Return to the Home Waters

For most people Christmas is a time to spend with family and celebrate the birth of the Savior.  For most people, that is more than enough.  The problem for me is, my family lives at the mouth of Provo Canyon, and my favorite river in the world is only minutes away.  Winter also brings empty water and midges - two of my favorite things in the world!  This year I was blessed to fish three days on my home water, with two of my favorite people.

Football rainbows.  This is the reason I love the Provo River in the winter.  These sterile rainbows are always gluttonous and fat, but they gorge themselves on brown trout eggs in Noveber, and in December are in prime condition! 

 Friday, December 20, 2013 - The Lower Provo River

For my first day on the water, I convinced Dad to go with me.  Although I see the fly-fishing spark returning in Dad to some extent, due to some health problems and general sissiness, he gets cold REALLY easily.  It took some convincing to get him out the door, but in the end, I think he's glad that he came along.

We headed to a spot where I knew there were fish and it would be easy for two of us to work close to each other.  I got Dad's gear ready, stuck him in the heart of the honey hole, and on his second cast he was hooked into a small brown trout.  This could be a good day!  We continued to catch fish sporadically.  The fishing was never fast, but never got so slow to bore us.

Dad wrestling in his first fish of the day - it didn't take long!

Eventually Dad set the hook on a fish that both of us knew immediately was nice!  He yelled at me to get the net, so I hurried downstream to help.  "I did that just right," Dad said.  "I set the hook at the first hesitation of the indicator, and he hasn't had an ounce of slack yet - we've got to get this one!"  The big rainbow fought valiantly, wanting nothing to do with me or my net.  About the time Dad started complaining about his forearm getting tired, the fish must have felt the same thing, and Dad was able to coax him into my waiting net.

Dad's big rainbow (same from top picture in post).  Dad was justifiably pretty stoked with this fish.  He claimed that it was the biggest rainbow trout in the whole Provo River System - a statement that I disproved only days later!

Eventually Dad got too cold and took to the bank to warm up.  We made a move downstream, and then his cell phone rang (one problem with fishing so close to town).  Apparently Professor Morris was late for a Master's thesis defense he was supposed to be attending, and our fishing day was over.  Although it was cut short, it was a great day, with lots of great memories and a few nice fish!


My biggest fish of the day.  It stinks being outfished by the old man!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

The next day I was able to fish with Cheryl.  This was only the second day she had been fishing since we had our little girl in March.  The weather was warmer, but it snowed the entire day.  The fishing was similar: productive, but nothing to rant and rave over.  We did catch a bit more variety, with both of us landing at least one brown, rainbow, and whitefish.  Cheryl was working on catching the "cute" fish, while I caught some of their older, bigger siblings! 

Pretty girl with a pretty brown.

Growing up in Utah I took browns for granted - their beauty, their size, their aggressive nature.  Now, I cherish the opportunity to catch a wild brown trout, regardless of its size.

Ugly dude, ugly rainbow - but hey, we're both keepers!  (Not technically true, the fish was released!)

In our day to day lives, it seems that Cheryl and I don't have lot of time to connect.  When we get free time together we often talk about the kids, finances, the calendar, etc.  It was really fun to be out on the river and just have some fun.  We talked nearly the entire time - about nothing.  We smiled, we teased, and just when we'd get bored or cold, we'd catch a fish!  Although I love our kids immensely, I miss one on one time with Cheryl.  As much as I look forward to family trips, I also look forward to time spent with just the two of us.


Cheryl trying to keep warm in the snow.  Yes, she wore those big gloves all day!

The smaller of my two whitefish.  I really appreciate catching them.  The other one was even bigger, a beautiful 18 incher.

Are you getting the idea that we caught a lot of nice rainbows?

Tuesday, December 24, 2013  Provo River

For some reason no one wanted to come with me on Christmas Eve!  Time to fish solo - time to fish hard!  As I passed the fifth car off the road in a two mile stretch of highway, I was starting to question my sanity.  I arrived to the parking lot without incident, however, and from there on the day was great!  The fishing was slower than the previous days, but the size of the fish more than made up for it. 

The big fish for the three days - an 18.5 inch football!  What an amazing fish!  The photos don't do the girth justice!

It will be a while before I forget how the pig above introduced himself to me.  He gently took the fly in the middle of the run.  As I set the hook he slowly came to the surface, giving me some strong head shakes half out of the water.  Then he put his head down and ran upstream to the far bank.  Two things immediately ran through my mind, "Oh S*%#, and yeah baby!"  The fish fought like a champ, and I felt honored to admire and gently release him.

With the shape of some of these fish, I'm not sure they weren't crossbred with largemouth bass.  Chunky, chunky!

It was a wonderful day.  The sun came out, the temperature was actually above freezing, and I caught four beautiful rainbows over 18 inches.  What more can you ask for?

Arsty fartsy close-up head shot of the fish above, doctored up a bit extra to make it pop.  I think rainbows are the ugliest trout species, but there are definitely some pretty ones!

I caught the fish below on my last cast of my trip home.  It was early afternoon, and I had to head home for a family Christmas Eve party.  I was fishing a slow, deep run.  When I set the hook I felt weight, and the fish slowly drifted up to the middle of the water column.  The first thing I saw was an open white mouth as the fish gave his first head shakes trying to dislodge the fly from his upper lip.  The sowbug was not about to relinquish its hold, however, and after a valiant struggle I netted my final fish of the trip.  Provo River, I'll see you again soon!

Last fish of the trip.  What a great way to end it!