On March 26, 2013 I guided a savvy angler, Russell from Banchory Scotland. I took him to the middle Provo River. Russell had never been fly fishing in Utah before. He is from a small town approximately 20 miles west of Aberdeen. Aberdeen is adjacent to the world famous, Atlantic Salmon fishery, the River Dee.
On Tuesday morning it was quiet on the river when we arrived at nine a.m., at which we were able to lock in a great piece of water. Until now, the trout fishing he had done was with a dry fly or Chech style nymphing. Due to Russell's salmon fishing roots, he had never used an indicator. No problem, he picked it up very quickly. After landing eight fish on the nymph rig and loosing a few more, the fish started to show their noses, we switched to the dry and Russell found himself right at home. The light was flat at first, but once the sun began to cooperate, Russ started lighting them up! The most successful rig was the double hackle stacker (DHS) midge cluster with a thread midge for a dropper.
After countless fish on this set up we moved to the head of the hole, where the water was much faster. A little more weight was required, so we finished off the day with a shallow nymph rig. Using the same thread midge with a Baetis pattern. This killed it in the fast water.
Russell was blown away by the quality of our trout and he couldn't believe we could catch that many fish, in a single hole, without having to move! Russell has made annual trips to the area to snowboard and for other winter utah recreation, but I am confident he will be back to fish again. -Jeremy Rogers
