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.