo is no longer a hidden gem, but it remains a gem. I’d head that way tomorrow if it wasn’t 1,896 miles from my house!

Utah's Provo River

 

 

Tumbleweed Crappie

Tumbleweed, to me, has always been restricted to cowboy music and Western movies. In Utah, tumbleweed is real, and at Lake Powell, it plays an important part in the fishing equation. There maybe various kinds of tumbleweed. I'm not sure. However, the stuff around Lake Powell, which is actually I kind of thistle, I think, breaks off and "tumbles," in the wind or down the hill, which means it collects along the lake's edge, usually in the backs of pockets, and the fish love the cover it offers.

From a practical standpoint, dropping a jig between tumbleweed clusters or casting to such an edge is little different from fishing around other kinds of vegetation in other parts of the country. From a western adventure standpoint, though, the simple fact that we were fishing around tumbleweed added to the whole canyon thing and only added to the fun factor.

Of course, it didn't hurt that the fish in those areas were big, boldly marked black crappie that were willing to eat our jigs!

Spectacular Lake Powell

Sitting at the boat dock at Lake Powell Marina. Just returned by houseboat from 30 miles up the lake, where I've spent the past few days with a great crew from St. Croix Rod and several other writers.

No ATT service where we were, or I would have posted along the way, although in truth, it's a pretty tough task to even begin to convey how how cool the setting was, with half a dozen deluxe houseboats beached beneath canyon walls. Fishing
days started by stepping off the houseboats, into bass boats. Days ended with big meals and time around a big campfire.

Fishing action was fast, sometimes furious, with smallmouth bass being the main attraction, and in truth exploring the lake would have been worth it on its own if we hadn't caught a fish. I'll talk more about those things in future posts, though.

posted from Bloggeroid

Lake Powell Bound

Long day of travel today, but with quite the final destination. This week I'll be fishing Lake Powell, a canyon lake along the Colorado River that is just upstream of the Grand Canyon and has similar topography. From the photos I've seen, the scenery is spectacular and unlike any other lake I've ever fished.

I left home dark and early to drive a couple of hours to the Atlanta airport. A little after 9:00 I hopped on a plane to fly to Phoenix. That was a four-hour flight and the biggest part of the journey. At the moment I'm hanging out in in the Phoenix airport. I'll hop on a prop plane in a few hours to make a short flight north to Page, Arizona, probably with most of the rest of the group on the trip, and from there we'll ride in some sort of shuttle to the lake.

Upon arriving at Lake Powell Resorts, though, we still have one more ride to take before we're fully there. We should be able to settle as we ride, though, I suppose, because we are staying on houseboats somewhere out on the lake. Of course, I might not care about setting in at that point. I'll likely want to be on the front deck taking in the scenery and taking photos!

No wifi, from what I understand, so I'll be limited to phone posts. Nevertheless, I'll do my best to keep this page and my Jeff Samsel Fishing Facebook page updated.

Stay tuned!