Blue Fox Time!

[LOAH]

Needing to stay local again, yet another Lower Provo trip was slated for Saturday's fishing fix.


Armed with both a fly and a spinning rod, I hoped to give the long rod a little workout near Canyon Glen. If that failed, I had my trusty backup, the gold Vibrax, ready to go.


The first hole I tried was the farthest bridge upstream at Canyon Glen Park. The water poured into two deep pockets along either bank and it looked really fishy.


My flies landed where I wanted them, but it didn't seem to matter what bugs I threw, as they were ignored.


Luckily, I had my Blue Fox and quickly rounded up the only fish left in the hole that I hadn't already spooked.





Just upstream, there were some small pockets behind boulders in a faster section and I got a good cast right where it needed to be. Coming in from that was a nice one with deep red speckles.








Not a bad size for the LP, though it was a little on the skinny side.


Just upstream from that was another good sized fish, also looking scrawny.





With every new stretch of river, the fly rod was attempted, but nothing came of it until I placed a hopper/dropper only inches from the bank. With a quick splash, my hopper was gone and I lifted my rod to a thrashing little brown, which only stayed on for a few moments before shaking off.


Doh! It happened again! In all my time on the water, I've still NEVER brought a fish to hand from a dry fly, on the fly rod. Behind a bubble, yes, but never from the whip. There have been several times where I fought a willing fish, only to have them release themselves.


Shameful, isn't it? In my defense, fishing dries is something I rarely attempt, usually stripping in meaty buggers or drifting nymphs. Most of the time, I use a dry as an indicator more than an offering.


Oh well. It'll happen soon enough. Maybe I just need to leave all my other gear in the truck one day and dedicate a "dry or bust" day. I know a great place to get that done.


Back to the Blue Fox, more catches came in. It was a pleasant surprise to have the river to myself, mostly. Very peaceful for a Saturday.





There was one other fisherman that I came upon. He was with his daughter (I assume) and it didn't look as though he was moving around much. Giving him a wide berth, I left the river quite a bit downstream from him and didn't enter again until I was about 50 yds upstream from him.


As I passed them, I asked his daughter if he was catching anything and she shook her head impatiently. That's too bad. He never moved one way or another, as long as I saw him, so maybe that had something to do with it...


Near an old bridge, there was a really good hole that looked promising enough to spend some time at. After several passes with a blue fox, no fish came to hand, but it just didn't seem right to leave yet.


Switching to a Gulp! minnow, I tossed into the head of the pool and slowly worked it back to me and that's when I saw two very nice browns at my feet. These were both over 20", likely 22 or more.


Neither fish acted as if they'd seen me, so I kept tossing to the head of the pool and working the minnow carefully, making sure to keep my body's motion to a minimum. Though the fish didn't spook, they only came to investigate and leave it alone.


Considering that they seemed to swim together and move almost in unison, perhaps they had spawning on their minds rather than feeding. It didn't stop me from trying several other presentations though, all ignored.


Seeing how the Gulp! had enticed the most action from them, I switched back to that and eventually allowed myself to try the next couple of holes upstream.


Another nice brown came from the next spot, but it definitely wasn't one of the hogs I'd been trying for.





It was obvious that those two browns weren't going to cooperate with me, and the evening was coming to a close, so I finished with that stretch and called it a day.





It was a satisfying day and most of my catches had impressive size for that section of river, although they seemed very skinny. They were likely post-spawn fish that just needed to keep on feeding, which I released them all to do.


It was great to get some Blue Fox mojo flowing again. Only a few bites were missed and many willing fish were admired.


Somehow after more than four hours, I had only traveled about a quarter mile from where I originally put in. I guess I just like to work all the possibilities in every stretch.


Happy Fishing, Humans.

[pigburner]

My ticket in the lower Provo was always a Panther Martin, brass blade, olive body with yellow spots. Thanks for the report and pics.