Spring Fling 2023

Ruby Lake NWR was essentially empty, but the fishing was out of this world. I fished for 4 solid days and had great fishing throughout.

From there, I gave myself plenty of time to get to the Green River in Utah below Flaming Gorge, and even took a day to figure out our shuttle, timing, flies, rods, boats, etc… for what was intened to be a three day float. It ended up being a 2 day float. The first day on the A section was outstanding. The weather was a bit rainy and blustery, but the Baetis came off and fishing a BWO to them elicited many takes. We camped that night just below Little Hole. Side canyons were running high with brown water, so the Green River itself was off color and the fishing did suffer. The next morning we decided to go for the end and hope that our shuttled vehicle got there a day early. It did, but it was a long day of rowing. In the future, I recommend doing a little research to see if the side canyons are running. If they are, just float the A section. If they are not, the A section and B section are about all you will need or want to do. I will say that the scenery all the way down was gorgeous.

From there, I dropped down to Moab. The idea was to go to the Fremont River, but I suspect that it was in full spring runoff mode, so decided to stay put in Moab a few days. The San Juan, usually reliable, was being ramped up in flows to 5000cfs. At that flow, there is no point in even going. So, I returned to Ruby Lake NWR for a couple of days before heading home.

It's Been Awhile

Well, it’s been awhile since I posted anything here. I guess I’ve been busy, but looking back, I can’t really pinpoint what I’ve been doing!

So far, fishing in 2023 looks like this:

May 5 through May 8 - Ruby Lake NWR

May 9 through May 12 - Wildhorse Reservoir

May 12 through May 14 - Green River near Dutch John

May 15 through May 18 - Float A, B, and C sections of the Green River

May 19 through May 22 - Fremont River

May 23 through May 26 - San Juan River

Join me for any or all of this. The order of the month? Catch fish!!!

An Overrun San Juan River

The plan was to arrive at Cottonwood Campground on April 20 and depart April 25. That almost happened. Nearly all of us (myself, Rick Allen, Jeff Martin, and Mark Merrill) left early. The diehards were Bill and Teri Bendt.

Why, you may ask, did we leave a perfectly good trout river? In short, too many people. It started out a little busy, but by the weekend, it was total madness. Oh, did I mention that it was kinda windy - all the time!

I think that once the New Mexico State Parks started allowing non-New Mexican residents onto the river and into the campgrounds, lots of fisher people headed to the Juan - and I’ll be giving the river a wide berth for a few years, or until this crush of humanity goes elsewhere.

OK, so how was the fishing? Well, it was pretty slow. We all caught fish, nice fish, just not a lot of them. And, since the wind was blowing almost constantly, there was virtually no dry fly activity. Most of the fish were caught on small midge larvae imitations, although I did manage to land a couple of nice fish on a floating midge adult fly on a day when I was able to locate a a small pod of risers in one of the river’s side channels. My best fish was a Rainbow on the Lower Flats in about a foot of water on a size 24 Disco Midge. This fish went about 23”.

So, my advise is to steer clear of the San Juan River in New Mexico for awhile. My next trip is in June to float the Middle Fork of the Salmon River up in Idaho and will be stopping off in Nevada to fish for a few days. Other than that, Phoenix canal carp will have to do.

By the way, if you’re at all familiar with the San Juan in New Mexico, you know that Abe’s Motel and Fly Shop has been an institution there since the dam was completed in 1958. Abe Chavez died this past winter and with this pandemic severely curtaiing business, the place is closed and for sale. It’s the end of an era. Hopefully, some well heeled fly fishing fanatic will buy the place, install upgrades, and begin a new era.

Speaking of a new era, a new fly shop has opened in Phoenix. The AZ Fly Shop had its grand opening on April 24 to rousing success. Let’s hope that continues. I had a small hand in getting the shop open in that I built the custom rod display racks for the shop. The shop is located on the NW corner of Cactus Road and State Route 51. Go check it out!

April Shenanigans

Okay, April is here. It’s getting warmer and before you know it, it’ll be hot. So, before it does, I’m taking a trip to Lake Havasu with Jeff Martin and Mark Merrill. We’re going to try to locate those big Bluegill in there. The dates are set - we arrive on April 12 and depart on April 15. A trip report will follow, so return here often.

The State of New Mexico has opened up the San Juan for non-residents, so that’s where I’m headed on April 20. I return home on April 25. I’ve heard the “Juan” is fishing well. It should be since it has had drastically reduced pressure for the past year. Water clarity is great, bugs are starting to come off. I’m pretty excited for this one. Both trips actually. Let’s meet up and discuss your next fly rod.

UPDATE (4/7/21): The Lake Havasu trip has been cancelled, but the San Juan trip is still on.

Spur of the Moment

It was the last day in January, and I had a laborer set to show up the next day to do some work at my house. In the afternoon, he texted me to say he had a cold and that it would be a few days before returning to work. That was just the break I was looking for!

I immediately called Rick Allen to see if his Tuesdaty was free. It was. We made a plan to meet at Silver Creek at 8:30am Tuesday morning. Now I had Monday to tie flies, rig a rod, and all the other chores around the house already scheduled. I got to them all except tying.

As it turns out, it didn’t really matter all that much. Both Rick and I caught one fish each. They were both decent fish (17” to 18'“), but not the monsters I’ve caught there recently. Ah well, it’s called fishing, not catching. It was a good day just being out of the house, but could have been better fishing-wise and also because I didn’t sleep hardly at all the night before. I was trudging around just executing the motions of fishing and was simply exhausted. The drive back was one of sleep deprived adventure. But I made it home by 5:15 pm after a 5:30 am start.

I have no idea when the next trip will be, but I suspect it will be over a month from now and probably out to Lake Havasu where I’ll be testing the reports of huge Bluegill. Join me!

Fly Fishing Mindfulness

As a kid at the tender age of 7, I picked up a fly rod. I was almost instantly hooked, as they say. Not that I caught a lot of fish at first, but I felt like I had joined a highly selective fraternity of grown-ups, and I felt like a million bucks when one of them took me fishing. You see, at that young age, my father suddenly died, leaving my mom and two very young sons with no rudder. We were adrift.

My father was not a fly fisherman per se, but a fisherman that used a variety of methods. Before he died, I remember getting to go on a fishing trip with him, and while I did not catch any fish, I never forgot the experience of seemingly being equal to a small cadre of men I thought knew some secret or had such a wealth of experience that catching fish came easy for them. Maybe it did, or looking back at it now, I see that it was the late 50’s or early 60’s and not a whole lot of people were out fishing, so I suspect that the fishing WAS easier then.

As I said, I did not catch a lot of fish in those early years, but I kept at it, even when my mother remarried and we moved from California to Arizona. That was 1965 or 1966. Those were some dry years (pun intended). And then in 1968 or 1969 we moved to South Central Missouri onto a huge cattle ranch that had on it a gushing spring that fed a sizable creek. I could see that there were fish in there, I just couldn’t hook any of them. I spent a lot of time on that creek by myself. I kept at it.

Then we moved back to Arizona in 1971 after my stepfather went broke in the cattle business. That’s when I started high school and I was able to buy my first actual fly rod. Until then, I had a fly/spin combo with a Pflueger fly reel and a Mitchell Garcia spinning reel. I fished that rod pretty hard throughout high school and even college in Flagstaff. And I was steadily catching more and more fish. I graduated college in late 1979 and took a job in Seattle, and you would think that being in the Northwest would have spurred me to fish more, but it didn’t. I was into rock climbing then, almost to the exclusion of everything else. I fished now and then, but I didn’t really take it seriously until I moved back to Arizona in 1981.

Upon my return to Arizona, I immersed myself in the climbing community and I climbed a lot. I still fished fairly often, but as I aged my climbing skills began to wane and my fly-fishing skills continued to get better and better. That’s when I had an epiphany. Why not take this fly fishing thing more seriously and see where it takes me. 

I built my first fly rod about then and since then have built dozens more. A few of them I still have but most were for family and friends. In 1983 I took a job with the Central Arizona Project that lasted for some 25 years and during that time I continued climbing and fishing, all while getting married and having a son.

So, in 2008 I finally pulled the plug on my career at age 52. I have not worked since, so over the past 13 years or so, I have fly fished a lot. And as I have aged, I have found that the reasons I fish have shifted. At first, I just wanted to catch a fish, any fish. I think I just wanted to catch fish, like those old timers that took me fishing when I was so young. I wanted to be in that fraternity.

Eventually, I tried to see how many fish I could catch. Yes, I counted the fish I caught during each outing. And then I wanted to see if I could catch large fish - numbers didn’t matter so much anymore. And now, I fish for entirely different reasons. I fish primarily for the comradery, but every once in a while I like to fish for the solitude. Occasionally, I get both. Like when I went up to Montana to horse pack into the Bob Marshall Wilderness with two friends. We spent a day in the saddle and then floated on our pontoon boats for a week, sometimes together, but mostly we floated independently until someone decided it was time to camp. Most of the time, each of us would float past a likely looking spot, beach our boat, fish the spot for a while, and then continue downriver. We would share a camp, but we fished in solitude mostly. 

I no longer count fish, but I still like catching a large fish now and then. But what I really enjoy is being where fish are, sharing that with someone, sharing what knowledge I have gained over the nearly 50 years of fly-fishing experience, and then fishing on my own once in a while. It’s not even about catching fish anymore - I’ve caught many, thousands probably - but about the places fishing takes me and the people I fish with. I do enjoy a bit of notoriety since I have fished for so long and have consistent success now, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that you have to fish a lot to get any good at it. You absolutely must continue to improve your casting. You don’t have to be able to double haul a 90 foot cast, but you do have to be able to plop your fly accurately at about 40 to 50 feet. You must study currents and where the food fish eat is getting funneled. You must be able to tie your own flies and be able to tie them at camp if necessary. Conditions change so often, and rapidly, that you cannot rely on that one fly you caught 20 fish on 3 years ago. Lastly, and maybe the most important, is that the really successful fishermen are laser focused. They do not allow any outside influences to alter their attention. An argument at work? Lost your job? Concerned about making the house payment? The political climate got you riled? None of these can enter your thoughts while fishing. At least put them away in the background and really become present, become mindful, become ultra-observant of the natural world. It is this ability to push everything aside and fish with purpose that is the major difference between catching and not catching. It is a meditation, and it doesn’t matter if you catch fish or not. If you can do this one thing, trust me, you will catch fish, but it won’t matter. And when you don’t, nothing changes in your demeanor. You are still there, focused, mindful, lost in your own world, paying attention to the smallest detail. This is your reward, not the fish. You’re still going to get skunked from time to time, but if you’re learning something (and it doesn’t even need to be about fishing), it is time wisely spent. Be wise and enjoy all of it.

Carp Results

Just in case you didn’t know, not every fishing trip is successful. Thursday’s carp outing certainly wasn’t! It was a day of rain, rain, and more rain. Jeff Martin and I got out and dodged raindrops for a bit, but could find no fish. The winter drawdown in the canals has begun, so our usual spots were nearly dry. We also tried the ASU Research Park lakes to no avail.

That’s it for 2020, and may I say here that I’m glad to see it go! 2021 has just got to be better. I mean, how could it get any worse? Locked down, essentially no travel, and extreme caution exercised in any public space, coupled with a hotly contested presidential election and a deteriorating climate, I think this year will be remembered for mostly the negative stuff. Time to look forward with optimism. Plan your fishing trips now!

Carp in the Desert

I woke up this morning and realized that it was 40 years ago now that John Lennon was murdered in the foyer of The Dakota in New York City. I remember where I was, too, when I heard this tragic news. I had arrived at work in Renton, Washington. There was a radio on in the office and the news broke to me then and there. I calmly got up from my desk and walked outside, tears streaming down my face the whole way.

I look back at it now and have come to understand that this event, and my reaction to it, was the end of my youthful innocence. I could no longer make sense of the world.

I didn’t fish much in those days. I was immersed in rock climbing. My whole world revolved around climbing as much as possible. I breathed it, I ate it, and I lived a climber’s life - at least the life of an employed climber, which is pretty rare. Climbing consumed me.

But that morning, things changed. I began to question my career, my life, and my goals. 6 months later, I was gone. I came back to Arizona where family and friends provided some sense of safety. I came back to Arizona for the climbing, too.

According to Mountain Project (a website dedicated to recording rock climbing routes nearly everywhere), Arizona has more rock than any other state in the US. That’s a bold claim, but it also says that not all of it is climbable. All you have to do is peer into Grand Canyon to realize there IS a lot of exposed rock out there. And, that’s just the beginning.

Anyway, upon my return to Arizona, I quickly immersed myself in the Central Arizona climbing community. That community, more than any other, has sustained me through the years. To this day, most of my friends are either active or retired climbers. There is one in particular that I met rather early on that now sticks in my mind. Not only did he climb, but he fly fished as well. We were never all that close, but we did climb and fish together some.

As I think about it, this person still influences my fishing today. As I plan another carp session in the East Valley of the Sun, I see that influence clearer than ever. He fished for trout, sure, but he fished for a whole variety of species. At the time I was strictly a trout guy, but he planted the seed for me to explore other possibilities. I’m glad he did.

So, Thursday I will be meeting Lee Lynch and Jeff Martin at a park in Gilbert with a canal running nearby. This particular canal has lots of carp in it. If things don’t go our way, we’ll move to the ASU Research Park in Tempe, where a few small lakes hold some very large carp.

Interested? Let me know and I’ll get you directions to the park.

Another SIlver Creek Behemoth

December 1st saw me driving up to Silver Creek again to meet Lee Lynch and Jeff Martin in the parking lot at 1:00pm. The idea was to fish the afternoon, camp out that night, and fish the next morning before going home.

Great idea, but boy was it cold that night! And it gradually warmed the next day, but not fast enough for me. Lee and I both left by around 12:30, while Jeff hung in there a bit longer. Of course, he stayed in a motel in Show Low so hadn’t really been all that cold.

I did manage to catch another large Rainbow the second day on a weird chartreuse terrestrial that I intended as in indicator over a Zebra Midge. This fish wasn’t as long as the previous fish I caught up there, but it was definitely heavier, closing in on 10 pounds. Who says you have to go to Kamchatka in Russia or Lago Stroble in Argentina for truly large Rainbows? We have them right here in Arizona, just not as many of them and of course Silver Creek is a somewhat contrived fishery. The fish are grown in a nearby hatchery and released into Silver Creek, so it is kind of like an aquarium in that sense. But, the fish released are very large.

In addition to more fish, the other thing that Kamchatka and Lago Stroble have over Silver Creek is that the setting is as wild as any place on Earth, and the fish reflect that wildness. So, if you have a hankering to fish for nuclear trout, those places should be on your bucket list. But, before you go, you can get a taste of what it might be like to catch such giant fish right here in Arizona!

Now, if you are headed to those famous places, you may be ready to step up your game with a new rod. I can fix you up. Call me.

2020 and Into 2021

There won’t be a lot of fishing from now until the end of the year, but a trip or maybe two up to Silver Creek might get squeezed in, as will the much more accessible carp fishing in the Valley of the Sun. Let me know if you want to go do either of those things. I can go most anytime, as long as I have a few days notice. Otherwise, I’ll be busy with winter projects here at home.

But, with the new year, I fully intend to try a couple of trips out to Lake Havasu in search of trophy Bluegills. This will largely be hunting and trying, so success might not be measured so much by numbers of fish caught. But, if we can sorta figure things out like where the fish are, what they like to eat, and just getting around on such a large body of water, maybe, just maybe this will become a new and consistent destination.

If interested, just let me know. I’m raring to go!

White Mountain Fishing in November

Bill Bendt and I met in the White Mountains on November 2 and fished for the next 3 days. We started out on Becker Lake where Bill landed two very nice fish while I had plenty of bumps but none landed, although two of those bumps resulted in two complete break-offs. That was encouraging.

The next day we went to Big Lake and fished South Cove with some success but not really outstanding either. We went to Railroad Cove and I caught 5 there while Bill landed a couple (all small stockers). As we left the lake, we saw some elk and as our attention was finally off the water, we saw probably 60 elk that evening.

We went back to Becker the next day and didn’t do that weil. A couple of half-hearted bumps each was all we could muster. So, we decided to go to Silver Creek to change things up a bit.

Fishing at Silver Creek can be really good, or it can be plain old slow. This day it was slow. We each caught one fish. Mine is probably my personal best Rainbow. Here’s a photo:

I caught this fish on a size 18 green mayfly emerger pattern tied to 5x flouro tippet on a Sage RPL 9’ 4wt. rod. Want a custom fly rod? Contact me.

October 2020

As the summer winds down, I begin to think about how the fish will become more active with cooler temperatures. And, my “go-to” trip is the San Juan River sometime in October or November. This year, due to COVID-19 concerns, the State of New Mexico has closed Navajo Lake State Park to non-New Mexico residents. So, I decided to go elsewhere.

I have written here before about the place, but I will no longer reveal the actual place. You can scour previous posts for hints. The place is so special, I fear it will get overrun with fisher-people and the place ruined. The likelihood of that happening is fairly small because to get to this place, you gotta wanna go there pretty bad. Let’s just say there are close to a hundred miles of dirt road to get to it, there are no stores, gas stations, or fly shops within that hundred miles. You must go prepared with EVERYTHING! Food, stove, water, tent, etc… Bring it all, ‘cuz you won’t find a damned thing here. There is a campground that has running water from May to the end of September. Outside of that, bring your own water. It also has pit toilets.

The campground is a USFS facility, but the fishing is done on USFWS property. The fish are stocked by the state it is in. No, I will not tell you what state.

My friend Mark Merrill and I met here on October 10. He fished a bit that day, but I hadn’t thought to start my license until the next day. Good thing I didn’t fish too because there were a couple of game wardens prowling around that day. They didn’t check Mark’s license, but had I been fishing, my luck would have not been so good.

I fished a total of 4 days and Mark did the same but as I said, he fished a little on that first day. Each of us averaged 20 to 30 fish per day. The average fish was around 12” to 14”, but each of us managed to hang 4 or 5 fish in the 20”+/- range each day. So, over 4 days, I estimate that we caught anywhere from 160 to 240 fish! Anybody know where you can go to do that? Mark, who works in a fly shop in Sacramento thinks it might be the best fishing in the lower 48. I disagree with that because I think the South Fork of the Flathead River in the Bob Marshall Wilderness probably takes that honor. Access to the South Fork is considerably more complicated though. Even though it is in the middle of one of the largest wilderness complexes in the country, outside of Alaska, the fishing has become more popular and you will run into more people than you used to. My last trip there was in 2019 and the fishing was still crazy good, but there was a little competition for the best campsites and best fishing holes. Where Mark and I went, we were the only fly fishermen there. There were lots of hunters and a couple of spin fishermen, so we virtually had the whole place to ourselves.

I’d like to say that catching that many fish was easy, but as Mark and I discussed this, we agreed that as long as you could pump out 50’ casts accurately in the wind with a 4 weight and understood the feeding behavior of the fish, it actually was pretty easy. This is no place for a beginner fly fisher, though I think with help a beginner might get into some fish.

Here’s Mark and I with fish.

The primary trout species is the Rainbow Trout, but there are Cutbows and even Brook Trout there. And, as an added bonus, there are some truly large Tiger Trout there. I managed about an 18” Tiger one day! Also, if you’re into this sort of thing, you can catch a large number of Smallmouth Bass. You’ll need a self-propelled boat of some sort to do it though.

If you want to experience this, drop me a line, a phone call, email, or text. I’ll put you on the list of those to invite the next time I go, which could be as early as May 2021.

Okay, now for the coup de gras. My personal best (largest Rainbow Trout) was caught from this place a few years ago that was in the 30” range. If you want a shot at some truly monster Rainbows, this is THE place in the entire United States. I would even say it rivals Alaska, without having to go so far or incur such expense! Be ready to rough it though.

The last thing I want to say here is that both Mark and I used “old school” Sage rods. Without conferring, we both armed ourselves with Sage RPL 9’ 4wt rods. I had built mine way back in the early 90’s and I have broken it twice since then. It is still my favorite rod of all time. Apparently, the folks on various Sage forums agree that the RPL 9’ 4wt is the best Sage rod ever made.

I cannot build an RPL for you, since the blank is no longer available, although Sage is still making replacement sections if you break one. Maybe Sage could be talked into making another full blank. You’ll just have to check on that. What I can do is fit you to the rod of your dreams and then custom build a rod from an available blank, Sage or otherwise. Your new rod will become your secret weapon in achieving your fishing dreams.

More Fishing, Less Travel

As the summer wears on here in Central Arizona, the search for more fishing in the State continues. In addition to discovering what many fly fisher folks already know, chasing carp in the canals that criss cross the Valley of the Sun (that’s the Phoenix area for non-locals), I have happened upon a relatively new trophy Bluegill fishery right here in Arizona - in fact two of them!

According to wideopenspaces.com the 5 spots from which the the next record Bluegill is likely to be caught are:

Richmond Hill Lake in North Carolina

Lake Havasu on the Arizona/California border

Ketona Lake in Alabama

C. J. Strike Reservoir in Idaho

Goldwater Lake in Arizona

That’s right! 2 of the top 5 spots are right here in Arizona! So, don’t let a little virus keep you from fishing for those huge hawgs. They’re right here. If you can’t social distance on a reservoir the size of Lake Havasu, maybe it’s best you stay home. More news of carp and bluegill fishing to come.

I’ll be figuring out what the best rod is for fishing for both species. So far, I’d say a long (9’ or 10’) 5 weight is about right for the carp. It should have enough speed to pump out 50’+ casts quickly.

Stay tuned.

COVID Summer Blues

Here it is August 8, 2020 and there have been no fishing trips this year at all - and none planned, until we get over this nasty little virus. So with the heat of summer here in Arizona, I decided to look into something I had put off for years. I went carp fishing in the canals around Phoenix!

Now, before you turn your noses up and look for other interesting things to read, hear me out. Yes, the urban nature of this fishing is absolutely hideous. No, carp don’t look or behave anything like trout. But, they do get big.

I’ve done some research on this and found out that there are 4 species of carp found in the canals here. I’ve been able to identify two of them: the common carp and the grass carp. The common carp is one of the smartest fish I have ever encountered. It’s like they have ESP or something. I mean, all you have to do is look at them and all you see is a puff of silt - GONE!!!!! Cast a fly anywhere near them and poof - GONE!!!! Allow your line to cast even the slightest shadow on the water, even though they are 20’ away and shazam - GONE!!!! I have essentialy given up on actually targeting them. I go after the grass carp. Grass carp will actually feed off the surface, so you can use dry flies to catch them. Though I would argue that they are not particularly easy to catch.

They too are pretty spooky. And that will require nearly pinpoint casts at 60’ or more. A botched cast and they disappear, though they’re not so oddly prescient as the common carp. The good news is that there are plenty of them in the canals, so even if you screw up 90% of your casts, you’ll still got decent shots at 10 to 15 fish per hour. You just have to keep moving and know what to look for. We call it hunting for Desert Tarpon.

And the major drawback so far is that their activity seems to be under a full, hot sun. That means temps are well over 100. Folks, it gets HOT here, but the fish are actually more active then. Bring plenty of water, sunglasses, a wide brimmed hat, a neck gator, at least a 9’ 5wt rod rigged with a reel holding a floating line, and a 6 to 7 foot leader/tippet down to about 3x. For flies, I have found floating flies in bright yellow, chartreuse, or even white are preferred by these fish. Bring your stalking and casting A game and you’ll soon be trying to figure out how to land one.

For this, bring a buddy and a long handled net. The person who is hooked up stays on the bank holding the bent rod and one end of the net, while your buddy holds on the other end of the net and is lowered down to the top of the concrete lining and/or one of the ladders installed in the lining in order to escape in case you fall in. Once your buddy is safe and in position, guide your fish to him. He’ll net it and you do this in reverse to get him up on the bank. Only then will one of you have a free hand to take a photo. These fish are pretty hardy, so no need to drop back to the water to gently release them. You can toss ‘em in from the bank.

COVID-19 Musings

As we near the end of June this pretty f’d up year of 2020, I find myself actually enjoying staying at home and NOT fishing! I know what you’re thinking – has this guy gone off the deep end? No, I have rediscovered vegetable gardening, like a lot of people have while self-isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I built a rod for a guy a few years ago, but he broke the rod. Now, with a new tip section, I have a rod rebuild on the bench. I can stretch that out to a week-long project if I stay up late, wake up late, take care of the garden, and really take my time with it.

I did manage to get out fishing one day about a week ago. I drove up to Flagstaff to meet my friend Jeff Martin. He and his wife a have a cabin just South of Flagstaff in a small community named Mountainair. I stayed in my truck nearby for two nights, but the intervening day was spent fishing –  more accurately, it was spent driving to find decent water to fish.

We started out at Marshall Lake. There seemed to be a bit of open water from what we could tell, so we hauled out the float tubes, waders, rods, etc… and gave it a try. After about 200 yards of slogging through 6” deep water and mud, we gave up. No open, deep water to be found. So, we moved on to find Perkins Tank, just South of Williams. I had never fished there before, so Jeff took the lead. He sort of got turned around and we ended up at another place called Elk Tank. Elk Tank is a small impoundment that you have to walk about 300 yards to get to. We made the trek with all our stuff and got in the water. After a couple of hours and only two half hearted bumps, we decided to move on.

That’s when we moved to JD Dam, another place I had never fished before. We got in and within 10 or 15 minutes we were both into fish. It wasn’t hot and heavy, but we did manage to land a half dozen small Tiger Trout each.

All the trips this summer that were either planned or actually booked have fallen through or are tentative at best. The Grand Canyon trip happened but I declined to participate. A trip up to Idaho to float the Middle Fork of the Salmon River was deferred to 2021. A trip to Great Basin National Park with Rick Allen is on shaky ground too. If anything, it will have to be later this summer or even fall.

Any other year, I would be in a serious funk. Not getting out and fishing, hell, not even traveling, would be excruciatingly painful for me. Not this year. I’m enjoying the time at home getting things accomplished. I also know that when I do resume my normal routine, my fishing experience will be richer and that much more appreciated. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

I think that sentiment might be a Western interpretation of Buddhist mindfulness. Be here now. Chop wood, carry water. Don’t let the small stuff get you down – it’s all small stuff. Enjoy your life as it is. It’s all transitory anyway.

If you fish, fish with abandon. If you collect stamps, do it with fervor. If you garden, immerse yourself in the joy of growing your own food. You see, it doesn’t matter what turns you on. Let every experience turn you on.

Summer 2020

Here we are in May and I have absolutely no fishing plans. Actually, I do have plans but have no intention of carrying them out amid this global health challenge. Since November last year, I have not been out fishing at all – well, I went up to Silver Creek and met Lee Lynch one day, but my heart wasn’t really in it. Lee managed to hang a few but I slept a lot. It was good to get out of the house though.

I did get invited on a trip to Grand Canyon to hike into and fish Tapeats Creek, but I have opted out. We are still practicing a fairly strict isolation protocol and leaving my wife at home to deal with that by herself seems unfair. In addition, I’d be driving myself to the trailhead and outfitting completely independent of my hiking mates – Chris Rich and friends.

I’ve done this trip before and normally we would share the load of water filter, stove, food, etc… but that would not be possible this trip.

The fishing on Tapeats Creek is pretty good. The fish are plentiful, if small, and eager to eat. Plus, the setting is awesome!

I’ve also been invited on an extended float trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho launching June 24. Apparently, the Forest Service is beginning to release permits and we have until June 1 to decide whether we are going or not. If not, we can opt to defer to the same date next year, which is my preferred alternative – wait until next year.

The MF Salmon is a full on whitewater experience with about 100 miles of nearly continuous Class II, Class III, and Class IV rapids. The cutthroat fishing is reportedly very good. If it is anything like the South Fork of the Flathead River in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana (see previous trip reports), the fish are not selective, so just about any dry fly will produce. I’ve been applying for a permit on this river for 20 years and have never been drawn, so if the permit holders (Susan Brown and Keith Burdette) opt to go this year, it will be a very tough decision either way. I’m hoping to convince them to defer.

My trip mates, in addition to Keith and Susan, are Rick Allen and Greg Burdulis (kayaker extraordinaire). The set up would be 4 people and 2 boats, and one kayaker. Pretty optimal in terms of safety and keeping trip size to a minimum.

One other possibility for the summer once things open up a bit is for Rick Allen and me to drive up to Great Basin National Park and backpack into a lake there that holds Lahontan Cutthroat Trout, similar to the fish in Pyramid Lake (see previous trip report). This is probably the most likely trip of the three to actually happen. We don’t have dates for this yet, but it would most likely be in mid-July.

With all this down time, I have planted a vegetable garden, made improvements on the house, and upgraded some tools in the woodshop. I’ve not tied any flies, but this would be a perfect time to get a rod order in. I can virtually drop everything and complete your rod build fairly quickly, as I have no rods currently on the bench. Together, we can select a blank to fit your fishing/casting style and your budget. I charge a flat fee for my labor (it’s the same amount of work to build on a high end blank as it is on the very cheapest blank). The cost differential is determined by the price of the blank and the components we select together. If interested, contact me. My contact information is listed elsewhere on this website.

San Juan November 2019

The flow never ramped back up to 500cfs as advertised. In fact, it stayed low (around 300cfs) for our whole trip. We arrived in the afternoon of 11/14 and left in the morning of 11/19.

For the most part, the fishing was at or below average in my experience. There were bugs emerging, but it wasn’t the OH WOW hatch I was expecting. So, midge larvae, pupae, etc… ruled the character of the fishing. There were a few baetis in the afternoon, but it wasn’t what I’d call enough for the fish to key on.

Even so, all of us caught fish, and Bill Elk, probably the least experienced of us all, caught THE fish fo the trip - a 21” Rainbow - but of course nobody saw it but him. Typical fish story, I suppose.

We rented a place called the Octogon Inn right in the small community of Navajo Dam on the river. It was opulent compared to the normal camping we do there. I highly recommend a stay there, especially if the weather is a bit harsh.

Speaking of the weather, it was pretty cold in the mornings, but it warmed up quickly enough that we were quite comfortable on the water all day long. I’d say low 20s in the morning all the way into the high 50s during the day.

The one thing I think I’d say about the San Juan now is that there is a pretty heavy load of Didymo in the river. Normally, I don’t see as much as I did this trip. Might have something to do with the low flows. I’d love to see a flush of about 2 days to see if that would eliminate so much snot on the rocks.

Of the 5 of us fishing on this trip, 4 of us were throwing Coast to Coast made rods. Get yourself one - SOON!

November 2019 San Juan

Well, the next trip is to the San Juan in New Mexico. We arrive November 14 and depart on November 19. It will be quite the crew for this one. Bill Bendt and Mike Caporaso from Tucson, Rick Allen, Bill Elk from Boston, and myself. We’ve rented the Octogon Inn for 5 nights.

So, we’ll fish for 4 solid days. The fishing reports call for a drop in flow, which will make wading a bit simpler, but offers less holding water for the fish. If the weather stays good, the adult midge and Baetis fishing should be exceptional. There’s always the weighted nymph/indicator fishing too.

Update: The flow is expected to ramp back up to 500 cfs on November 14, so I expect the fishing to be a bit off for the first day or so we are there. But, it should gradually get better as the fish find lies that have not been available to them for the past week or so.

Anyway, betweent the 5 of us, we should have a fairly complete trout rod arsenal that, and many of those rods were built by Coast to Coast Fly Rods (me). This would be a great opportunity to cast a variety of rods. Come join us and let me help you select a blank to build your perfect fly rod.

Summer 2019

It was a hot July 4 and I was headed North. Mark Merrill was set to arrive at the Salt Lake City airport the next day, so I had to make good time. I made a total of 435 miles by the time I could drive no further and stayed in Panguitch, Utah. There’s a pretty good steak and BBQ place there. I made SLC in plenty of time, picked up Mark, and we made it to Green River, Wyoming that same day. The next day saw us all the way to Thermopolis, Wyoming.

The idea was to fish the Wind River below Boysen Reservoir. We did that the next day, but the river was still running high and off color, though I did manage to hook a fish that I never saw. It took off down river and there was nothing I could do to stop it. That was all either of us could muster.

The next day, we headed to a creek we’d heard about, Bull Lake Creek. We caught fish but were run off due to it being on private land. So much for that plan! At this point, we were pretty much done with this part of Wyoming, so since we had another night of an Airbnb in Thermopolis, we had a rest day. Yeah, you read that right - a rest day from fishing.

Thermopolis is kind of known for the natural hot springs there and we took part at  the state run facility in a park right in the middle of town. There are even hotels in the park.

The next day we headed Northwest, past Cody and into Yellowstone National Park, and exited at West Yellowstone, Montana. Along the way, we paralleled the Madison River and we both commented on what a great looking trout river it was. Funny thing though – there was absolutely nobody fishing it. That struck us as odd, so we inquired about it at one of the billion or so fly shops in West Yellowstone. It turns out that there is so much geothermal activity along the Madison in the park that the water temperature is too warm for trout. The fishing on the Madison doesn’t start until just downstream of Hebgen Reservoir. This should not have came as a complete surprise to us, but it did.

So, we continued North along the Gallatin River where we had reserved a small cabin at a place called Cinnamon Lodge. We fished the Gallatin for two days, but were not impressed. So, we pressed on to Missoula, where we met Bill Elk. The three of us actually went to a Missoula Osprey game that night and I highly recommend going to a minor league baseball game sometime. The beer and food is less expensive than a big league ballpark and the baseball is pretty darn good. We all thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

The next day, we provisioned ourselves and headed to Rock Creek where we had rented 3 small cabins. The idea was to fish Rock Creek for a week, but the creek was high and off color, just like the Wind River, so the fishing wasn’t very good. We tried fishing Flint Creek nearby, and it was better. We even fished Georgetown Lake, where both Mark and I had huge hits and each time these colossal fish broke off everything!

Eventually, Mark needed to get home so he flew out of Missoula while Bill and I fished another couple of days, until Bill flew home as well.

Kim Pomeroy drove into Missoula later the same day that Bill flew out and we rented an Airbnb for three nights while we provisioned for a 9 day trip into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. We also fished a little on Flint Creek. The night before being packed into the “Bob” we stayed in a B&B near the Owl Creek Trailhead. Joining us at the B&B was Rick Allen. The three of us awoke early the morning of July 23 and made our way to the trailhead, where our pontoon boats and camping supplies had been dropped off the day before. It was all loaded up on 3 mules and we soon mounted our assigned horses to ride the 28 miles to the South Fork of the Flathead River. 

That’s a long ride my friends! The first night on the Bob, we camped just downstream of the Gordon Creek confluence. For the next 7 days we floated, fished, and camped along the SF Flathead. I counted fish only one of those days and my final count that day was 60. If one were to rise early and dedicate themselves to catching 100 fish in a day, this is a place where it is possible. I mostly used #12 Elk Hair Caddis, but occasionally switched to #12 Royal Wullfs. And, I indicator nymph fished some with primarily Prince Nymphs, which was also effective.

On the morning of our 5th day (4th camp) I was ready to push off before anybody else. Rick was a bit upstream already fishing and Kim was packing his gear on his boat. I told them where I thought our destination for the day would be and told Kim I’d see them downstream shortly. I got to a tricky little rapid and waited for Rick, who is the least experienced river runner of the three of us. I waited for at least 2 hours and realized that they just weren’t coming anytime soon. I continued on but in a mile or so, I pulled off and set up camp long before the place I had described to Kim. I figured that eventually they’d be along, see my boat, and pull off. I fished, made camp, and ate dinner. By then, I was a bit worried, so I hiked upstream to see if I could find them or talk to others that may have seem them. I came upon two camps, neither of which had seen two guys in pontoon boats. It then dawned on me that somehow they had gotten ahead of me, maybe having taken a different channel in a braided part of the river where I had been waiting. Once I got back to my camp, I quickly loaded up my boat and pushed on downstream in the hope that I would catch them. I rowed until dark and finally pulled over to make camp. I asked various parties if they had seen the rest of mine. None had. I was perplexed. I had no idea what had happened to them!

For the next two days I fished, floated, and camped on my own. There was nothing I could do but enjoy the trip and hope that we met back up eventually, which we finally did on day 8 of the trip. We had been separated for 3 days.

When we got to the takeout on day 9, we started disassembling or boats and carrying everything up to a spot where the packer we had hired to come get us would load the mules. Rick and I walked the 4 miles out to the Meadow Creek Trailhead while Kim rode out on a horse. My truck was waiting for us having paid someone to shuttle it around for us.

We had to go get Rick and Kim’s vehicles at the B&B and then we all met in Missoula where we stayed the night. We all took off the next day for our own destinations. Rick had to go home to Arizona, as did Kim to Colorado Springs. I was headed to Boulder, Colorado but had to go to Rock Creek where I had stayed to pick up a few of my things I had left to make room for the 3 person’s boat and gear haul from the ending trailhead to the B&B. Once I got my stuff, I headed East and camped on the Yellowstone River just South of Livingston, Montana. The next day I made it all the way to Boulder. I spent 4 days in Boulder with a friend, Steve Terjak. We climbed in Eldorado Canyon one day and I was finally able to get on a very famous climb, The Bastille Crack. There’s a reason it is so famous. It’s a moderate, clean line that goes 4 pitches up a buttress. The start is basically right off the road. It is a wonderful route.

Then, I received a text one late evening that a friend of mine had been killed in a plane crash in Alaska. All my enthusiasm for more climbing just drained out of me. I needed to start rolling home.

After a day on the road, I started to feel better and realized there was little I could do at home to address the estate issues left by my friend, so I decided to go to the San Juan River in New Mexico and fish. My friend Jeff Martin was set to meet me there anyway, but I had about three days on my own there before he showed up. Once he did, we fished for an additional 3 days.

Many people don’t like the San Juan because of the angler hatch there. It is a busy fishery, but you can get away from the crowds if you’re willing to walk a bit. And, the fishing is not easy. I spent a week on the Juan and caught plenty of fish. I have a secret dry fly that works there consistently, but I used the indicator nymph set up to catch quite a few fish too.

By now, I was starting to show some travel fatigue, and wanted to get home. I visited an old friend in Cortez on my way home, arriving after 10:00pm. All in all, it was a successful trip, with the fish count well into the hundreds.

If you want to try a variety of custom built rods, I have quite a few. We can explore what you like and dislike in a rod, and then design a rod that works for you. It is less expensive than you might think. Give me a call.

Summer 2019 and Beyond

As I clean up after the trip to Christmas Tree Lake, my thoughts have turned to the next set of trips.

Mark Merrill and I will be fishing at the Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge in early July, and the Wind River in Wyoming in mid-July. Bill Elk will be joining us for a week after that to fish Rock Creek in Montana. Soon after that, Rick Allen, Kim Pomeroy, and I will be embarking on a week long float of the South Fork of the Flathead River in the middle of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. As soon as we’re out of “the Bob”, I head to Boulder, Colorado for some climbing, but after a week, I’ll be headed south to fish my way back home to Arizona. That’s it for the summer, but I’ve been thinking beyond that!

In November, I am thinking of heading back to Cypremort Point, Louisiana to see if I can tangle with some Redfish there. And in February, I am strongly considering a 3 or 4 week trip to New Zealand, at least in part with Mark Merrill, who has been there well over a dozen times. Air fare is expensive but not as much as you might think. Plus, Mark says it is very inexpensive once you’re there. There’s free camping everywhere, fishing access is virtually unrestricted, and there are numerous “world class” trout rivers nearly everywherei