My last small stream outing left much to be desired, so after a long week at work, I met up with my friend Barry to go try our luck at on the Mogollon Rim. We made good time and arrived as the sun was starting creep over the hills. When when we opened the truck doors, the wind and 18 degree thermometer reading caused us to seriously reconsider our plans.
But everything changed when we made it to the water. Streamers were the name of the game, and for the first couple hours, dead drifted and stripped streamers brought many fish to the net. As the day warmed up, the fishing slowed down a bit. We expected to see some bugs coming off, but even with the sun full on the water, no hatches. With not much action and some other anglers on the creek, we opted to head somewhere else for the afternoon. Great morning fly fishing in Arizona.
Cold and HappyBarry fishing a poolBarry with a fine brown troutBrown Trout and Streamers
The Sparklebutt Parachute is an awesome pattern that I usually tie in a #18 down to a #22. Often times this is the perfect fly to turn to when the little mayflies or even midges are starting hatch. When fish stop rising to an Adams, this usually does the trick.
Sulky Holoshimmer (found at Jo-Anns)
Ingredients:
– #18-22 curved caddis hook
– Gray thread – UTC 70 or 8/0 Uni-thread
– Sulky Holoshimmer Thread – found at Jo-Anns
– Polypropelene (or whatever post material you like to use)
One of my new found friends, Andy Wayment, has published his first book titled Heaven on Earth: Stories of Fly Fishing, Fun, and Faith. Andy was kind enough to send over a copy for me to read and I must admit that I gobbled his stories up in no time at all. What I loved about Andrew’s writing is how open and humble his words flow onto the page. The stories are of Andy’s life and range from learning the ropes of fly fishing from his father-in-law to rod-busting browns. The transparency of Andrew’s stories are beautiful and he masterfully weaves his faith and family in and around the water that he loves to fish.
My favorite passage comes from the beginning of his story titled “To Everything there is a Season.”
“As outdoorsmen, our lives become in tune and intertwined with the seasons and we observe their cyclical passage through the miracles of birth, life, death, and renewal… As the years pass, memories of fishing and hunting mesh into each other so that the years become unimportant, but the seasons in which they took place are unmistakable and unforgettable. We grow old with the seasons and they become a part of us.”
As the title states, Heaven on Earth is heavy on fly fishing with a good dose of family and faith interwoven. I have much to learn from Andy, not only in writing, but in his ability to balance his passion for trout and the outdoors with a family and his career as a lawyer. I highly recommend reading Heaven on Earth as Andrew puts into words the passion and love of fly fishing, that so many anglers struggle to express.
It’s that time of year again here in Arizona. Cactus League baseball is starting to ramp up and the ISE show is back in Phoenix. Before heading over to the show, I threw my fly rod in the truck and I headed over to the carp ponds to see what was moving. The carp were around but it seemed that the bass were more apt to play. After getting my fly fishing fix, I wandered over to the Expo and met up with some good people and friends.
International Sportmen's Expo
I was able to stop by and talk to Terry Gunn from Lees Ferry Anglers about the river. I have a trip coming up in the near future and all signs are pointing to great conditions. The guys at AZ Fly Casters were there tying bugs and on the end, Dave Brown from Dave Brown Outfitters was hanging out talking to people about bird hunting and fly fishing up in B.C. It didn’t take much, but I think I am going to have to go up and pay him a visit in the near future.
Lees Ferry Anglers, AZ Fly Casters, and Dave Brown Outfitters
As I wandered through the displays, I recognized a familiar face in the archery tournament. Darr Colburn from Colburn and Scott Outfitters was there with his son, Parker. Darr was flinging arrows downrange and racking up some good numbers. I’m thinking for next year about trying to round up some stickbow guys to go down and make a traditional showing.
Darr Colburn from Colburn and Scott Outfitters
Next to the archery range was a Dock Dog Contest. It was pretty fun to sit and watch the pups showing their jumping abilities. Some of these dogs jumping over 25 feet. I think my dog, Budder, could hang with the best of them though.
Dock Dogs ChampionshipThis dog totally cannonballed me. I was standing too close and got soaked.Desert Fly Casters
Mike Stewart was manning the Desert Fly Casters booth while Cinda Howard was on the casting pond giving a casting demonstration. I had a really cool opportunity to meet fellow blogger, Marc Neilson, from Tonto Ramblings at the show. Mark was a really nice guy and I’m looking forward to doing a bit of fishing with him in the future.
Cinda Howard from Orvis showing the finer points of a roll cast
Overall the ISE show was a good Saturday diversion, but I did feel that there were not as many vendors or people as past shows. What did you all think?
I came home last weekend from some time in the woods to find this on the refrigerator. My beautiful wife had spent the day at the local gun range taking a Women’s Introductory Pistol Class and learning the ins and outs of her handgun. Now if you get past the two ferocious pups (our “first line of defense”), you have an armed American citizen waiting for you. Moral of the story is that I will always be giving my wife a call to announce myself before barging back into the house after a long weekend in the woods.
I have been doing some serious research on different options for a travel rod that I can safely and economically pack for those trips back to New York to see family or when Michelle and I are bouncing around on one of our adventures. A post over on the Fiberglass Manifesto about a small fiberglass travel rod caught my eye, and I started to do a little research. The small 6’6″ rod is sold by Black Bear Fly Fishing and is labeled for a 2/3 weight line. What really caught my eye is the fact that this pretty fly rod breaks down into 8 pieces, essentially into 11″ pieces. I loved the price tag and after calling Tom, the owner of Black Bear Fly Fishing and talking a bit about the rod, I placed my order. The rod showed up a few days later on my doorstep and I could hardly contain myself as I put the rod together and gave it the standard wiggle test. I’m looking forward to getting it on the water, but already I am anticipating throwing some extremely soft dries to very hungry trout.
With spring essentially here in Arizona, I wanted to remind everyone that if you are looking to refill your fly box or add to your wardrobe, the Arizona Wanderings shop is fully stocked and operational. Spring is usually the time when many guys from the Southwest start to think about heading to the tailwaters and especially the San Juan River. The San Juan River collection in the Shop is a great place to start if it’s the first time heading to the river or if it is just time to refill the midge box before getting out on any of the Western tailwaters where the bugs are small.
San Juan Flies
Streamer patterns are also a great place to start on many of Arizona’s creeks and lakes. The Simi-Seal Buggers that I tie up are super durable and will do the trick when trying to fool those big browns and bows. I have even tempted a few of the carp and bass in the local lakes and ponds with a nice green simi-seal bugger.
Simi Seal Buggers
Finally, if your looking for some good mojo once you get on the water, better pick up an Arizona Wanderings t-shirt. I have these shirts currently in Medium to XXX-L. I always appreciate the support, so swing on over and pick up an Arizona Wanderings T-shirt.
Eric, from Hooked Up Films, rocking an Arizona Wanderings T-shirt
On a side note, I have been slowly but surely working on a new project for the past several months and after putting the finishing touches on it, I will be launching a new product in the Arizona Wanderings Shop. I’m excited to have it done and share it with my readers, so please stay tuned. As always, thanks for the support. If you haven’t had a chance, go check out the Arizona Wanderings Shop.
It’s been a while since I picked up a fly rod, as hunting, teaching, and tying flies have been keeping me busy. I headed north with my good friend, Antonio on Saturday to see how the Rim country was looking. After checking some of the local forums, it appeared that everyone was going to be headed north to fish the creeks, so instead of rushing to be the first there, we did a bit of scouting in the morning and looked at a couple of different spots that we both had been interested to see. Around noon, we finally made it to some fishable water, but the bite was pretty slow by then. Antonio brought a couple of fish to hand, while I had a couple come unbuttoned at the net.
Although the weather was beautiful for February, it was a little bit disheartening to see absolutely no snow on the ground. Without some snow and water in the highcountry, I have some concerns about the summer and fall flows for this year, but I guess we still have a little bit of time for some precipitation. At the end of it all, it was a beautiful day in Arizona.
