The morning of November 30 saw me up very early - 4:30 to be exact. I was out of the house by 5:00 and on the creek shortly after 7:30. Lee Lynch was already there and fishing. What we noticed right away was that the lower part of the creek has more fish than in previous years. Lee was able to fish the previous afternoon and had told me that he got some on a foam ant imitation. So, I tied on a foam ant and was immediately into fish. I fished a foam ant all day and probably caught at least a dozen.

Shortly after I arrived on the creek, Rick Allen also showed up. He got one on his first cast! I don't know what he was using but it was probably a subsurface fly of some sort. Lee also caught fish that day switching flies every once in awhile. I stuck with the ant - after all, it was working!

Both Rick and Lee had to leave for home late in the day, but I stayed in Show Low for the night and met Jeff Martin the next day on the creek. Again, the foam ant was working, but not as effectively as it had the day before. Jeff noticed my success and tied on a foam ant as well.

I went home, but Jeff stayed on and fished Saturday. He managed to hook one of the very big fish in the upper section but did not land it. I don't know what he had tied on at the time.

Well, I'm headed up again on December 6 to fish the creek on the 7th and 8th. This time, I am meeting Mike Caparoso and Bill Bendt - guys I know in Tucson. Mike has a house in the Pinetop area, so we'll be staying there. Come join us on the creek!

I've tied up a bunch of Simi-Seal Leeches, foam ants, and red and black Zebra Midges for this outing. Stay tuned for that report in a few days.