For me, the next best thing to actually fishing is talking about fishing and sharing my experiences. This article is not aimed at providing you with a secret formula that guarantees instant success. Instead it’s a recap of our recent adventure. I wrote it to show you what is possible if you make the effort, plan, move out of your comfort zone and take a chance. For me fly fishing in Utah truly was a life changing experience.
Traveling to the USA
There is an old saying that as anglers we are on a journey searching for fullfillment. Initially we are happy just to catch a fish. Then, we progress to catching as many fish as possible. After that, we want the biggest fish. Finally, we realize that angling is about catching fish the way we want too, on a method that invariably gives us the most pleasure.
It seems the more I travel, the more I want to travel. I love the challenge of new waters coupled with the thrill and excitement of using my skills to target fish in different environments. For me it’s a return to the starting point in my angling journey. I’m happy to just catch “a fish” again.
For many years I’ve wanted to fly fish in the USA. There are so many iconic rivers and lakes. Montana immediately springs to mind as a destination but where do I start and how should I approach it? After all, it’s a state that is actually larger than England. Fortunately I am in a very privileged position and have a number of contacts within the tackle industry who were willing to advise and point me in the right direction.
I was told from a number of sources that although Montana is a great choice, Utah is a somewhat of a hidden gem. This is especially true in terms of stillwater fly fishing. It’s relatively untouched and has so much more untapped potential that would suit my style of fishing. I was sold on the idea, and I arrived with my wife Samantha in Utah mid-July. What followed was 12 days of continuous fishing. We were greeted by a 37c heatwave……this was going be pretty full on and exhausting for us given the conditions.
Fly Fish Food
Curtis Fry of Fly Fish Food provided invaluable advice and assistance from the outset and I cannot thank him enough. He is undoubtably the reason the trip was so successful.
Fly Fish Food is a full service retail and online fly shop. They service fly tyers and anglers with one of the biggest tying and tackle selections in the USA. In fact they have everything to feed your fly fishing addiction. I was like a kid in a sweet shop when I visited their store in Orem. I’ve never seen so many materials all in one place. It truly was a fly tyers utopia and worth the trip alone. The physical store’s address is 932 N State St. 4 Orem, Utah and 275 A. St Idaho Falls, ID 83402.
Curtis is absolutely passionate about fly fishing, he is a kindred spirit as are all the staff at Fly-Fish Food. Not only that, they have an in-depth knowledge of Utah’s waters and their advice is essential should you want to make the most out of any trip. Drop by and get up to date information along with some essential patterns. Honestly, this is the best advice I can give you.
Our first step was to obtain the appropriate fishing licences from Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources. We opted to purchase an annual licence at the cost of $94 each (approximately £75) for “Non Utah Residents.” It’s a simple online process via the following link: Buy a hunting or fishing license (utah.gov). Once you have obtained your licence it permits you to fish literally thousands of Stillwaters and hundreds of miles of river within the state of Utah. Quite simply its an amazing value.
Must Fish Waters
Curtis thoughtfully devised a list of “must fish waters” for us. They ranged from small still waters of approximately 50 acres to the giant and iconic Strawberry Reservoir at over 17,000 acres. That’s some 5 times larger than Rutland Water! The lakes all had different features with some at over 10,000ft elevation. This meant that each venue would present us with a unique and totally different challenge.
I decided that I would initially fish the waters as I would the UK reservoirs. I reasoned that trout are the same the world over. They respond to a food source, water temperature, structure and predators. Curtis informed us that the main food sources found in the Utah Stillwaters at this time of year were damsels, olives, grasshoppers, ants, buzzers and shrimps. He said that I should concentrate on imitating these naturals.
My mind was working overtime and I immediately began formulating a plan. I reasoned that with such hot weather the fish would feed in the margins at first light. Then, they would out into deeper water once the day warms up. I also believed that any waters we fished at altitude would be significantly cooler. As such, the fish will probably feed all day and be more aggressive due to the shorter season. The initial venue we fished was a high altitude alpine lake, situated along Utah’s famous ‘Mirror Lake Highway’.
Reservoir Number One
Starting at Kamas, Utah State Route 150 (Mirror Lake Highway) stretches 42 miles high into the Uinta mountains. It crests at 10,715 feet at Bald Mountain Pass before descending to the Wyoming border. Throughout the route there are multitude of alpine lakes all containing trout. They’re all fishable from the bank or float tube. On arrival I was simply blown away. The water was so picturesque. It was a view reminiscent of those nature programs on the Discovery Channel. I immediately noticed the vast numbers of adult damsel flies dancing over the water’s surface before congregating on the reeds. The hatch was simply off the scale. The surface and reeds were literally a blue haze. Surely the fish must be feeding on the nymphs as they swim towards the bankside vegetation to hatch?
Reservoir Fishing Tactics
After walking the first 50m of bank, the water appeared to be relatively shallow. It had depths of around 3 to 8ft and was crystal clear with visibility of 8ft or more. I could literally see every stone on the lake bed even 30m out. I set up a 9ft 6” #5 weight rod and a floating line with an 2 inch weighted damsel nymph on a 12ft leader of 6.5lb Masterclass fluorocarbon. Then, I began with a fast figure of 8 retrieve interspersed with a few pulls. 45 minutes later I was still yet to have a take or even a follow despite working the bank. I expected this to be easy but I was clearly doing something wrong as there were now fish moving regularly. Clearly they were taking the adult damsel flies as they returned to the water to lay their eggs.
Dry Dropper Fishing
Curtis had already taken a couple of very nice Tiger Trout on a small 1” damsel nymph suspended 3ft beneath a large damsel dry New Zealand style or Dry Dropper technique. My wife had caught on a black diawl bach after targeting rising fish. I was conserving fish stocks and blanking. Best not peak to early I told myself!
After a further 30 minutes I was still fishless, so rather than to persevere with a method that clearly wasn’t working I took off my large weighted damsel nymph and unashamedly copied Curtis by fishing the Dry Dropper technique. It was only then that I began to catch rainbows and tigers regularly. Local knowledge and expertise clearly was the best option in this instance. It was an amazing introduction into the Stillwater fishing that Utah had to offer. We knew immediately this trip was going to be rather special.
Lessons Learned
A couple of days later it was time for us to “go solo” and fish on our own. We had been given invaluable advice and even a practical demonstration on how to catch. But, it was now time for us to explore different waters.
My experiences on that first day led me to believe that the fish in Utah are conditioned to “look up” especially in shallow clear water. I decided that dries on the surface or flies literally just subsurface should be our starting point as the majority of the fish were seemingly feeding in the top 3ft of the water column. This was especially true at first light.
The “Washing Line” method was my second option should the fish be feeding slightly deeper and predating more on nymphs or shrimps rather than dries.
Going Solo
I convinced myself my theories were sound. However waters may fish very differently depending in their individual characteristics and I hadn’t totally ruled out the weighted damsel nymph. On arrival at the reservoir, I again walked the first 100m of bank. Grasshoppers repeatedly jumped up as I walked through the long grass often landing on the water. Adult damsel flies were again evident all along the waters edge clinging to the reeds. It was obvious the fish had a plentiful and substantial food source.
The Double Daddy Setup
I set up a 15ft leader with a 2 fly cast on 7.12lb Masterclass Flurocarbon. On the dropper I put an Orange Foam Daddy, and on the point a Tan Foam Daddy.I prefer generic patterns rather than an exact imitation. I do not want my fly to be identical to the other 10000’s of naturals in the water. I want it to be similar and in the same style but still stand out slightly and pull the trout to the fly. For me the Foam Daddy is an ideal pattern. it has a general “buggy” appearance and profile and could be taken for a grasshopper, damsel or large beetle that has been blown on the water.
The Tan daddy was “treated” with floatant to ensure it held on the surface. The Orange daddy was left” au-natural.” This allowed it to sink after approximately 8 seconds as it was pulled under by the fluorocarbon leader, holding just 1 – 2ft subsurface.
I made my first cast and the action was instantaneous. A fish boiled at my fly before taking it, my over enthusiastic strike meant that I missed it. Further takes followed in almost consecutive casts resulting in two nice cut throat trout around the 2lb mark.The fish would either take the tan daddy within 3 seconds of it landing on the water or in most cases the orange foam daddy when the fly was subsurface some 20 seconds later or so. All I had to do was watch the point fly (Tan Daddy) that was still floating and use it like an indicator. If it moved or dipped under the surface I struck. My wife and I quickly netted 10 cutthroat trout before the area went dead and was seemingly devoid of fish. I’m guessing we had either caught, pricked or scared all the fish in the immediate area.
Where can you find fish?
Location is the single most important factor in fishing. You must find the correct area of the reservoir where the fish are holding in numbers. You cannot catch what isn’t there no matter how good an angler you are or how good your tackle is.
My wife and I began walking the bank, scanning the surface for moving fish. At first light the wind is usually lighter meaning the water is often flat calm. It presents you with an ideal opportunity to locate concentrations of fish. After a 15 minute walk, we arrived at a large bay on the south side of the reservoir. I could see weed beds repeatedly breaking the surface all along the bank some 10 – 90m out creating a labyrinth of channels. It immediately reminded me of the weed beds at the top of Rutland’s North Arm back home.
Personally I just love fishing weed beds. Firstly, because many people ignore them so the water is relatively unfished. Secondly, because they always hold vast amounts of natural food: damsels, snails, shrimps etc. They also offer both safety and shade for the fish.
This area of the reservoir simply had to hold fish. As we watched every 90 seconds or so the water was broken by a tiny dimple, obviously caused by a fish rising, but were these fish even trout ?
Trout Feeding Behavior
Trout feeding in shallow, calm, clear water are highly visible to the angler especially as the sun rises. You can often see the fish cruising just over the weed beds or through the channels confidently taking any food in their path. As we stood and watched we saw a number of large Cutthroat trout swim by us just feet from the weed beds. They were boldly sipping in grasshoppers or damsels before dropping down to a cruising depth of approximately 2ft. I was amazed that such large fish created so little disturbance to the water’s surface when feeding. In the UK the fish tend to break the surface and roll over the food source moving a lot of water. These fish were distinctly slower when feeding almost coming to a complete stop beneath the fly before gently sipping it in from below.
There was a huge temptation to rush in and start fishing immediately. However we waited for a further 10 minutes or so—it seemed like hours—watching the fish feed, establishing their patrol routes, and identifying the perfect ambush point. We identified an area where 2 channels converged and opened out into a distinct bowl of approximately 30m x 30m of weed free water, it should give us enough room to successfully target and play the fish when hooked without getting fouled in weed.
Taking from Our UK Experience
Past experience on the UK reservoirs taught us that numerous casts and an animated angler only do one thing: spook the fish and push them out of reach. Patience and a stealthy approach are key factors to success.
Fewer casts means the fish are not spooked. This in turn requires you to employ a slow or static retrieve. Casts must be within your capabilities. You don’t want to be striving for distance and hitting the water hard, or the cast not turn over. Be stealthy. Let the fish come to your flies and take them confidently. It requires a change of attitude for most of us.
Successful anglers have the same things in common when fishing the weed beds, the depth their flies are fishing at and good presentation. It’s essential your flies remain high in water and display the correct (natural) silhouette.
When fishing shallow weedy areas, I find it best to make a short cast and scan the water to look for any rising fish. Try and establish both the direction they are moving in and the speed they are moving. How quick is the rise? Then make an instant judgement and decide where to place your cast and how much of a lead you give that particular fish. I prefer fast accurate casts with a lead of 3 – 4ft in most instances simply because the fish have such a small angle of vision when cruising so high in the water. You need to put the flies right on their nose to be consistently successful.
Our Approach
We found rising fish patrolling the entire length of the weed beds and through the open water channels. This was a large area of around 800m. An accurate cast followed by 3 sharp pulls and a slow figure 8 retrieve was all that was needed. The sharp pulls caused the foam daddies to “pop” and create an initial disturbance on the surface of the water. The fish felt this disturbance down their lateral line and homed in to the fly to investigate. Invariably, they took.
Heaven Is a Place on Earth
The next 5 hours can only be described as a blur. My wife and I caught a fish or had a take literally every 5 casts or so. Fish after fish engulfed our flies. Once we had caught around 10 fish from an area we deliberately moved a 100m or so. It was our intention to rest the area rather than fish it completely out. It meant that the remaining fish didn’t get spooked and would continue feeding. Then if needed to we could always drop back to these ‘hot spots’ later in the day knowing there were fish there.
This has to go down as the most exciting days fishing I’ve ever experienced in my career. 3lb Cut Throat Trout readily taking dries and charging through the weed beds in bright sunshine and 35c coupled with breath-taking surroundings and not another person in sight. Belinda Carlisle was right when she sang “heaven is a place on earth”.
Fly Fishing in Utah
The fishing on all the waters we were fortunate enough to visit was amazing and varied, yet still challenging. Tiger trout, Brook trout, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Cutthroat Trout were all readily caught by us from the bank with the minimum of tackle. Some of the alpine lakes only had 8 – 14 inch fish in them, which were equally as enjoyable to catch readily taking a dry fly.
I desperately want to tackle these larger reservoirs at either peak buzzer time following ice off or in the fall, just before winter when the larger fish come out to play and have switched onto the baitfish. I’m convinced my ‘Snakes’ would prove impossible for them to resist as they have so much movement.
It’s not a question of will we return, it’s more how soon can we return. I feel we have only just scratched the surface of what Utah has to offer in terms of fly fishing and we can’t wait to get back.
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