Heber River

[catfish77]

I hit the middle Provo last evening from 6 until dark. Fish were rising the entire time and really went crazy at dark. I was able to slay several with a caddis in the dark. My question is, what the heck were the fish eating when it was still daylight. They were extremely selective and I only had two takers while it was still light.

Thanks J
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[remo_5_0]

Maybe they were eating Caddis emergers just underneath? Then when the sun dropped they started taking the adults? Not sure what hatches are going on up there as I have not fished that section in a few years.
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[Joe_Dizzy]

Two strong possibilities are midges and/or caddisflies. Both are summer evening regulars with nightly occurrences. Not unusual at all for both to be hatching at the same time and different fish reacting to different insects (and different stages of insects)... although caddisflies do tend to pour it on right after dark.

Given your success with the caddis pattern after dark, there is a chance that the fish you were targeting were chasing emerging pupae the entire time, ignoring the flies on (or above) the surface and just their momentum was causing them to break through creating the rise form. After dark they lose their perspective but still react to the silhouette so the floating caddis will start taking fish that ignored it earlier.

For my money, Jul-Sep on the middle Provo is prime time for fishing soft hackles just below the surface. Fish them 2-3 at a time, different sizes/patterns to cover your caddis bases. Strikes will be jolting so keep your rod 90* to your line to keep the tippet from parting. Usually smaller fish will make up most of the catch until that last half hour before total darkness. Then the larger fish will come.
If you strike out with the wet flies, try drifting a midge pupae pattern… either on a greased leader, or 10" dropper off the hook of an Elk Hair Caddis (as an indicator).

The cool part of this pattern repeating itself is that one hard lesson can lead to adjusted success the next time out!
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[night_flyguy]

I think you are spot on. The other possibility is evening PMDs. Over the 4th (before the caddis were really going) there were rising all over before dark but no takers on the caddis emerger. Seined the surface water and saw they were taking small PMDs. A seine is a great tool and I kick myself many times when I forget it.
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