Fishing the Lower Provo without flies?

[BHuij]

I'm still having fun throwing tiny midges in various forms at the trout in the Lower Provo right now, but I'm curious if you guys think they would eat anything else at this point? I'm new to the fly fishing thing, and I get tired of embarrassing myself on backcasts after a while... makes me want to pull out the spinning rod instead. If you were going to fish the Lower Provo right now without flies, what would you tie on?
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[doggonefishin]

Simple. Gold Panther Martin or Mepps, size 1. Catch fish all day long.

If you are in the general regs section, fish a worm below a split shot and fish that in the current holes. Work on a drag free drift with your bait for when you are flyfishing in the AFL section. Again, lots of action and the fish are more forgiving with a worm.
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[brookieguy1]

1/16 ounce marabou jig in black or olive on a spinning rod.
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[utwalleye]

Try a cd-5 gold and black rapala, it's been great for me for over 20 years. I used to fish the middle Provo long before jordanelle, back then it was called the upper Provo. I did very well with rapalas, lots of 25in. plus Browns.
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[wagdog]

Looks like plenty of good suggestions have shown up on the thread. Here is another. You can also drift a small jig under a bobber as well. You can think of it as nymphing with a large indicator and size 4 fly if you want. I've done well catching browns with tube jigs and similar soft plastics under a slip bobber.

Another option is to fish with flies with your spinning rig. You can do a double fly rig with a fixed depth bobber, enough split shots to get the flies down, etc. This is a little tougher to fish IMO since you need to mend the line like you would with a fly rod and fly line. It can still be really effective at times.

I always have some Mepps, Panther Martins, or BlueFox vibrax spinners to chuck when I'm harassing the Lower Provo. I'll echo what others said about fishing with bait. If you are in a section where you can use bait, drifting a worm with a split shot to get it down can be really effective or again, tipping your jig with a chunk of crawler never hurts.
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[Papasan]

I have fished Rapala Countdowns for years on the Provo. Throwing them across and upstream 3/4 and then swimming them down by reeling fast enough to have the lure moving faster than the water to create the action. Majority I have caught have been on the swing but retrieving them up along the bank you are standing on can produce results too. I have fished large #9 countdowns and caught many browns over 20 inches. I prefer the rainbow coloring but have caught them on black and silver, and the black and bronze too. I have had good success with Panther Martin spinners in the black body, yellow dots, gold blade configuration.
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[Jedidiah]

Those two lures are my best options on the LP also. Jigging a Gulp minnow in the non-AFL section works well also.
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[Blackellunge]

[left]what a great topic! i'm new to the fly fishing game as well and wondered the same. I've seen so many trout busting the surface and/or turn their noses away from my fly its crazy! -those guys see their share of flies i know. may have to throw a spinning rod in the truck next time.

what is this referring to? non-AFL section ( sorry if its a dumb question but i havent been in utah all that long)
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[wagdog]

I think he might have meant the non artificial lure/fly section. For example, from the Deer Creek dam to the Olmstead diversion dam, you can only fish with artificial lures or flies and the limit is two trout under 15 inches. Different parts of the Provo have different rules so just check before you go. Some areas have the standard rules (lures, bait, flies all legal and you can keep 4 trout any size) vs the artificials only.
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[Blackellunge]

makes sense, thanks wag!
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[Troll]

Work on your roll cast. It is the most useful cast that you can make in tight situations.

The line never goes behind you.
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[BHuij]

I went for it with a few of my CD raps yesterday when they were, once again, ignoring my midges (presented with a fly rod and a spinning rod).

Still skunked, but my only bite of the day came from a CD Rapala in Rainbow Trout pattern. Good to know that flies aren't the only thing they eat this time of year. I think I'll go back next time with more rapalas and waste less time trying to thread 6x tippet through size 22 flies... haha.
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[Blackellunge]

me and a buddy hit the lower yesterday afternoon and had zero success throwing flies as well. only saw a couple fish in the couple hours we were there. - got out early to go watch the Blackhawks once we realized it was one of those days
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[BHuij]

I may have seen you. Were you parked at Vivian?
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