Park City Fly Fishing

www.simplyfishingutah.com Park City Fly Fishing Part 2 The first blog entry for Park City fly fishing focused on the Provo River. This entry will focus on the Weber river. The Weber is a short 15 minute drive from Park City. The Weber River rises in the northwest of the Uinta Mountains, at the foot of peaks including Bald Mountain, Notch Mountain, and Mount Watson. It passes by Oakley, and fills the reservoir of Rockport Lake, then turns north, receiving the flow of major tributaries Silver Creek and at Coalville, Chalk Creek. Coalville is also at the upper end of Echo Reservoir; Below the reservoir, the river passes Henefer, turns more westerly, and then passes Morgan, where it receives East Canyon Creek. Issuing out of the mountains at Uintah at the mouth of Weber Canyon, it turns north again where it is joined by the Ogden River west of Ogden. The combined stream meanders across mostly-flat land, entering mud flats near where it empties into the Great Salt Lake, contributing about 25 percent of the total water entering the lake. Among the fish to be found in the river are brook trout, brown trout, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout (which is stocked), and mountain whitefish. To hire one of the best Utah fly fishing guides, to fish this Park City fishing hole give us a call! Park City fly fishing part 2

Provo River Fly Fishing Report/Park City Fly Fishing

Fished the lower today. The fishing was good but not great like last week. All of the fish came off of a zebra midge size 18 in dark brown. All of the fish came on the swing which has been the most effective for us the past 2 weeks. Swing a midge emerger or soft hackle 18 inches above a zebra midge.. Pumped a stomach today and it was surprisingly full of cased caddis’ size 18. Fish the deeper holes the fish are very concentrated in them. I saw hundreds of fish in one hole. The fish will start to move out of those deeper holes when the blue wings start up in a couple of weeks. I saw one BWO come off today just one. Also look for the buffalo midges to get going soon. The rainbows will be spawning pretty soon on the lower and on the lower part of the middle. The fish love egg patterns during this time just like fishing in November for the brown spawn. Park City fly fishing Utah Fly Fishing Guides

Provo River Fly Fishing Report/2-22-12

The lower Provo River is fishing very well right now, the fish are eating!  The game has been all about midges and midges only.  The fish are still stacked in their wintering holes.  The last two days we have been fishing the lower Provo to pretty fast fishing.  The fly we have been using is a zebra midge in dark brown size 18.  The fish are continuing to take the fly on the swing.  In fact out of the 20 plus fish landed on Tuesday only two came on the natural drift and the rest on the swing.  The strikes have been just at the moment it starts to swing across the river.  We saw one blue winged olive on the water which excites us!  Probably about two weeks away from some decent hatches.  Personally March is my favorite time to fish the Provo due to the awesome dry fly action and the incredible nymphing. Park City fly fishing Utah Fly Fishing Guides

Provo River Fly Fishing Report/Park City Fly Fishing

The lower is fishing well if you can get to the river.  There is a lot of snow and access is limited.  The easiest places to fish are where the train tressel crosses over the river and near the tunnel.  The fish are taking midge patterns in darker colors like brown and black zebra midges, ju ju midges, brassies and serendipities.  We are still a month away from the blue winged olive hatch but we have actually been doing better on baetis patterns like the shoner and the Barbara Walters which are Simply Fishing originals.  We do sell them if you want to give us a call.  The pheasant tail, peach glo bugs and sow have also been very productive.  There are some nice hatches coming off in the early afternoon and mid day, a size 22 griffiths gnat is best if you want to dry fly. Park City fly fishing

Park City Fly Fishing

Park city is famously known for two things; skiing and the Sundance film festival.  What a lot of people don’t know when they come to visit Park city is the amazing fly fishing to be had.  We boast one of the best fly fishing rivers in America.  With it only being a short 15 minute drive from Park City to the world renowned Provo River it’s a no brainer to not add that to your list of to-do’s.  We at Simply Fishing have taken scores of clients to fish this blue ribbon (up to 3,000 fish per mile) stream.  I will tell you we haven’t had one trip where the client wasn’t impressed by the pure beauty of the river and the amazing fishing that it produced.  The Provo River is broken up into 3 sections the lower the middle and the upper.  We guide mainly on the lower and middle parts of the Provo.  The lower is our personal favorite due to the average size of the fish.  The lower boasts a healthy population of brown trout, rainbow trout and mountain whitefish.  It is not uncommon to catch a 20 inch brown trout while out on the river but the real bruisers are the rainbows.  We landed several 5 pounders this last season.  The middle part of the provo is a far better dry fly fishery than the lower.  The majority of the fishing on the lower will be nymphing and the middle part about 50/50.  The middle has more consistent hatches and generally more intense than the lower.  The fish on the middle are significantly smaller in average size but are easier to catch than the lower.  Depending on what kind of fishing you want to do we have solutions for all types.   For those that don’t know the area well their isn’t much Park City fly fishing to be had in the actual town but their are many opportunities close by.  The Weber River is only a stones throw away from Park City and boasts some of the biggest browns in the state if not the biggest.   If your willing to drive an hour and half we also have some hidden gems that you are likely to not see another soul.  We won’t tell you the names of those bodies of water as to not anger the fly fishing community but we will definitely be glad to take you there.  If you’re are looking to do some Park City Fly Fishing give us a call and we’ll show you an epic day on the bodies of water we mentioned in this post! www.simplyfishingutah.com

Florida is two days away! Provo River Fishing Report.

Hooked from a canoe 300 yards from Shore and fought from shore.  Hour and fifteen minute fight!

Hello people who love to fish!  Over 300 people read my last blog, which I always think is weird.  I'm not a blogger, just a fisherman who writes about my adventures.  In 72 hours I will be in Naples, Florida going to bed to awake to a 3 hour ride to the Florida Keys.  Tom and Eileen, his insanely funny wife will welcome me to their humble home in Naples, Florida for the 3rd time in 2 years.  I fell in love with Florida in February of 2010. If you love fishing and have never been to Florida then cash in all of your 1980 Bill Laimbeer  rookie cards to get there!  Briefly the goal is to get a Tarpon, Redfish, and an 8 pound Lake Okeechobee bass.  Last year I caught an 8 foot 200 plus nurse shark at Clam Pass in Naples Florida., so sharks aren't a must have.  I'll be taking HD footage of the 12 day adventure as well as lots of pictures.  We will post our trip on our youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/WeAreSimplyFishing?feature=guide

Provo River Report 2/20/12

 Fly fished the Provo River on Saturday the 18th.  The conditions were extremely warm and delightful.  Arrived at 12:30 to a slight breeze and 45 degree temps.  I met Zach my partner with Simply Fishing as well as my Dad.  We fished at Vivian Park because of the easy access for my Dad.  We started fishing at 12:50 after getting set up.  I started with a bounce nymph rig with the top fly being a size 18 copper john and a trailer size 20 sow bug.  I immediately hooked up on 3 fish below the bridge at Vivian to quickly lose them.  It went dead for the next two hours.  We were fishing holes that had been fished by 2 or 3 fisherman that day.  It was terrible to be honest, caught one and hooked 7 that I didn't get to the net.  I was using a size 20 sow and the hook was not as exposed as I like, therefore contributing to the low hookup to land ratio. Zach and my Dad left after an hour, so I fished for another hour near Vivian and then headed down the canyon.  I stopped at Murdock diversion dam 1 mile up Provo Canyon.  The dam was drained and was running at about 85 cfs below the dam.  I fished the spillway and dominated.  I landed 5 fish in a half an hour window and hooked up on 10 total.  I caught 2 whitefish, so ugly and smelly.  All the fish came on the sow bug.  None of the fish all day touched the copper john.  The fish were modest with the biggest coming in at 16 inches.  Well our new website launches March 15th so check it out at www.simplyfishingutah.com

Sincerley, Simply Fishing

Park City fly fishing

Catching rainbows through the ice with wooly buggers.

Caught this 15 inch rainbow on a purple wooly bugger.  I did not tip it with bait, pretty exciting!

Simply an Insane Day on the Ice 

Today I decided to work a half day, actually an hour, so 1/12 of a day.  I have been ice fishing only for a couple hours this year.  I needed to get out and bring a fish through a 10 inch ice hole.  I read a report last night that Deer Creek was hot near the mouth of the Provo River (Charleston), and I wanted to capitalize on the fishing before the ice melted.  We arrived around 1:00 to bright sunny skies.  The temperature was around 45 degrees!  We started to walk out on the ice to our spot.  The ice was shady and kind of risky.  It snowed last night so all the holes from yesterday were walking ice traps.  It was so warm that the holes never froze and were land mines that put my brother through the ice (one leg).  We had a short hike, only 100 yards. Our rods were already rigged from last week, so we tipped our jigs with meal worms.   

2 inch tube jig with meal worm.  Notice the pressure ridge in the background, very dangerous.  The people  who know me know that I'm a gambler if there is a reward to be had i'll take the chance.

Rhys Cooper with a 16 inch rainbow trout.

There were holes already drilled from earlier that day,so we dropped our jigs down about 15 feet in 18 feet of water.  The action was insane the first 15 minutes, 5 fish.  After 45 minutes and 12 fish, our friends showed up to join in the insanity.

We explained to them how hot the fishing was, and then it shut off.  It's always great fishing before someone arrives, building the confidence of the latecomer,  for it to turn completely cold.  The cold streak was too long (20) minutes, until Devin hooked his first fish.  I have never seen a bass setting hook set like his!  Insane, I was laughing so hard.  At one point he tried setting a hook so hard he completely brought his jig out of the water, and almost hooked his head.  The group of us continued to catch fish after fish, the boredom set in for me.  I get bored if the fishing is easy, so I decided to not tip my bait and put on a purple beadhead wooly bugger.  The idea of fly fishing below the ice with out the help of bait was exciting.  It wasn't long after I put it on, that I had a fish on and to might delight it had taken the wooly bugger.

I ended up catching 2 more on the wooly bugger.  I really wanted to put on a chironomid fly but was too lazy.  We fished until 5 and our  total between 4 people was around 40 fish.  The biggest was around 17 inches.  With the majority of them in the 12-14 inch class.  Great day and very warm, my kind of ice fishing.
Look for my Florida report soon.  Headed out to fish for Tarpon, Shark, Snook, Redfish, and 25 other species.  The trip will be a 12 day one, so lots of pics and video footage to come. Our new website simplyfishingutah.com will launch March 15th!

Sincerley, Simply "slippy sloppy dippity do" fishing.Park City fly fishing