Evening on the Provo River - Big Brown

Amid all the chaos there is still solitude to be found. I needed the time on the river to decompress. The job is breathing down our neck and hammering us on a daily basis, but we are still working in the middle of this mess so we count our blessings!

I was headed south to Utah Lake and Provo Marina but it started to look stormy down that way so I turned east and headed for the canyon. I was planning on hitting a spot on the lower Provo that I had fished a lot in the past but hadn't fished in a couple years. I pulled into the Timp park thinking I would just turn around to go to the spot I was thinking of but then stopped and looked at the stretch below Murdock diversion and thought let's try it. I hadn't fished this stretch much and some of it never.

I got on the river and fished a couple decent looking holes and produced nothing. So I moved upriver and threw up under the walking bridge and my spinner no more than hit the water and had a fish on. A nice brown trout. I threw a few more casts into the area and didn't get anything. So I moved into the washout basin of the spillway. A nice shallow pond of calm water with some ripples out the end of it.

I cast for about an hour into the waters and kept getting hits and follows. I had 3 follow my lure right up to me but wouldn't take it. I felt confident so I stayed with the spinner and kept throwing. After watching a number of fish roll and gulp bluewings off the surface I thought I was out of luck and wish I had my fly gear with me. Note to self-put a fly rod in the car. I snagged some debris from the bottom and thought I had another online but no, and cast back out and this time it hit. It hard! When I saw it roll I got excited it was a beast. The lower section doesn't house many quality fish but this one was pure quality. I played it but kept the line tight so as not to lose it. I was fishing my ultralight with 4 lb test line. It gave a good fight but I prevailed and landed it! Definitely the largest I had caught in the lower section. I took a quick pic and released it into an eddy and let it rest there for a few minutes before coaxing back into the current. It swam away with good strength. I had perma grin for a bit after that battle. It was a good evening on the river with only two fish but the one was worth a dozen!