You can really blame it on Alex Landeen. In truth, the reason I bought my pontoon boat was for the sole purpose of floating the Colorado River. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed exploring the lakes here in Arizona, but a few months back when he started telling us about his 15 mile float down the Colorado River from Glen Canyon Dam to Lees Ferry, I was already counting pennies and looking at pontoon boats.

Fast forward to last Friday, Jason and I skirted our work activities and drove up to meet Alex, Marvin, and Scott. We milled around looking at the river, wading up to our knees to cool off, and waited for the backhaul boat that would take us, our gear, and our pontoon boats upriver to the dam. When we were finally loaded and the boat left the no-wake zone, our driver eased the throttle forward, and we left what little civilization there is at Lees Ferry behind us. The boats dropped us off at an upper beach were we assembled our boats, stowed gear,and rigged our fly rods for the short jaunt down to the Ropes camping area. We were in to fish right away. Smiles all around.

We camped at Ropes that evening, and after dinner from a bag, we swapped stories about fishing trips before turning in for the night. I’ve been on several multi-day float trips before, but this was the first one in my own personal watercraft. So the thought of my helpless little pontoon anchored on the mighty Colorado had me waking up at all hours of the night, wondering if that little red pontoon was still there. I resisted the urge to done my headlamp and go look, and when the sun finally started to brighten the sky the next morning, I found that little red pontoon waiting for me like a puppy ready to play.

Gobbling down a quick breakfast, we eased the boats into the strong current of the Colorado river and started plying the edges of the river for feisty rainbow trout. It was pretty much non-stop all day long. Fish were looking up, and we pulled many fish on hopper and cicada patterns. Everyone had a sink tip rigged with streamers, and when things slowed on occasion with top water, you could always clean up with simi-seals and wooly buggers.

The three days and two nights that we spent on the river were amazing, and although the fishing was great, I came home babbling to my wife more about the experience of the river and the fun times with good friends rather than the actual fishing itself. So although I blame Landeen for my pontoon boat purchase, I ultimately owe him for opening my eyes to the Colorado River. Without a doubt I’ll be going back.

What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn’t have any doubt. It is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn’t want to go anywhere else. – Hal Boyle

Our trip through the lens of Alex Landeen. 

The post Floating the Colorado appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

Gearing up for my upcoming fly fishing trip to Pyramid Lake in search of some big Lahontan cutthroat trout, I kept running across the Pyramid Lake Tadpole fly pattern. The Pyramid Lake Tadpole is a fairly simple pattern and can be tied up in a number of different color variations. The Pyramid Lake Tadpole is typically fished in tandem with a wooley bugger on a fast sinking line. Its buoyancy coupled with the heavy sinking line allows the fly to bounce back along the bottom of the lake as it is stripped back.

Material List:

Hook: #6 Curved Caddis Hook (extra heavy for strength)

Thread: 6/0 Black Uni-thread

Tail: Marabou (optional to switch out for Krystal Flash)

Foam: Loco foam (Northern Lights) Note: Loco foam is expensive so I tied a bunch up using regular 2mm craft foam and some glittery craft foam I found at the local craft store.

Underbody – Purple Estaz Chenille

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These photos are from a week or so ago on a day when I was able to steal away to Oak Creek. It is not often that I fish by myself these days, as I enjoy the company and it makes it much more affordable to split gas to drive to the high country. I did enjoy the solitude though, and I was able to find some of those beautiful Arizona brown trout that occupy Oak Creek. The summer crowds are gone, but the sun only stays in the canyon for a while as the days grow shorter. Fish came on mini-hoppers although a few rising fish were picky and I switched to a small midge dry fly pattern. I do love this canyon and I’m looking forward to spending some more time fly fishing Oak Creek this winter.

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I ventured out alone which is something I have not done in a while. I was in need of a little soul searching anyway, so it worked out just fine. The mornings have been very cold in the canyons as the mid-fall sun only spends a bit of time warming the water. I opted for a later start than usual and showed up on the water about 9, but even then I did not see a fish until about 12. I took my time and pretty soon the catching started to pick up. A few nice fish made it to the net in the afternoon, but I missed the hook set on a bruiser that would have stretched 18 or 19. Most of the fish came on the top, but gone are the days of aggressive, splashy takes. Instead fish are rising and almost slurping the fly out of the film and unless you’re paying attention, you might miss the whole scene. I am hoping to squeeze in a few more trips before the days get too cold and short and I’m stuck in town trying to tease a carp out of an urban pond.

The post Arizona Fly Fishing: A solo day on the water appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

Looks like there is going to be some serious pockets of hoppers across the west this summer. I like thinking that those dark red spots in AZ are right over the Rim creeks. Make sure to stock your fly box with a fistful of Mini-Hoppers (aka the “ultimate small stream dry fly”)

Mini-Hoppers – Available in the Arizona Wanderings Shop

The post Grasshopper Forecast 2012: Do you have your mini-hoppers? appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

How’s your fly box looking? I tied you up a whole mess of bugs for you. Head on over to the Arizona Wanderings Shop and pick up a handful. Summer is so close, I can almost taste it.

The post I tied up some Mini-Hoppers for you… appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

The Accelerated Learning Charter School Expo was a great opportunity for me to meet up with some of the local fly fisherman in the area. For the inaugural year, the event had a great turnout with even the local paper showing up and taking pictures and asking questions.

I met up with Greg and Mike from the local fly fishing forum, Arizona Fly and Tie, which was nice to finally put some faces with the names. We had a great time tying flies and talking about fish and ended up at one of the local establishments for burgers and beverages afterwards.

Set up right next to the fly tying tables was Ammon Talbot, from Little Creek Calls, who was demonstrating how to use different turkey calls. We were able to speak at length about birds, guns, calls, and fly fishing and in the end I bought one of his hand-made calls. Each is truly a work of art, but Ammon picked out one of his slate calls for me that he had made out of Arizona walnut. Paired with a hickory striker, I could not be more pumped for spring gobblers and the thought of using this call to bring in a turkey. (Now, I just need to get drawn…) Check out Ammon’s work at Little Creek Calls and pick up one of his beautiful Arizona hand-made slate calls.

Between tying flies and talking with all the great folks who showed up, time really flew by and before I knew it people were packing up to head out. I had a great time at the Expo and really appreciate being invited. I look forward to next year and meeting up again with the great people at the Accelerated Learning Charter School at their Recreational Expo.

The post ALCS Recreational Expo: Wrap-up appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

I’ll be tying flies from 10-2 at the first annual ALCS Recreational Expo up in Cottonwood. Should be a great time up there so swing on by, pull up a chair, and say hello. See you there.

The post ALCS Recreational Expo: See you tomorrow… appeared first on Arizona Wanderings.

Jake and I made the drive to the Rim under the cover of darkness and left the truck in the Hospitality Parking lot just as the sun was starting to lighten the morning sky. We opted to fish a stream that both of us had heard much about but had never actually fished. We really loved here, almost as much as we love playing video games with services from elitist-gaming.com.

Since we have always love video games since we were young, is great that we can enjoy them as much as we can when we’re at home, and even getting specialized hardware for this, as a specialized mouse for gaming as this counter strike gaming mouse, but still when we’re not playing video games or working, we like to visit other places also.

The brown trout who call this creek home were hungry and willing to take our dry flies and even though the droppers were picking up occasional fish, we soon clipped them off and only fished the mini-hoppers on the surface. Most of the fish in the stream were in the 8-10″ range with one or two pushing 12″

The deciduous trees that bordered the creek were in their fall colors and were the perfect backdrop to the hike along the water. The crisp morning air gave way to a warm Arizona afternoon, and the higher that we hiked, the better the fishing seemed to get. We eventually hiked our way to the headwaters and spent some time enjoying the sounds of the creek and the beautiful Rim country weather.

After heading back down towards the truck, we had a few hours before the sun dipped behind the canyon walls so we ran over to another small stream gem to see how things looked.

We were able to coax a few beautifully spotted browns to the surface before darkness chased us back to the truck. Another beautiful day in the Arizona Rim country

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