Utah Fishing Report 3/24/11

I caught small browns fly fishing on Hobble Creek.

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Spring Fly Fishing
I was having fun catching small browns in lower Hobble Creek when my phone started to vibrate. It was an email from a needy client seeking immediate attention. Stupid smart phone! My 2-hour lunch break turned into a 1.5 hour break. But it was still fun to get out.

That's how it is for me with spring fly fishing. I watch the weather and seize opportunities. From my home in Springville, I can be fishing any of several waters within 10 minutes.

The flows at Hobble Creek were surprisingly high. The day was cool and stormy, but the stream was running high. The water was clear and fishing was good, but it wasn't the small stream you find on summer excursions.

I saw a few midges in the air but nothing on the water's surface. I ran a midge along the film anyway, hoping for an opportunistic brown. Nope. I enjoy dry fly fishing more than nymph fishing, but I wanted to catch a fish and so I was starting to change to a nymph when an question came into mind. Will browns take dead adult flies just under the surface?

I'm no entomologist, but I know a little about the stages of an insect's life. Fly fishermen often use nymphs and emergers and adult dries, and sometimes spinners. But how about the full adult pattern fished as if it were dead, suspended under the surface?

I pinched on a single split shot, allowed the midge to drift along a seam, and quickly had a nice strike. Interesting. I had fished the surface of that hole for 10 minutes with no success. I retraced my steps, fishing holes where I had not had a bite, and had strikes in most of them.

I don't know if results would be similar for other patterns, but today, that midge pattern worked well just under the surface.

The Small Streams
I really enjoy fly fishing Utah's small trout streams. That's my second favorite activity, ranking just behind fishing for boiling stripers at Lake Powell.

Small streams usually produce small trout, although I occasionally catch a nice one. But the large number of cooperative fish makes up for the size deficit. On the Green and Provo, anglers stand almost shoulder-to-shoulder and feel lucky if they catch only a fish or two, while I fish in solitude and catch 10 or 20 or 30.

Right now is a great time to work our streams, large and small. We have a window of opportunity before runoff sets in. When will runoff come? Nobody knows, but we will probably have 3-4 weeks of decent flows before they shoot up.

The changeable weather this time of year makes it difficult to play long trips. I really want to fish some small streams in southern Utah, but not during a snowstorm. Hopefully, I'll get down there during the next week or so.

- Dave

FishBytes is sponsored by WebbStuf.com, specializing in Utah website development.

Fly fishing is now becoming good on our major streams. Midge hatches are strong and we are now also getting some Blue Wing hatches. On the Green River, Blue Wing fishing will probably peak during the first or second week of April, and will stay good until heavy runoff hits in mid-May.

These Mayflies hatch most prolifically on overcast days. Fishing can be very good on days when a storm is threatening. Take care though. Many streams are a little high right now and can become very high in a hurry if we get much rain.

Western Rivers Flyfisher has a good video showing surface-feeding fish on the Green. See it here.

Sometimes it is hard to tell if fish are taking the tiny flies off the surface, or the emerger form just below the surface. A dry/dropper combination works very well at this time of year. See our articles on fly fishing the Green River.

The annual Utah Walleye Fishing Seminar will be held on March 29, in the Department of Natural Resources auditorium, 1594 W. North Temple in Salt Lake City. A DWR news release last week gave the wrong date.

Walleye fishing continues to spotty at Utah Lake and Willard Bay. The spawn will now be winding down. Many anglers focus on the spawn because fish are relatively easy to locate as the congregate near spawning areas. But walleye don't feed much when they are actively spawning. Some of the best walleye fishing of the year occurs a week or two after the spawn, as the fish return to normal haunts and begin to feed aggressively.

More and more trout reservoirs and opening up and they are providing good fishing.

At Lake Powell, striped bass are starting to feed aggressively. Striper fishing is good now and it will get better and better during the coming weeks. See the weekly report by Wayne Gustaveson. Gustaveson expects fishing to be very good at Powell this year. In fact, in this article he say this may by Lake Powell's year of the angler!

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