The day started at four am, before the alarm went off, is that not always the way! Up dressed in heavy warm gear in anticipation of a long day. Loading up a cold truck meeting my friend at The Bass Pro shop car park. Load all the gear up, looks like we are going serious fly fishing! Pro bass would be proud of us!!! Plus Orvis, plus all the local fly stores who are like magnets to Fly Fishermen the world over. What addiction!!
Three hours later we have driven up to the high country in Arizona, plenty of snow, but the plows have done a great job, the roads are clear, other than highway patrol all over the place hiding for that speeding fisherman! The day dawns bright blue and chilly about thirty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, perfect! It soon warms up although the eyelets in the rod keep freezing over. Making casting interesting.
Nobody on the stream so off we trudge through foot high white stuff!! We split up, Brian moves higher upstream. I find a nice looking stretch of the stream with deep water. I figure on this cold day the trout will be deep, second cast fish on! A nice rainbow trout! Brian groans, why do you always do that to me!!! The luck of the draw I guess! A bit later on Brian hooks this huge rainbow, he has to fight it downstream to an area we can get the net on it. Big brute of a trout, his tail as wide as my hand. Awesome not to mention Brian almost goes for a swim as well!!!
With the snow, it is hard to see where the bank ends, and the tall rushes start, plenty of holes in-between to fall in to, a bit tricky. That was Brian’s day big fish no small guys for him. I was also lucky some nice size rainbows and plenty of Apache trout ranging in all sizes.
We had both decided to fish two nymphs under an indicator with the bottom nymph really close to the bottom. It turns out for some reason that day the trout loved a red nymph with black wrapped around the body. All the fish we caught were on that nymph. No other color worked we tried quite a few to see.
We fished till around three thirty in the afternoon without a break, then decided to head home so that we were out of the high country before dark. Driving home in the dark of winter you have to keep your eyes open for Elk and deer as they cross the roads. No big deal you think until you almost hit one and realize how big they are and the damage they can cause your truck. I know you are thinking wimps! But after a long day driving and fishing my reflexes are not as fast as they used to be. I am no Michael Shumaker (Formula one Race Driver) anymore!!
Drinking coffee, talking about the day and planning our next trip, just to keep awake while we drive, the perfect ending to a perfect day!
Flyfishingwhynow 