The winding dirt road led to a cattle guard, followed by a break in the fence. Through the break in the fence was a trail and at the end of the trail was a river. This particular river held brown trout, and when a streamer swung through the current with the perfect blend of speed, depth, and the right amount of movement, a brown trout ate it with conviction. After a few fleeting hours it was over. Back up the trail, through the hole in the fence, and up the winding dirt road, River X faded into the rearview mirror.

It’s been weeks since I walked down that trail and stood on the banks of the river, but I can still see the mountains, smell the sage, and feel the line come tight on a fish like it was yesterday.

The post A morning on River X appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

It had been a while since I’d seen some moving water, and my understanding wife told me to head north for the day. I was feeling pretty stubborn, and even though there wasn’t a ton of surface activity, I continued to fish hoppers through the day. I managed the fish about as the sun was getting lower in the sky. The colors on this brown defied description, and I took just a moment to appreciate the Creator’s handiwork.

There’s no therapy like standing knee high in a stream with a fly rod in hand.

The post Arizona Fly Fishing: Autumn Brown Trout appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

With the temperatures rising all over the state, we made a quick trip to a high elevation stream in the White Mountains. The cicadas are singing in the trees and the fish were looking up, eager to take big bugs. Anything that splats on the water seemed to illicit a response.

Have I told you how much I like this new bamboo rod?

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On a midnight run to the White Mountains after work on Friday, we crashed in the dirt next to the truck and woke to the sound of turkeys gobbling on the ridge nearby. After a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon, we dropped off a ridge and spent the day casting dry flies to rising fish. No fish of any great size were taken, but I was able to bloody my new bamboo rod and lunch was worth the hike in. It was a long drive back to town that night, but so worth it.

The pictures tell the story.

The post Arizona Fly Fishing: White Mountain Creeks appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

With the shotgun cleaned and placed back in the safe, it was time to break out the fly rod and check on the status of the creeks. Walking amongst the fragrant ponderosas and listening to the creek ramble over the rocks was all that was needed to soothe my soul. Fishing our way up the creek, I had almost lost hope of catching a fish, when a small parachute pattern tricked a brown into rising, and my net soon cradled my first fish of 2015. It’s going to be a great year.

The post Arizona Spring Fishing appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

My buddy Jason and I were able to get out for a cold and windy day on one of the high country lakes. We had heard rumors of some big holdover brown trout and figured we would go and see what the lake had to offer. The lake fished well for the recently stocked brown trout and we caught fish in the morning and evening on sinking lines and streamers. None of the big boys came out to play.

Normally when I fish our streams here in Arizona, I practice catch and release, as many of the streams rely on natural reproduction to maintain their population. Stocked fish in a non reproducing lake is another story. With family coming in for the holidays, it’s nice to have a limit of fish to share. The great thing about fly fishing Arizona is that we do have year round opportunities here in this state.

The post Fly Fishing Arizona – High Country Lake appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

I met up with a few friends a couple weekends back to head north for the Trout Unlimited Canyon Creek Habitat Project. Trout Unlimited has been working with Arizona Game and Fish Department to enhance the spawning habitat in Canyon Creek through the addition of gravel to key locations on the creek.

Canyon Creek, a wild brown trout fishery here in Arizona, has had a rough go of it over the past 12 years. The Rodeo-Chediski fire in 2002 burned through the watershed, destroying much of the habitat and decimating the creek. In 2005, work groups, in coordination with Game and Fish, began to restore riparian habitat and and bring the creek back to it’s former glory. The river above the OW Bridge is managed as a put and take fishery, while below the bridge down to the reservation line is managed as a catch and release wild brown trout fishery. The creek has recovered nicely over the years and I’ve been lucky to pull several nice fish from it’s waters. But in the past couple of years, anglers and Game and Fish have noticed a significant drop in the number of fish in the creek. AZGFD biologists have attributed this to a couple of very dry/hot summers with marginal spawning taking place.

In 2013, Game and Fish along with Trout Unlimited conducted it’s first spawning habitat work project where they laid down roughly 20 tons of gravel in the creek. (My friend Kristen did a great write up on it here.) Almost immediately, they began seeing results. In the fall of 2013 in the two 100′ gravel enhancement locations, biologists counted over 30 redds (spawning sites) which was  50% more than they had seen before in the whole 2.5 mile stretch of catch and release water. With such a positive outcome from last year and the funds/approval still in place, TU and AZGFD teamed up again to lay a bit more gravel in the creek before the browns get into spawning mode this fall.

In spite of the early morning rain, we were able to put several more tons of gravel down in Canyon Creek to continue restoration and enhancement of valuable spawning habitat. Curt Gill, Arizona Game and Fish Fisheries Program Manager along with Jim Walker, President of the Zane Gray Chapter of Trout Unlimited deserve much of the credit for spearheading these projects. It was great to see some work going into this creek and I look forward to seeing what effects this new spawning habitat will have on the creek.

Here’s a couple of things to think about when heading out this fall:

1. Stay off the redds – Stay out of the creek as much as you can. Be especially mindful of trout redds (spawning sites). Redds are areas where trout have cleaned the gravel in anticipation of laying eggs in the creek bed. Typically, they are more noticeable because the gravel is a different color than surrounding gravel and rocks. Stay off of these areas in order to protect the next generation of trout. Tread carefully.

2. Don’t fish to actively spawning trout – In the same vein of thought as the previous point, leave spawning fish alone. If you’re noticing brown trout on a redd or protecting a certain area of the creek, it’s extremely important to leave them be. Trout expend a large amount of energy spawning and getting yanked out of the water is a great way to kill a fish and hurt the fishery. Let me be clear. In my opinion, fishing to an actively spawning wild trout in Arizona is unethical. Our creeks are delicate ecosystems and messing around with an obviously spawning trout is not cool.

3. Get involved – It’s tough to do, but our beautiful state needs all the help it can get. Even if you’re not a TU member, at least shoot get on their mailing list and learn when the work groups are happening. Bring a friend. Bring your wife. Bring your kids. Come lend a hand at the next event.  There are free donuts.

Check out the results from the 2013 gravel project below.

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A last minute trip fell into my lap a couple weekends back, and I found myself driving through the night to check out new spot. When driving at night, be more cautious of your surrounding to avoid a car accident. If it happens for instance, consult with the best car accident lawyer Maryland. Armed with a 5 weight, a box of flies and a few smushed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I hiked in to find the water off color but still fishable. The first pool gave up a nice creamy Arizona brown trout, as did a couple of the remaining pools. It’s my opinion that fishing stained water can be extremely productive for bigger fish. I wasn’t disappointed.

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The weekends in May fill up pretty quick for me. Between Mother’s Day and our anniversary, I’m lucky to find time to get onto the water. In the end, I found a free Saturday early on to make a long day trip to the Whites. With the ridiculously dry weather here in AZ, our creeks look like they normally do in July, and the hoppers are on the banks. The fish are looking up, and  I was able to pick up a few good ones to round out a great day on the water. Can’t ask for much more than this, except maybe some rain.

The post Arizona Fly Fishing – Hoppers appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

My wife reminded me the other day that we have about 7 more weeks till our sweet, little girl enters this beautiful world. In my mind, it registered that I have about 6 more weekends to cram in any last minute fishing or hunting trips before she shows up. So, I headed north with a good buddy and we opted for a more slow paced day enjoying the cold fall air and soaking in our surroundings.

Trout were caught, but in truth, it was one of those days that was more about the cup of coffee made on an open fire and enjoying the memory of summer while welcoming in the fall colors. Can’t wait to share this all with my little girl.

[If you’ve never seen this Hat(ch) Patch before, go check out my friend Keith at Nature Boy Designs. Pretty ingenius]

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