We arrive at 8:45 AM and found out that our favorite bread place was closed on Sunday. This was an incredibly disappointing as both Matthew and I were drooling for another loaf of Cinnaburst bread. We ate across the street at the Coffee Garden and it was outstanding. I was starting to like SLC quite a bit. We went up to the store and I pulled out our fishing licenses. I realized that Bryce had given Matthew two licenses for the same day (Aug 28) instead of one for the 28th and one for the 29th. It was a good thing that I noticed! We got it fixed, and Bill and I both agreed that the mistake was actually an intentional Yankees-RedSox jab by Bryce.
Bill reported that there was a high wind warning for much of northern Utah and this could seriously crimp our fishing plans. We decided that the whole reason for coming to Utah was to get on the river so we headed out to the Middle Provo. It was indeed windy as we dressed into our gear.
The Middle Provo was in a beautiful spot. It was a much wider river and was running pretty quickly.
Matthew and I got into the groove and practiced our skills from yesterday, and after an hour or so we both got our first strikes on our lines. We walked further down river and noticed the enormous amounts of grasshoppers (fish food) as well as swallows that were dive bombing the river and eating flies from the surface. This was a good sign. Matthew exhibited excellent snack-packing on the river with easy access to Pringles while fishing.
After lunch we hit a big bend in the river and I spotted a beautiful run of quiet water around a fast bend. Here's what it looked like (notice the calm area in the right side of the photo).
I waded out up to my waist and began to cast. Matthew moved downriver with his wet fly. Fish started jumping everywhere and my fly was eaten several times. Unfortunately I was unable to haul one in, and Bill pointed out why my technique would prohibit the catching of any fish. I was so focused on casting that I was not securing the line with my right hand (nor pulling slack line in with my left). Bill jumped out into the river with me to give some pointers.
We spent the last few minutes watching Bill fish that general area and witnessed the playing out of the things he had been teaching us, and he did indeed catch a fish in the same area that I had first seen them jumping. I was lucky enough to be taking a picture right when the fish was hooked.
We sat on the shore after a while and Bill explained the stages of fly growth and laid out six different flies representing the evolution from larva stage to fully mature. I had no idea. We kicked back and laid on the grass chatting about fly fishing until several ants suddenly began snacking on us. We strolled back to the car and bumped into someone who was able to take one last picture of the three of us. This put an end to a great weekend of fishing as we packed up and began the hour-long drive back to SLC.
After saying our goodbyes to Bill Matthew and I had dinner at Iggy’s in SLC where we witnessed yet another Red Sox blown lead against the Rays.
