Provo River Fishing Report Buffalo Midge
The Buffalo Midges on the Middle Provo River will be hatching soon. In the midge world they are the biggest midge we see on our Utah rivers. They are about a size 16-18, blackish in color and depending on the day will start hatching around 11:00 am or so. On the right day the hatch can be solid for a couple of hours.
It’s kind of funny how this hatch starts, it seems to come out of nowhere. Nymphing will get really tough and the river seems quiet when suddenly you’ll start to see some very splashy, aggressive rises and then they stop. It tends to come in waves where trout will rise consistently for ten minutes and then suddenly stop just to start up again ten minutes later. This is a pretty normal occurrence with this hatch. Some days this will go on for a couple hours.
What To Use
After countless hours of watching trout rise through a lens and while fishing I’ve learned that probably 90% of the rises are to midges with the shuck still attached. They’re looking for the midges that are just hatching and the shuck is still attached. They all definitely key into this.
There are lots of fly patterns you can use with a trailing shuck but the Mother Shucker is by far the most successful pattern I’ve found. I tie a version of it in a pullover and hackle version with UV. Use various shades of black, grey, and brown in size 16-20. If you’ve never seen a river look like it’s boiling with rising trout then now is your chance.
The Provo River Buffalo Midge hatch makes for some of the most amazing fishing of the year and is some the best dry fly fishing Park City/Salt Lake City has to offer.
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Reports
Current Buffalo Midge Report
March 11 2024 – The hatch has been great! Look for them at around 12:30 – 1:00. It’s been lasting for about an hour and a half depending on the day. Black and grey shuckers have worked great.
February 18 2024 – I haven’t seen any true buffaloes but there are midges hatching and bringing some trout up.
March 20 2023 – I’ve been seeing the main buffalo midge hatch at around 12:30 – 1:00 depending on the conditions. You’ll find fish rising all morning to the smaller midges that hatch before the buffalos too. Nymphing was okay this morning but it picks up around 11:30. Size 26 – 22 midges in grey, black and brown have been consistent.
March 17 2023 – I was in the upper stretch today and the weather was perfect. The sun was out and no wind. The hatch started about 1:00 and was amazing. Tons of fish up and all you had to do was put your fly in front of them. Nymphing was pretty consistent all morning with midge patterns in size 26 – 22 with size 24 in grey being best. Fish were rising all morning before the main hatch.
March 12 2023 – I was in the farm today and didn’t see any true buffalo midges. There are some bigger bugs out (size 20) and trout are feeding on them all morning. The actual hatch didn’t start until about 12:00 and was pretty good. Nymphing was just okay with size 26-24 being best. Grey and brown were the winning colors this morning.
March 9 2022 – The Buffalo Midges are hatching around 11:00 on the Middle Provo. I haven’t seen many in the upper section but the Bunny Farm has a great hatch. Standard Buffalo Midge patterns are working great.
March 20 2021 – Excellent hatch in the Bunny Farm area! Nymphing has been a little tougher up until about an hour before the hatch. They have been starting around 12:00 – 12:30. Brown shuckers have been my best dry fly the last few times and nymphing with grey midges in 20-24 have been good.
March 11th 2021 – Hatch is getting better and starts around 12:30 and by 1-1:30 they really get going. Nymphing continues to be good before the hatch. They want smaller patterns in the size 24-26 range until the bigger bugs start hatching. Greys, blacks and browns have been good.
March 1st 2021 – Solid hatch today on the upper stretch. There were a lot of fish up well before the hatch feeding on the slightly smaller midges (size 20) that also hatch this time of year. Buffalo midges were on the water around 12:30. Nymphing was great pre hatch as well as during the hatch. Brown and black Mother Shuckers worked great.
February 24th 2021 – The Buffalo Midge have started to make an appearance along with a slightly smaller midge in the size 22 range. Lots of trout rising. They are stronger in numbers in the Bunny Farm area compared to the upper stretch. Mother Shuckers in grey, brown and black all worked well with grey being best. Nymphing has been good with brown and black Jeong’s and foam back emergers in dark grey.
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