Yesterday was definitely a “Good Friday” on the ProvoRiver in Utah. Overcast skies made for a prolificBaetis hatch. Cooler temperatures and higher humiditylimited the dun’s ability to dry their wings. Thousands of crippled Mayflies on the water andhundreds of fish feeding on them. I landed manyBrowns in the 16”-20” inch range, a couple Rainbowsaround 16” and a nice 14” cutt. Size 20 and 22 RS2’sworked well. I tiemine very basic; a split tail,grey thread body and a CDC wing. In these conditionsI prefer to fish this pattern with no weight. It wasworking well on top, in the film or below the surface. Although, the bigger fish were caught deeper with alittle weight and a strike indicator. The key tosuccess here is very fine tippet. My strikes were cutin half when I switched to 6x from 7x carbon. My dayended around 3:00 when a massive wind storm blew inthe leading edge of the approaching cold front. Temperatures dropped about 15 degrees in around 10minutes. Cold rain turned to freezing rain and snowand my day was over. Maybe we will get one lastpowder skiing day out here before the resorts close on Sunday?
jason,
real good post and great picture! I enjoyed your pattern-presentation narrative. 7x is mighty thin, but sometimes you just have to go down…I like Kelly’s Crippled duns and spinners and use the bent hook. I’ve seen more than a few trout go away from their feeding lane to snag a cripple. tight lines.
marshallD
Great fish, really was a good friday.