3 Expert Tips for Landing Trophy Brown Trout in Utah
With: finns.fins
I caught up with Finn on a quick break between his guide trips, and let me tell ya—this kid lives and breathes fly fishing. From spending his childhood getting dropped off at the river to landing a 30-inch brown at just 16, Finn’s got more on-the-water experience than most anglers twice his age. We talked about the best tactics for chasing big browns, and the magic of Utah’s diverse fisheries.
Finn, when targeting trophy browns, what are three tips you’d recommend to anglers hoping to land a big one?
1. Fish water types with a good food source whether that’s crayfish/mice in the system or a high sculpin population
2. When mousing or streamer fishing is slow, be patient and always have faith that “the one” is in there ready to eat.
3. Timing is everything with brown trout so fish when they are most active/likely to feed, when mousing that would be on a night with zero light at all and when fishing streamers it would be on a stormy or cloudy day, low light conditions are often the best time to target predatory trout.
Finn, what first drew you to fly fishing, and how did you transition from angler to guide in Utah?
I’ve always loved the outdoors growing up and have always had a passion for exploring the unknown, and for me that was not knowing what is beneath the surface. So for my 8th birthday, I asked for a fly rod and was eager to learn the ways of fly fishing. My parents had no clue how to fish, let alone with a fly rod, so they hired a local guide to take me out a few times. Although it was helping, it was also getting expensive, so my dad decided to learn with me on the Provo (our local water).
It was 4-5 days a week of fishing with my dad until I was 11, then my parents would drop me off at the river and come pick me up when the sunset. My dad would still fish with me however, I probably doubled his days on the water each year, Unfortunately, he fishes about 2 days a year now, haha. That quickly became my favorite thing to do, and once I knew enough to help others, I would take people out and teach them out of my own joy in watching them progress.
Then when I was 15 people started offering me guiding gigs to go show them the ways but it was often family friends or just friends in general and I am more than grateful for those opportunities cause it taught me patience and how to and connect with people, once I turned 16 I started guiding for a local outfitter part-time and spent my days off chasing big brown trout! This past summer, I landed my first 30-inch brown as a 16-year-old.
As a guide in Utah, you're immersed in some incredible fishing spots. What is it about the waters in Utah that keeps you coming back for more?
It’s my home water, so I know it extremely well, and I have seen it under many conditions and know how the fish adapt to conditions here. One of the main reasons is also the diversity in water types and different species of trout, I can spend my days fishing alpine lakes for trophy tiger and brook trout or go walk miles of river in search of the infamous 30-inch brown.
