Green River Fishing (August 12, 2011)

A friend and I got to Little Hole parking lot around 5:15 am. It was still dark and we were the first ones to park. We got all of our gear ready and took the upper trail that leads you on a 45 minute hike down section B to Grasshopper Island. We made it to Grasshopper Island a little after 6 am and waded across the river to access the tip. The good fishing waters is from the tip of the Island working the right side bank on down to the bottom. We fished this stretch of water for about 2.5 hours and I caught 17 fish. The fish were all Brown trout but a few and all were under 16 1/2". I was surprised that out of 17 fish not one of them was over 17".

We waded back across the river and started working our way back up river to little hole around 9 am. The Green river is funny that if you are fishing from the banks from 9 am onto 5 pm it is like someone turns the fish catching light switch off. From 9 am - 12:30 pm we continued to fish various holes back up to little hole and I had 5 additional fish on the line but didn't land a single one.

From this experience and many others like it I won't typically fish from the banks between 9 am - 5 pm. Fishing will pick back up from the banks after 5 pm - dusk.

I would really like to know why fishing from the banks dies off between 9 am and 5 pm. One theory is that when the sun comes out and the water heats up the fish move from the middle of the river and work their way to the banks. This is why wade fishing is bad between these times but if you are fishing from a boat you will continue to have success because you can cast out to either bank and work the lure back to the boat primarily catching most of the fish from the banks.

Lower Provo River Fishing (August 24, 2011)

I got up to the Lower Provo River this morning early at around 5:40 and it was still dark. I got my line setup and gear ready and walked down to the fishing hole. It was still very dark and hard to see. I first started with the jig and it was hard to see what I was doing and I casted about 8 times with the jig and caught nothing. I did bring an extra spin rod with a Silver Blue Fox spinner on it so I tried it out. I figured in the dark it would do good because it puts of a vibration. On my first cast I caught a fish. I reeled the fish to the banks near my feet and as soon as it got close to me it came off my line and it was still dark that I never got to see what it was. I continued to cast with the spinner and hooked a fish on my 5th cast and it got off then on about my 8th cast it got snagged on the bottom of the river which I couldn't get undone so I lost my spinner. At this point it was 6:20 am and now it is finally light enough to see the jig so I went to my jigging rod and started again. It didn't take long until I caught my first fish and it was a 16" Rainbow.

I continued to fish and caught a fish right in the middle of the river deep off the bottom. The fish stayed low in the water and wasn't moving much at this point I know that it was a big fish. I started to reel in the fish and he continued to stay at the bottom of the river and held his own as I started to get him closer to the river bank he started to fight. After a little bit of work I managed to get the fish out of the water and it was a really nice 18 1/4" Rainbow.

It was a good morning fishing. Between the times of 6:00 am - 7:45 am I ended up catching 9 fish total (7 Rainbows and 2 Browns).

Lower Provo River Fishing (August 11, 2011)

This morning I went fishing with a friend (Jason) from my neighborhood along with his father (DK) and brother (Aaron). We parked at the river around 5:50 am and with a little bit of training we got on the river with our first cast at around 6:15 am. I was surprised how much colder it is getting in the morning and I can see my breath. The fishing started and ended slow for us. Between me working with each angler and fishing some of my own I was able to catch two fish one nice 16 1/2" Rainbow and a small Brown. DK was able to catch a nice 17" Rainbow and Aaron had 5 on his line but was not able to land them. We were fishing with barbless hooks and it takes some time getting familiar with the technique of how to keep the fish on. The morning was a slow fishing morning but still a good one. I will be heading up the the Green River Thursday afternoon and will be fishing Friday all-day and some on Saturday. Saturday is the Big Fish Challenge Green River event.

Lower Provo River Fishing (August 5, 2011)

I went back to where I left off yesterday. I parked my car at about 5:55 am and started walking down to the hole. This hole on the river looked ideal for jigging. I had a fish hit the jig hard and pulled my tip down I tried to set the hook and release my drag and after doing all of that it was off. I was upset with the fish coming off because I felt from how it hit and ran that it was big. I fished this spot for over an hour and only caught a 10" German Brown. I had 30 minutes before I had to take off for work so I went to a familiar spot on the river and caught 3 fish in 15 mins. I caught one 17 1/2" Brown and two 17" plus rainbows.

I got some good photos and a video of the Brown trout that I caught.

Lower Provo River Fishing (August 4, 2011)

Another morning on the Lower Provo River. I got on the river about 5:45 am and the fishing started out slow. On about my 10th cast I hooked a fish but wasn't able to land it. I continued to fish and hooked another but couldn't bring it to shore. About 15 mins on the river I finally hooked and landed a 17" Rainbow. I continued to fish and caught and landed 2 additional Rainbows between 16"-17".

I started moving down river to some other spots and caught the catch of the morning. This fish fought hard and took the line down river. I walked down the river banks following the fish down so it wouldn't break my line or get away. I caught up with the fish and was able to bring it to shore. This fish was fat with some good length to it. The fish measured just under 18" and I wish I had a scale to measure its weight. This fish got my adrenalin running and was great to catch.

(18" Rainbow and me with a goofy smile)

I ended up hooking 8 fish and landed 5 Rainbows. I packed up and got back into my car and moved down the road. I walked down the trail for about 250 yards and found a really nice hole. I fished this hole for the remaining time and hooked 2 but didn't land any. Maybe next time I get out to fish I will have to ignore my favorite spot and start here first because I know that there will be some great fish to catch here in the future. Until next time, Happy Fishing!

Lower Provo River Fishing (July 30, 2011)

This morning is Saturday and this day I will be fishing with my son (Bryton), a friend from work and his two boys. My friend and his boys are new to river fishing so today I will be their guide. First I worked on teaching them the philosophy and fishing technique of jig fishing. After a little bit of work they all figured it out and started to catch fish. We worked one section for about 2 hours and we ended up catching 10 fish. One of the fish that I caught came as a suprise to me when I saw it was a small mouth bass. I have heard of small mouth bass being in this river but I have never caught one. This is a bad photo but still you can see it is a smallmouth bass from the red in the eye.

(Smallmouth Bass)

We got in our cars and went down to another spot on the river. I specifically brought my friend and his boys to this spot just to teach them how to read river patterns. This spot was a great example of a river seam and I explained to them to look for these seams because fish will be sitting next to them in the calmer part of the river looking into the seam waiting for food to float through. I told them to cast their jig just past the seam into the swifter section on the river and then float the jig down the seam. We stayed at this spot for about 30 mins but didn't catch anything.

We got back into our cars and moved further down river. We fished this new section for about an hour and the fishing was slow but one of my friend's son caught a Brown and I was able to catch 3 Browns. We had a good morning fishing and were able to catch 14 fish total. Even though I spent most of the time working with them and watching their technique I was still able to catch half of the total fish caught.