If you hook one: landing and releasing gently
Okay. This is the lesson I probably should have taught earlier, but I wanted you to have the cast and the drift down first. Now we deal with the good problem. A fish is actually on your line. What now.
Here's the thing. Most beginners lose fish or hurt fish in the same handful of ways, and all of them are fixable with about ten minutes of practice and some patience.
The moment it happens
You'll feel a tug, or you'll see your line just stop and do something weird. Your instinct is going to be to yank the rod straight up over your head like you're spiking a volleyball. Don't do that. Lift the rod tip smoothly, not a jerk, just enough to feel the fish and keep the line tight. If the fish runs, let it. Your rod bending is doing the work, not your arms.
Keep the rod tip up the whole time. This is the single thing I say most on the bank and I'll say it again here because it's true: a bent rod tires the fish out gently, a straight line to a flat rod snaps or lets the fish throw the hook. Keep that tip up like you're trying to touch the sky with it, and let the rod do the fighting.
Don't reel like mad. Reel in the slack as the fish comes toward you, stop reeling and let the rod bend if it pulls away again. It's a conversation, not a tug of war.
Getting it close enough to release
You don't need a net for this class, though if you have one, great, it makes everything easier and gentler on the fish. If you don't, that's fine too.
Walk the fish toward slower, shallower water near the bank if you can, rather than trying to horse it straight in through the current. Once it's close and mostly tired out (you'll see it stop fighting so hard, it'll sort of tip on its side), that's your moment.
Wet your hands before you touch the fish. This matters more than people think. Dry hands take off the slime coating that protects them from infection, so dunk your hand in the river first. Then, if you're removing the hook, do it quick, with pliers or your fingers, hook gently and back the way it went in.
This is where barbless hooks earn their keep, which is my one mildly firm opinion I'll repeat as many times as this class lets me. Barbless comes out clean and fast, which means the fish spends less time out of the water and less time stressed. I pinch every barb down before I even leave the house. Takes five seconds with a pair of pliers. No argument from me on this one.
If you can, keep the fish in the water the whole time, or lift it for two seconds tops for a look, then straight back in. Point it upstream in the current, hold it gently around the body (not squeezing the belly), and let it swim off on its own time. Don't toss it. Don't force it. It'll tell you when it's ready.
Where NOT to put your feet
While all this is happening you are probably moving around in the river, and I want to slow down here for a second because this is the part people skip past.
My neighbor Bradley borrowed a pair of waders from me a while back, good fella, more confidence than caution some days, and he stepped backward while playing a fish and went straight into a hole in the riverbed he never saw coming. In to the chest. Freezing water, current pulling at him, and it happened in about half a second. He was fine, we got him out and dried off and laughing about it eventually, but it rattled him and it rattled me.
The Provo looks calm from the bank. It is colder and pushier than it looks, every single time, no exceptions. So when you're chasing a fish toward the bank or wading out a little to reach it, go slow, feel with your feet before you commit your weight, and don't back up without looking first. If you're fishing from the bank in old shoes like I usually recommend for beginners anyway, this is less of a worry, and that's honestly one more reason I like that setup for people just starting out.
Practice this at home, sort of
You can't practice landing a fish in your backyard, obviously, but you can practice the motion. Tie on a fly, no hook point worry since you'll pinch the barb anyway, and practice lifting your rod tip smooth and slow instead of yanking. Get that motion into your hands before you're doing it with an actual fish on the other end and your heart going.
Before next time
Just think through the sequence once in your head before you're on the water: tip up, let it run, walk it to the shallows, wet hands, quick release. You don't need to memorize it word for word. You'll surprise yourself with how much comes back to you the second it's real.