If you live in Utah and you love to fish you definitely know or have heard about fly fishing the Provo River. This group of young men are so lucky to have it right in their back yard and they take full advantage of it. 

Meet the Trail Brother’s Austin 18 and MaKay 16. They have lived in the Provo River Bottoms close to 11 years now. While attending school and living in the neighborhood they have developed close relationships with Kimball, Nate, Drake and Oakley. They have all been close friends for several years.  Their passion is loving the outdoors, connecting with nature and fishing. 

The Trail brother’s started fishing when they were pretty young and together came up with the idea to start a fishing business. When Makay turned 13 his parents paid for his first guided fly fishing trip on Provo River. From that experience he was hooked and fly fishing has become a passion which has propelled him to be as good as he is today. MaKay then began teaching Austin and Drake (better known as Donk) how to fly fish. They spent hours perfecting their casting and trying to figure it out. Then entered Covid. The boys had plenty of time on their hands and fishing was a perfect distraction.  Makay then taught Kimball Oakley how to fish while in the 8th grade. Nate learned from his dad, who is a professional fisherman. 

This group of friends have been fishing in many different places. Some of their favorites places so far are the Grand Cayman's, Belize, Guyana, Colorado, Wyoming, Alaska and of course the Provo River. They fish all of the Provo River from the lower, middle and upper. Not to mention the many little creeks that they have frequented around the area too. They all love all types of fishing but would agree fly fishing is their favorite.  For those that don’t know much about fishing, "YES, THERE ARE DIFFERENT KINDS OF FISHING"! The goal and end result is always to get a "Fish On".

A few weeks ago the boys took a trip to the Amazon Rain forest. They flew by bush plane from Guyana into the jungle where they landed at a small village. From there they traveled by boat up the river to their fishing spot. They spent the nights laying on the sand. The catfish they had caught while fishing during the day lay near by along the shore. They said, "In the evenings while trying to go to sleep we would look around and see hundreds of green and red eyes looking at us, hear sounds of frogs, howling monkeys and birds screaming all through the night".  It would take them hours to fall asleep only to be awakened by their reels screaming. They would jump up and do their best to set their hooks. That is when the fun began as they took their poles and jumped into a canoe letting the fish drag them around until finally they wore it out and were able to land it. This trip will forever be one of their best adventures.

A couple years ago they decided to turn their passion into a guided business. They promote their business through Instagram and YouTube. Most often their new clients are taken to the lower Provo river which is right behind their house.  Along with their business the boys all have hobbies and interests including football, basketball, and lacrosse. Oakley puts together highlight films for Timpview High School and Donk is currently serving a mission in Uruguay for the LDS church.

Fishing has taught the boys a lot of life lessons.  Among them are patients, respect for the out doors, passion and you have to know bad to know good.  When you are fishing all day and you don't catch much it makes the days that you catch a lot of fish that much better.  They reminded us, "You can’t become good at something in a day. It takes time and lots of practice". If you are wanting to learn how to fish you should give them a shout. Remember, keep casting and with practice and luck you'll catch a big one.