Timing, as they say, is everything!!
Every 2 months my wife and I take the drive up to Sedona Az to go to the natural water spring in Oak Creek Canyon. Supposedly some of the cleanest, most pure water in the USA. The Water really does taste alive and well. If we wake up 30 years from now glowing in the dark, it will be worth it!! We fill up as many containers as we can bring.
What has this got to do with timing and Fly fishing you might be asking? I get to Fly fish Oak creek canyon where the spring is. My wife dropped me off at 10-30 in the morning on a Friday, I have my plan all mapped out. There are 3 deep pools that I want to fish, about 8 miles North of Sedona up into the canyon. Being summer with lower water flow, I figure this will be where the big Browns hang out.
Walking to the first pool I hear voices, shouting, dog barking, splashing, kids doing what kids do! The pool has turned into an outdoor swimming pool, my big brown trout are wearing hard hats and are hunkered down for the duration!!!
Plan B, off to the next pool which is about 200 yards lower down through some thick dense undergrowth guarded with poison ivy! My hopes are not high! Dodging natures traps I arrive, nobody there. To fish in this pool and stay out of sight, you must cross lower down and then come back up to the base of the pool. Casting all over the stream I covered it well, catching one small brown trout. I was not feeling it.
The next pool was 200 yards further down, however, I had heard another person smashing through the bush, so I assumed he or she was probably fishing that pool. When I got there, he was not fishing but a nature lover who was swimming in the pool. Running out of options I went further down into some smaller ripples. After about an hour with no luck, decided to move back up the stream. When I got to this pool he was sunbathing on a rock. Decided to fish the pool from the bottom to the top. I caught another 2 small brown trout losing a slightly larger fish. Maybe these trout were shell-shocked and suffering PTS!!! Moving on up the stream past all the humanity I found some smaller runs catching one more small brown.
My time was up I had to be back in the car to meet my wife at 2-30 pm, so I had a total of about 3 ½ hours on the stream in the mid-day sun. Not the best time of day for fish, but the best time of day for humanity to relax by and in the water. Timing is everything!!
Flyfishingwhynow 