Canyon Creek August 10/11 2008

On Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, Greg Holtum and I fished Canyon Creek.

Greg Fishing

I had not fished the creek since the fire.

I am glad we did. Mother Nature, The Desert Flycasters, The Arizona Fly Casters, The Zane Grey Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and The Arizona Game & Fish Department have done a tremendous job of restoring the stream. Kudos to Game and Fish for the new signs in the catch and release section.
Fishing was good with a hopper-dropper set up. About half the fish went for the traditional (non-foam) hopper up top, while pheasant tails, copper johns, and prince nymphs did damage below in sizes 16-18.

The most exciting part of the trip occurred Sunday evening when a heavy brown inhaled a hopper and headed back under a rock. I was able to winch him out a couple times only to have him head back under. Finally, he saw me and headed straight downstream into a root ball. Pop!

Here is one that did not get away:

Canyon Creek Brown about to be released