Entomology 101

by Steve Schmidt

Saturday couldn’t have been a more beautiful day to put the finishing touches on our annual entomology class.   After a Friday evening of breaking down the various insect families and their respective hatches that are important to us in Utah and the west we took to the Middle Provo River for a morning of seining and linking some of Fridays discussion to the real thing.

After last years incredible water year it has been very obvious that our trout streams have benefited significantly.  The Provo River and most of our western waters are all better off and in tremendous shape as a result of the great flows we’ve had over the past few years.  One way we can tell is  by the fat and sassy trout we’ve been catching during our early season.  The other, our trout streams healthy biomass. We’ve held this class for over twenty years and I’ve seen this and other rivers over those years change rather significantly.   This year was no exception.

Over the past few years thanks to some very favorable conditions our Utah and western waters are in excellent shape.   After our first seine sample in this years class it was very evident that we are in for a fun year.  By the end of our class  everyone was pretty amazed by what they saw.  To say they had their eyes opened might be a good way to phrase this Saturday mornings session.

As you can see by the accompanying photo there were plenty of Green Drakes, Golden Stoneflies, PMD’s, Caddis and Craneflies.  We even got a fat juicy Sculpin or two.   Although the Provo River in general is a very rich fishery,  I’ve never seen it so rich in aquatic insect life.

As the summer unfolds hopefully we’ll enjoy a nice cool summer and the heat we often get refrains from impacting our summer aquatic hatches.   From what we have already experienced this year you should set your hatch clock a few weeks ahead of schedule compared to the last couple of years.  Given water levels and the warm winter everything is going to start earlier.   Everyone who took our bug class saw this first hand.

We’ll again hold this class in may of 2013.  If you’re interested in having your fly-fishing world opened up, and learning more about what makes the game of fishing with flies so much more fun, join us.   For more photo’s from the class, check out our Face Book page.

Upcoming Fly-fishing Classes

Fly-fishing classes have already started at Western Rivers Flyfisher with our first Winter Fly-fishing Class that took place in February.  Next up, is Early Season Fly-fishing Tactics.  This class will be held over the evening of March 15 and again the morning of March 17.  It will focus on hatches, patterns, techniques, reading water and the waters we fish in the early season.  For more information on this class go here. This class is $50.00/person.

Next up we have our annual Women’s Fly-Fishing School.  We are fortunate to have our good friend Molly Semenik: Montana Licensed Fly-fishing Guide, FFF Master Fly Casting Instructor, teach this class.  The class begins April 27 at Western Rivers Flyfisher.  This is an all day session that will cover, casting, equipment, entomology, knots, and other topics so that you can begin your fly-fishing journey. The second part of Molly’sFly-fishing School is April 28th and will take place on the the Middle Provo River.  There you’ll see practical fly-fishing applications put to use before you get the opportunity to put your new found skills to the test.  Molly’s class is limited to 8 student.  The cost is $195.00/person.   Go here for more details on the class.  If you’d like to sign up, call us at (801)521-6424 or stop into Western Rivers Flyfisher, 1071 E. 900 S., SLC.   Sorry guys, this is for women only!