Oak Creek Canyon, back after a six-week hiatus, the monsoon season has started, and the water levels are beginning to rise. Great news!!! The water is still super clear no color to it yet.
I was lucky to get invited to fish with two young guns, whom I meet via different Fly Fishing Groups on Facebook. They were kind enough to welcome an old guy to go with them. I love the fact that they wanted to meet up there at six thirty in the morning. Bear in mind, it is two hour plus drive from Phoenix.
Up at Four am, out the door, driving up no AC on. As I approached Sedona, it was only Sixty-Six degrees Fahrenheit, beautiful!! To all that live in colder climates, you probably think I am nuts enjoying the cooler weather. However, here in Phoenix in the middle of summer, it has been in the Hundred and Eight and higher Fahrenheit. So any chance of cooler temps is much appreciated this time of year!
We meet at Bootlegger which is about eight miles North of Sedona in Oak Creek Canyon. Setting off we fished a few pools and some ripples getting separated. Later in the day, I got a phone call from Kris asking me where I was and did I want to go down to one of their fishing holes with them. Absolutely!! At that point, they had both caught two small browns, and I had missed one and landed a small brown on a nymph, we meet back at the cars, and after a two-minute drive, we were at the new spot.
They were in a hurry to get down to the stream which is nestled in the bottom of the canyon walls, so off they went lickety-split! A couple of seconds later they asked me if I was Ok to scramble down a small cliff face!! Now if I were on my own, I would have looked for a better route! But I sure as hell was not going to let these guys down and be a pussy!! Even though I like cats!!! If you get my drift! In fairness, this was not the Eiger in the Himalayas’
Scrambling, sliding in full battledress, fly fishing vest, wet wading boots, wading stick and the bloody Fly Rod, which at this point in time decided that it would have to do battle with every shrub, bush, rock, and trees just to make my life more miserable!!
Dignified it was not, the young bucks who had descended in one second flat looked up, I ‘m sure thinking if he falls and breaks his neck that is going to f…!!!!!! Up the rest of our fishing time.
The old Eagle landed, a bit ruffled jumped up and off we go, follow the leader through the bushes along the stream to some beautiful deep pools, with fast flowing water at the head and slowing down into deeper water.
The guys took off to different parts, and I was left to wonder what my next plan of attack would be. The water looked pretty deep, so I decided to use a grasshopper as an indicator with a red colored nymph about four foot down, then another three foot down a caddis nymph.
Casting up into the faster-moving current letting it drift down into the slower water. Took a nice rainbow.
I was standing on a ledge that ran along the pool trying to blend into the rocks. I had on a light tan shirt which blended well with the brown and red rocks. Later in the day fished some shallower ripples with the dry and caddis as a dropper landed two more small browns.
I finished about one thirty in the afternoon, the young bucks left about two hours before me. Great Day!
Flyfishingwhynow 