A Grand Adventure Part 2- Silver Creek, AZ

Day 3 March 13, 2012

Nearly 200 miles to the east of Sedona lies the western foothills of the White Mountains.  Home to the Arizona state fish the Apache Trout (Oncorhynchus gilae apache) the only endemic trout species in Arizona.  I was on a quest to catch this native species.  Silver Creek is a high plains spring creek reminiscent of the upper Owens river in California.  Casting room here is not a problem, however high winds can be problematic much like the upper Owens.  With my 3wt out of commission, it was all up to my Sage Flight 6wt. I initially rigged my line with two nymphs (16 American PT and 18 crystal midge) and a 1/4" indicator.

Twenty minutes into fishing the wind began howling, with no takes on my nymphs i switched to a size 10 black woolly bugger that i tied on a TMC 300.  I tied the bugger on a 4' piece of straight 8lb mono with a perfection loop.  Trout in the system began to move around more and respond to the streamer pattern.  I stripped the curves of the creek and its undercuts methodically.  Working a section not far from the parking lot, i hooked up with a BIG fish! this fish was easily 20" in length.  The trout gave several aggressive head shakes and fled to the undercuts of the bank.  I countered with a directional change of my rod tip to leverage the bruiser out.  Trying to keep the line tight i back stepped right into a muddy pit.  I fell and the line went limp... the trout had spit the hook and fled. 

  Catch and release season was ending on Silver Creek by the end of March so my fear was that many of the trout have seen just about every fly patten known to man.  I fished some sections along the way while contemplating a new strategy.  A shallow run only about 1-2' deep held several trout in the 10-12" range.  Size didn't matter at this point as i believe i was staring at a pod of Apache trout.  Excited and impatient, i foolishly cast my streamer to the far bank and stripped it back hoping an Apache would attack.  Instead, i scared off every one of these wary trout.  This was the last time i saw these dark spotted bronze colored trout.  Strike number two! I was really hoping that i would find redemption on this creek.  As i entered the C&R section i was approached by a fly fisherman from New Mexico.  We shared a few stories and he gave me a few tips, "they have been sipping dry's, try an RS2 or something similar" he said.  I agreed since i am a big fan of that pattern and tied up a hand full before leaving.

When i approached the edge of the bank, the creek opened up into a large pool and it became more like fishing a beaver dam.  The pool was full of titan sized trout but they all looked like rainbows.  These fish were straight up monsters, i am going to say a 16" trout would be on the smaller end of the scale while many fish looked to easily exceed 20" in length.  There were just too many fish in a small area, i thought it may have been a hatchery pond.  Several casts with the streamer produced zero strikes, these fish just followed my streamer and lost interest.  It was apparent that these fish have evolved.  The time was probably between 3-4pm and i noticed midge and bwo beginning to hatch.  The hatch for both bwo and midge were small (18-22) and i ditched my streamer setup and rigged a brand new Rio 9' 5x leader with two dry fly patterns (16 parachute adams and 18 RS2).

While rigging my line i noticed more dry fly activity and i could hear the splashing of rising trout.  Some trout were gently sipping the surface (probably eating emerging bwo) and some were tail whipping out of the water.  Gently casting dry flies with a 6wt on a spring creek is not the easiest task, thankfully the parachute adams gave enough drag to present a soft landing.  After about 15-20 min of casting i finally had a trout rise for my RS2, the take was soft and i set the hook at a perfect moment. This fish was strong as it quickly used its weight and jumped out of the water like free willy and snapped my brand new 5x leader.  Erika looked over and said he just got a big hit on the 18 z-midge that i tied on for her.  Unfortunately her leader snapped as well.  Are these the UFC fighters of trout? I may have been out-matched... i lost at least a few more afterwards and fought as hard as i could.  Erika noticed several broken leaders scattered across a bench, possible left from other discouraged fisherman.

Three strikes and I'm out!  I sure hope i land something at the Grand Canyon.

Last man standing.

A Grand Adventure Part 1- Oak Creek, AZ

Day 2 March 12, 2012

Sore legs, broken fly rod, and tough trout are a few words to sum up this so called vacation.  For my 30th birthday i set out to explore Arizona and its trout environs. This is the first time i have been to Arizona since child hood and i had forgotten how mountainous northern Arizona was.  In many ways it reminds me of the 395 and the eastern Sierra.  A seemingly endless ocean of desert sagebrush, rabbit bush and creosote welcomed me for at least 200 miles to Flagstaff... and i was pleasantly rejuvenated with snow capped peaks, ponderosa pines and cold mountain air. With darkness approaching, there was no chance for me to fish the afternoon hatch and the dark downward descent into oak canyon began. 

Oak creek canyon flows through beautiful red rock sandstone canyons from its headwaters near Flagstaff through Sedona.  The water was low, clear and cold.  I hiked what seemed like 1/4 mile from the red rock slide area until i reached a large deep pool that halted my upstream exploration.  Being my stubborn self, i managed to hug the canyon wall and side step across a thin ledge to reach yet another giant pool and dead end.  I was fishing with my RDP Custom 7'-6" 3wt fly rod in hand and i was reminded why this placed is called "slide rock".  I took an ugly spill into the creek and crushed my rod in two sections.  This was only two days into my vacation and my 3wt was dead. My lovely girlfriend Erika tried her best to re-assure my frustrations and together we sat on a boulder and patiently watched over the pool for rising trout.  

This section of the creek seemed to be void of anything living.  I decided to leave and scout a new area, i searched downstream and eventually found a pool that held what looked like a baby shark.  It was difficult to determine if the trout was a brown or rainbow however it looked  at least 20" in length and another in the 14" range.  I rigged Erika's Redington 5wt and tied on a size 14 Stimulator and a size 18 Z-midge dropper and made my way down into the gorge.  The pressure was on and i knew it.  I was unable to find trout in the lower section of Oak creek near cathedral rock the day before and this 20 Incher  would be the curing remedy to kill the skunk.  I had to use stealth to approach this large and probably wise trout.  With a decent casting angle, i began my first cast and left false casting to a minimum. After several casts and no takes, i figured that i blew my chance.  A crowd was beginning to form on the ridge above looking down at me and a few bait anglers were coming down.  It was my Que to find a new spot.

I decided to drive up to the west fork of Oak creek.  I have always been a fan of fishing a confluence and in tributaries.  It seems to me that the water is more oxygen rich and carries more aquatic insects to feed trout.  It was also the tail-end of winter so i thought i may be able to find some large post-spawn trout still lingering in the area.  After hiking several miles up the river trail, i was quickly discouraged of how shallow the tributary was.  The runs were less than a foot deep and the pools were maybe 3-4 feet.  Snow still laced the creek bank on the northern exposures which may still be nursing water into the creek.  For the most part, i fished the deepest sections of the creek with a size 18 parachute bwo.  

With zero takes or even sight of a trout i decided to hike back to the confluence.  On my way out, i met a friendly fly fisherman from Michigan that showed me some pictures of steelhead caught in some outlet of Lake Michigan.  While these steelhead looking trout were giant, i am not entirely sold that they are biologically "steelhead".  From what i have read, true steelhead are sea-run rainbow trout.  But i wont argue, its still larger than anything i have ever caught.  I parted ways with the fellow fly fisherman and began scouting the main stem of Oak Creek just below the confluence.  It is here where i sighted multiple large trout in the 16-18" range and most likely browns by their dark appearance.  The creek was still super skinny and shallow here and the trout seemed on edge.  After several blown attempts in this stretch and nightfall approaching i decided to call it a day.  At least watching Erika cast some tight loops into the fading sunlight was rewarding in its own right.