Almost at the last minute, my friend Rick Allen and I decided to take a day (May 4, 2017) and head up to Chevelon. I've fished this beautiful reservoir, nestled in a canyon amid huge Ponderosa Pine trees, many times before, extending all the way back to when I was in college at Northern Arizona University. I've never done all that well at Chevelon - its a love/disappointing relationship at best.
We met at the Starbucks inside Safeway in Payson at 7:00am and I transferred my gear into Rick's truck for the hour plus drive into Chevelon. Once we got there, we aired up our tubes, loaded the rest of the stuff we would need for the day, and hiked the half mile into the canyon to the edge of the reservoir. We launched and immediately I got a few strikes. So did Rick. Throughout the day, the fishing was steady but not what I'd call hot. We both caught somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 fish each. None of these fish were the large holdover Brown's we were seeking, but the normal 12" stocker Rainbows. It was probably the best fishing I've ever had at Chevelon, though, as I said, it wasn't spectacular. But to be fair, I've been skunked at Chevelon lots!
I was catching fish on either an Arizona Peacock lady or the Nosepicker Nymph fished below the larger fly with a full sinking 4wt. line. Rick was using a sink tip 5wt. and catching most of his fish on a black and blue Simi-seal Leech. I did see some surface feeding fish, but it wasn't consistent enough to warrant changing over to a floating line. I did see a few mayfly imagos though.
We saw maybe 3 other people all day! This is an out of the way Arizona gem where you can catch a number of fish. Hit it just right, which I never have, and I'm told you can catch 20"+ Browns here!
We finished up and hiked up the hill and were moving by 7:00pm. Back in Payson a bit after 8:00pm and we separated for our respective drives home. I was home by 10:30pm - a long but productive day.
Next up, I am headed to Nevada soon to catch some truly nuclear Rainbows and Tiger Trout. Come back here often.