Several weeks have passed since I have strung up my fly rod and I have been getting restless to get outside. I seriously thought twice about my decision when my alarm went off at 4:30 a.m., but I forced myself to roll out of bed instead of hitting the snooze for an indefinite amount of time. I had heard rumors that Tonto Creek near Payson was a decent place to fish so I bit the bullet and took the mountainous drive there. My little S-10 struggled up and down those hills through low and high deserts and finally entering my destination in the ponderosa pines. I was wading by 7:30 and catching stockies on my first couple of casts. Most of the fish I caught were between 4-8 inches but a few measured at 11-12. I lost count of how many fish I caught and had a fantastic day. Most of the fish were rainbows stocked by game and fish, but there were several brown trout in the mix too. Unfortunately due to the fact that I’m a lummox and was not taking my time, I spooked several large browns into the pools ahead of me which made me feel like a fool. All of the fish I have been catching have been off of parachute adams and other dry flies. I have tried tying on small droppers to my dry flies and have only had success in getting tangled and frustrated. Everything I read is telling me to fish subsurface but I feel like I’m being successful using dries. One thing I am 100% sure of is that I need some sort of camera. The cell phone camera is not cutting it…
I just found your blog. I look forward to hearing about your experiences. Glad you had a good trip out the Tonto. I was out there last month and not much was rising, good to hear you were able to get some dry action.
Massive flash floods hit Tonto Creek the last few days. I have fished the Tonto around Gisela.
Pete, Thanks for the post. I’m very interested to know the impact of all that water on Oak Creek and the Rim. Many people I’ve talked to are telling me the fishery will not be impacted and that with a little time, the streams will bounce back to normal. On the other hand, I can only imagine the result of that much water running down little Tonto Creek. We’ll have to wait and see. How is the fishing near Gisela?
Ben