[4sallypat]

This trip was a short week to attend the University of Utah freshman orientation for my kid in SLC.

Got to fish 2 days - Provo and Weber - see pictures below.

Day 1: found a fly shop in SLC: Western River Fly Shop - they got me the correct flies for the fish (sowbugs, leeches, worms) for the area. Spent way too much money on other things too but since they support the local rivers, why not! They have an excellent up to the moment river conditions report in store!

First day on the Middle Provo - super high 1400cfs flows impossible to wade so fished on the edge of the river wearing a PFD just in case since 4 people have died this summer on the Provo.... Water was cold and fast!
Found one small rainbow and a moose. Very few people on the Provo due to the high flows - the few that I did run into were guides w/ clients.

Day 2: hired a local SLC guide (Kennie Garcia of SaltLakeFlyFishingCo.com) and drove me to the lower Weber river near Morgan - 380cfs still moderately high flow. Managed to hook into a lot of monster browns. Landed about half of them. All were over 13" sized - one was 20". Used the guide's rod: Sage VXP 4wt 10' single hander - was a hoot trying to land these angry monster browns.
After a yummy streamside lunch provided by Kennie, went to catch carp on the fly. Found a flooded grassy plain off the I-80 freeway and chased these poor man's bonefish in the weeds. Caught one in less than hour of sight fishing.
Finally ended the day with the middle Weber river flowing at 330cfs. Using the famous "Provo bounce rig" we were looking for browns but found a bunch of whitefish where browns were supposed to be. Guide says sometimes the browns move on while whitefish take over the pools & buckets. Fished it with my trout spey 4wt 12' - lots of fun on a switch rod. Took home 5 whitefish in an hour for the BBQ smoker.

Middle Provo river @ Cottonwood access point - 1400cfs raging super fast river:

Moose on the middle Provo:

My guide took these pictures.
Lower Weber river hooked into over 20 fish, landed about 10+ but I stopped counting and photos after the first 5 that wore my arm out....

Look at the bend in the 4wt rod:

Hunting for carp in the Weber river flood plains near Coalville, UT:

Carp on the fly!

Wet wading in the warmer waters made it nice not to wear waders in summer!

Middle Weber river mountain whitefish for dinner:

My guide: Kennie showing off catching a brown on the middle Weber while I fished with my 2 hander.

A very good trip indeed.
Thanks to all who answered critical questions on my prior posting before I got here....

 

[Adam Saarinen]

Nice! I'm a fan of the whitefish! Wondering if they are the same over there as here, very small mouths & soft too? We get a whitefish run in our local river at the start of winter, in moving water it's normal to hook 10 & only land 1! Beautiful fish straight from the sea, pure Chrome!

 

[Adam Saarinen]

Whitefish straight from the sea!

 

[4sallypat]

Nice! I'm a fan of the whitefish! Wondering if they are the same over there as here, very small mouths & soft too? We get a whitefish run in our local river at the start of winter, in moving water it's normal to hook 10 & only land 1! Beautiful fish straight from the sea, pure Chrome!

Appears to be very similar in the salt.
Whitefish are interesting, when hooked they run downstream opposite of trout so it's an interesting way to tell even before you land them.
They fight well and are well and are just as feisty for their size.
Anglers call them "whities".
I do know that whitefish in freshwater means that the water quality is healthy.
Whitefish are considered nuisance fish here by most anglers but they indicate that the river or lake system is clean because these fish will not survive in dirty, unhealthy waters.
The Japanese call it "Ayu" which represents the summer's tastiest fish in all of Japan's freshwater rivers.
I just love the clean taste of these fish that no one seems to admit....

 

[landlocked]

Nice report!!! I like that area of the Weber. For years had an access point I called 2-Horses, for the same 2 nags they put in the summer grazing pasture every year. Must be different owners now. But, cool you hit those runs and stretches of the river. Utardia has a bunch of great fishing opportunities outside of the Green and Provo. Been here 15-years now and still finding those gems! Thanks for sharing! Yuk...carp!

Edit...should have convinced your kid to go to WSU, then bought a driftboat to plaster with Coug stickers. Goes over well on this board!

 

[4sallypat]

Going back next month - hoping the Middle Provo flows will be wadeable.....

Definitely hitting up the Weber again for more monster trout - bringing my brand new G Loomis 5wt trout spey rod for some dry action!

 

[Jay Burman]

Wow! Great trip!

 

[buckdur]

Hi 4sallypat, nice pics. PM me if you would like more ideas and places to explore around SLC.

 

[Richard E]

Whitefish are interesting, when hooked they run downstream opposite of trout so it's an interesting way to tell even before you land them.

To me and my experience this is somewhat of an urban myth. They typically aren't as "zippy" as, say, a rainbow, but I've had whitefish in MT jump and do pretty darn good impressions of trout...whitefish have many times turned a slow day into a really fun fishing day!

 

[4sallypat]

To me and my experience this is somewhat of an urban myth. They typically aren't as "zippy" as, say, a rainbow, but I've had whitefish in MT jump and do pretty darn good impressions of trout...whitefish have many times turned a slow day into a really fun fishing day!

Coincidentally, I am planning on a trip to MT next month.
Does that Missouri hold whitefish because if the trout aint' bitin' then I would love to have it become a fun day with whities....