Oak Creek Canyon Sedona AZ

Oak Creek Canyon Sedona Az

I have Fly fished this beautiful stream many times the last couple of years; reading other people’s posts recently, I decided to go back there during a week day to try my luck.

This stream requires stealth and a lot of patience; it does not give up its jewels easily! The water this time was gin clear and low by previous years but still had plenty of flow and some great riffles and deeper pools.

If you venture out during the summer, you will find the stream to be very overgrown and, in some areas, difficult to get thru the brush. Plus, there will be plenty of hikers, swimmers, and dogs in most of the more accessible spots. I mostly fish there in the winter; the brush has mostly died off with very few people about. However, along the stream there are plenty of rocks and boulders this time of year that are covered with dead leaves, so be careful when rock hopping, easy to turn an ankle if not looking where you place your boot!

If you have not Fly Fished here before, I would recommend using a guiding service your first time. I have not used Sedona Fly Fishing Adventures, but they are the only licensed guiding service for Oak Creek. However, I have Fly fished with some of the Local Arizona guides they bring in when needed and are exceptional fly fishers!

I have learned by trial and error plenty of errors Over the years! I have fished many of the known spots and many more challenging areas to get into with various degrees of luck. I have had days with over ten plus trout and days totally skunked!! Yesterday I was lucky to pick up a few wild brown trout here and there while checking out a new spot I have not fished. The beauty and scenery are outstanding. The road running above along the stream has many places you can drop down onto the stream if you can find parking. You will need a red rock pass, and it was $5.00 for the day; there are also a couple of spots that charge $9.00 a day to park.

As for the fishing, I spent a good hour sitting on a rock in the middle of the stream, casting dry flies with a small nymph underneath to a few rising trout. Try as I might I could not get them to eat. I throw the kitchen sink at them with no luck, other than my feet freezing into solid blocks of ice! 

Moving on, I fished streamers thru the deeper pools as well as double nymphs down very deep off an indicator in the deeper pools. That is where I had most of my luck, and they were deep! The Fly they liked was a size 16 thick stubby brown with green bands on the body nymph kind of like a grub but not really. One of those flies you have and wonder when you will use, well after drawing blanks, it was time to go bold, and this was the Fly, who knew!!

It is a magical spot not too far out of Phoenix with the Red Rocks of Sedona as a backdrop. Gods country.

Get out there, wherever there is, and enjoy the fresh air, scenery, and the sport of casting a fly!