[:/] My wife and I are going to make a short day trip to the Provo tomorrow. She loves spin casting smaller lakes for trout, and wanted to give the river a try. I used to fish the river years and years ago, and have forgotten most of what I knew then, which wasnt much. I was wondering if anyone could give me some pointers for using spinners in the river. Or possibly some help with types of rigs that we could drift with artificial worms or minnows. What about casting rapalas? Any help that might make her day a little more successful would be greatly appreciated.
The best advice I can give you is to take up fly fishing because it is the most consistent way to pick up trout when they are feeding almost exclusively on insect larvae and it works all year. Rapalas aren’t necessarily a bad choice, but they have to be retreived to go down whether you are using a floating or suspending lure and a countdown will be snagged up or covered with algae when reeled in slowly. The trout won’t be chasing things very far in cold water, as a general rule, so anything you have to move quickly to get the desired depth and action may get some response, but your success may be very limited.
Browns usually go for subtle and natural presentations that match their natural forage, but I have had alot of success using flashy lures in the spring and fall because they feed heavily in anticipation of spring and become really voracious in fall with the advent of the spawn and the need to fatten up for winter. Spinners, spoons, and blade baits produce alot of flash and vibration, even with a slow or moderate retrieve and can entice strikes from fish that mistake a lure for an easy snack when the timing is right, and this is the right time.
Go to Wally World and pick up some 1/8 and 1/16 oz. Blue Fox strobe spinners. They work great when cast across stream near the far bank and reeled in at a moderate pace. The rainbow painted strobes or the brown trout painted lures tend to work equally well for obvious reaons, but any spinner or lure in those color hues seem to work equally well. Don’t be afraid to try a color or presentation that is creative because you just might find out something that I didn’t know.
Super Dupers that are gold or silver with the red tagged golden, or silver, flash tape are also a great choice because they flutter enticingly even with a slow retrieve. Fish the pools and runs in the morning and evening and you will have more success with spinners and spoons. Casting up stream and reeling at a moderate pace can really produce well when all the fish have to do is intercept the lure and you will get more solid hook sets this way. During the bright hours of the afternoon, wet flies (nymphs) work with more consistency when the trout aren’t feeding actively and can inspect offerings very closely. Things that don’t match the flies that they intercept with little effort don’t work nearly as well when they can see everything in detail.
The fish in that river get picked on alot and they will reject anything that isn’t presented correctly because many of them have been hooked and released several times and they gain an education quickly about what’s acceptable for food. Let’s face it; browns are harder to catch than any other trout out there and you’ve got to be on your game if you want to git er done. As long as the water is low, I would stick to 4 lb. test because heavier line can make the fish reject your offering if they can see the line. You can go with 6 or 8lb. line if you are using fluorocarbon because of the low light refraction and limited visibility, but heavier line can affect your casting distance, accuracy, and presentation..
It wouldn’t hurt to have some white maribou 1/16 oz. jigs to cast across stream and bounce over the bottom with an upstream retrieve in the last hour of daylight because these can produce some really nice fish that, I believe, mistake them for small rainbows. Right after dark, try a black maribou jig in the same size with the same presentation and you may be tempted to stay out all night.
Yep, I got talkin about fishin again. That’s the best I can offer and I hope it helps you out. Tight lines![;)]
If you can be the first people on the river/stretch of river you will have a better chance of getting some good action. I like to fish near rocks, logs and of coarse the holes that look fishy. I use #1 or 2 silver on silver blue fox spinners. Rapalas do some damage as well but I dont like loosing $7 lures
and just so you dont get into trouble. you cant fish the provo from I-15 west until the last bridge into the harbor. i like the #2 gold blue fox myself.
Gold ones have produced( out of the weber) my biggest up to date public utah browns. I will use the gold if I either run out of silver or cant even buy a strike. I thing gold is sometimes far better for river browns. Still I start with silver and go from there. #6 yellow with red spotted panther martins work well too. I like the ones that have a silver blade with 3 or 4 lateral red stripes
Good advise guys. I’m not much of a spinner fisherman, but years back I sold a lot of fishing for a local tackle retailer. Some guys in the know would come in and buy one particular spinner by the carton load for the Provo because they said it would way outperformed anything else. It was the Panther Martin PMR-G-6 which is the black body with yellow dots and gold blade in size 6.
Black with gold blade and some contrasting color with enough weight to cast and get it down makes sense to me…
Don’t forget to try tossing that spinner quartering upstream and fishing it back down toward you. Very effective for spinners and sinking rapalas in the deeper spots. It gets it down fast and gives the fish a nice profile view of your lure. I’d also highly recommend crimping down the barbs on the treble hooks making it a lot easier on the fish to release them. Those poor Provo River fish get torn up enough as it is by thoughtless flyfishermen.
Good luck!