Fishing the Secrets

Friday morning and I am packing my truck for fly fishing some small streams with some great friends. Ross and Ryan Reed have been telling and shoeing me pictures of this awesome stretch of stream that very few people fish. It is up one of the more known canyons and water ways of the area but the stretch they fish is hard to get to and most times overlooked by the majority. Ross called me up Tuesday afternoon asking if I wanted to fish, does the ice melt in July, of course I wanted to fish. We planned to meet at 9 at his house and go from there. A little later than we normally leave for a fishing day but I was happy for the sleep in. Packed up the gear and headed south.

Picked up Ross and his son Ryan at their place. Ryan was up from Las Vegas where he works as lawyer and was looking for some down time and fish. Ross is a full time teacher and coach, so his time is just as precious especially with his son. We left for the area they wanted to take me. Up a good graded road about an hour later and we prepared for the hike into the area we were fishing. The first pitch was steep and gravelly but we navigated it okay, got to the trail and made our way in about a quarter of a mile and then into the second steep pitch we dove. A gnarly slip and slide down to the stream we were planning to catch some nice browns out of.

I take my time in these remote areas and nasty descents so by the time I reached stream bed Ryan was already throwing loops into the fast moving water. The water was crystal clear and fast moving with lots of rock pockets and folds with a few eddies. Ryan cast a few times then Ross laid out a couple loops and then I tried my hand at getting into a nice pocket with good little folds off each side of the rock. Getting no hint of a fish rising Ryan quickly switched up to a trailer on his top water fly. We moved upstream watching each other try our shots at the holes as we walked. Pausing sometimes to take in the scenery and beauty we were engulfed in. We moved up stream at a fast pace again seeing nothing rise or even spook out of the holes we were fishing after we threw a few good cast at each one, we started to question if the stream had any fish at all. Ryan and Ross both swore that the fishing was great just last year where they caught big brown trout and many of them in the course of the day. I lost a couple flies to the tree mongers and rock fish of the area and was quickly tying on new patterns to see if I could get a rise from one of the patterns. We fished a good 500 yards of the stream and did not see one fish even spook out of a hole.

We stopped and talked and again questioned if there were any fish in this stretch of the stream. Ryan finally felt he got a couple hits on his nymph trailer. That made us perk up a little and gave us a little enthusiasm. So we pressed on, myself lagging back a little in hopes of getting one of the holes to produce on my top water offerings. We fished up to where the trail came closer to the river with only a short scramble up a steep incline. On the way Ryan had a fish hit his top water twice but then couldn't get it to come back up. I on the other hand was still trying to navigate the water in my hip waders and trying not to get totally soaked. It has been a long time since I had the opportunity wade through heavy fast water like we were in and my calves, thighs and ankles were starting to feel it. We sat on a couple rocks while Ryan refilled our water bottles a couple times from his filtered bottle. We then decided to make the scramble thinking the day was a bust on the stream. The fish just weren't there, we wondered if the fish and game came in and cleaned the stream out or some other phenomenon took place to clean out a stream that, to the day a year earlier produced over 100 fish in a day. In any case we made the scramble up the steep hillside, Ross had to attempt it twice and I was determined to make it one attempt and did with the helping hand of Ryan at the top. We made our way back to the truck stripped out of our fishing gear and talked about the journey we had just be on. Discussing what to do next we loaded up and hit the road came to the fork and turned left toward the main canyon and decided we weren't done fishing.

At the main road we took another left and headed up the canyon a few more miles to hidden gem in a canyon that is seldom ever traveled for fishing. The stream is tight and over grown with willow. The bed of the stream is thick with grass and if the wind comes up forget about it your fly will land in the overgrowth before it hits the water. The beauty of the stream is that holds some of the prettiest brown trout in the state and they are virtually untouched. I have never seen another fisher on this stream in the 20 years I have fished it. We got to one of my favorite stretches and Ryan readied himself for battle. He lined his pole and put on a royal wulf which has always done well for me in the stream. He started to put on his waders and I said he wouldn't need them for this little bit of fishing. Words that came back to haunt him sooner than later as he hung up quickly across the stream, he got wet and nearly lost his sandals to the mud. I lead him to the first little hole that was slowed by dead fall and small pool was formed immediately the fish spooked. This stream is one that the fish can feel you walk along the streams edge. I saw the first big brown spook and run for the cover of the thick willow branches that cover the stream except in small areas. Ryan went down stream and came back up to the small opening and tossed the fly in with the finesse of a pro, it landed without a ripple he let it drift back to him, one more time back into the hole and slam Ryan hooked up a nice 16 inch brown he played for just a little bit then it was gone as fast it hit. They are adept to spitting the flies out easily. He went after it a few more times but nothing. We moved to the next opening where he had a number of followers and nudgers but they wouldn't hit the fly. We moved on upstream and the same results we watched as the brown trout would come up and actually push the fly but never slurp it in. It was late afternoon by now and families awaited our arrivals home so we called it a day and headed for home.

On the way home we discussed our day’s adventure and came to the conclusion it was a good day. The scenery and beauty of the areas we fished are unrivaled and the pockets of water we fished were pristine. I was introduced to an area I have wanted to fish for quite some time and I introduced my friends to an area they did not even know existed. Fishing is about being with friends and making memories, catching is always the bonus to an already great day.