April has been a unique and strange month due to the virus that has altered nearly every aspect of life, perhaps permanently in some ways (what will be the future of shaking hands?). April is a month I always anticipate due to the coming of nice weather, my son’s birthday, and the great dry fly fishing that comes with the long-awaited spring blue wing olive hatch. We’ve done our best to enjoy things while being isolated at home, dealing with difficult work circumstances, feeling like a terrible parent due to making a trip to the urgent care during a pandemic for some stitches (the one place above all others that we did not want to go), and the general anxiety associated with life during a pandemic (am I the only one having weird dreams and nightmares every night now?). Luckily, through all of this, the river has been there to help keep things in perspective as usual. The great thing about fly fishing is that the fish and the bugs don’t care about the virus, and social distancing is already built into the culture.I did most of my fishing in Provo Canyon due to other sections of the river being closed down because of the virus and because it’s usually my last chance to fish the canyon before the summer tube hatch begins. Throughout the month, the afternoon has brought some good blue wing dry fly fishing, and the evening has brought some good midge dry fly fishing. Overcast days have especially been awesome. The water has now started to rise from runoff, but the nymphing has still been great. In case you are unfamiliar with the mythical blue wing olive. Behold.There are typically a few things that make certain fish more memorable for me. The first would be when you are able to catch a particular fish in a very difficult circumstance. Perhaps it was in a difficult to reach spot under a branch or sitting in a trench at the bottom of the riverbed so you can’t easily get your fly in front of it. The second would be when you catch a very large fish. There are fewer of them and they are wilier and more difficult to catch. The third would be when a fish fights particularly hard, which is often associated with the previous scenario of catching a freakishly large fish. Another memorable scenario is when you catch a rare fish, such as a bull trout in Montana, which are not found many places in the world, or when I caught my first steelhead. My most memorable fish in April would have to be this ginormous rainbow, which checked off multiple boxes. It was just over 20 inches, one of only a handful that big that I’ve ever landed on the Provo. It was a beautiful wild rainbow, which account for a much smaller percentage of fish in the Provo River system, and last, but not least, it fought extremely hard and went aerial multiple times. This fish made my reel seem pretty small.Many daily aspects of life have become quite surreal, but on the river I was able to forget about that stuff for awhile and enjoy the weather and the scenery. I also love seeing the wildlife going about their simpler existence. Here is a wild turkey getting a drink and a muskrat going about his daily business.

Being in the great outdoors always reminds me of a larger purpose to life than our daily comings and goings, and that our problems, while difficult, are but a short moment when compared to forever. We control our outlook on life and that can’t be taken from us except by our own choice. As a younger fisherman, I would forget, or lack patience, to actually look for fish before splashing into the water to begin casting, likely scaring many good fish right in front of me. Can you see the fish through the water below?It takes practice and patience (and a decent pair of polarized glasses) to be able to see fish through the water without scaring them, but nowadays I enjoy trying to spot fish almost as much as trying to catch one. I pray and hope that we can all have the patience to look for, and the ability to see, the good things going on all around us.