Dog Days of Summer Canyon Creek AZ
When the going gets tough, the tough get going!!! Marie Mc Clean, Frank Schettino and I left early out of a sweltering Phoenix for the cooler climates of Canyon Creek, for some of its allusive Browns.
We had had a report from one of our club members, that the water was shallow. The upper part of the lower Canyon Creek had a lot of watercress and weeds, which had grown into some of the large pools. Being the optimistic Fly guys and girls, we are, off we went.
For armed is forward! It was a day of hard fishing, changing up flies, different rig combinations to hunt these guys down. Both of my friends are now into fly tying, and of course, they had to share their latest creations with me that was guaranteed to catch fish. I have to admit they were great looking flies, I felt really guilty of losing them during the day! The upshot was, a lot of walking flies in trees, bushes, weeds you name it, we covered it. The weather was thundering with dark monsoon clouds hovering around, humidity was picking up, but the good news, no lightening, and no rain!!
This was a day to enjoy the country and hunker down into some serious stealth mod, longer casts as the fish were very spooky. The water is so clear it was hard for us to remain in concealment. Marie was fishing about a hundred yards above me when I heard this little squeal, not sure how to describe the noise, I knew it was not wildlife!!! It was, in fact, Marie’s war cry for fish on. I managed to scramble up and get a picture of her wrestling this guy in on her seven foot, three or four weight rod. She is the champion!!!
After that excitement back to casting and hoping!! I saw a lot of trout that day, managed with my skill to miss five strikes, all on the surface chasing down my grasshopper. I had bought a crossover between a beetle and not sure what other bug combination it was, but it looked tasty to me! Tying on to the line only to discover that when I cast out I could not see it, the black color with the glare on the water just killed my vision, I will have to use in different circumstances next time.
It’s not that I did not have my chances. I did, one particular pool with a little waterfall at the head of the pool, the first cast I missed a nice trout, second cast same thing. I fished that pool hard, changing up to different flies, waiting, coming back later, and no dice. It was as if the fish were saying you had your chances now bugger off!!!! We are having a siesta.
Not to be outdone I trudged higher up into some dense foliage beating my way into the small protected stream only to get beaten up by the bushes.
Time to head back. I came across the guys in their truck they had come up looking for me. It was about three in the afternoon, and I was feeling pretty beat up! Marie was smiling away. I said Ok do you guys want to leave now! Marie what? There is plenty of daylight left, let move to another part of the stream and try our luck!!! Man, I thought I was bad she is the queen of water time!!!!
We moved down the stream and off we went, I was pushing thru some bushes when I felt a bite on my arm. Looking down I was covered in giant black ants, that had just found their dinner, Me!!!
Vest off, and I did the jungle dance, flapping my arms, jumping up and down, beating the hell out of them. Marie looked on as if I had finally lost my mind. Pointing out my assailants all over me she looked at the bushes and pointed out to that they were covered in ants, and off she walked, no big deal, in fact, I am sure she was thinking if she had any flies that resembled these ants to try on the water!!!
Finally, it was getting too dark to see the flies we all were casting and also still no fish rises at almost dark, for sure there should have been some activity?
Time to get back to the trucks, get some coffee and drive home, a long day on the stream, few fish but a great day none the less, Dog days of summer!
Flyfishingwhynow 