Post by gui on May 18, 2018 10:08:13 GMT -6
Work sent me to Phoenix this week and I decided to leave a day earlier to do a one night backpacking trip in the Arizona back-country and hopefully catch one of these Arizona browns that I've read about.
My destination was the remote Chevelon Canyon in the Mogollon rim, not so far from the town of Payton, AZ.
I picked-up a rental SUV at the airport on Sunday around 2pm and was on my way to the rim.
It was a very nice couple of hours drive on HW 87 & 260 across the Tonto National Forest.
I then left the highway for a forest road on my way to the south end of Chevelon Canyon lake. It started with a very nice gravel road until I turned into a ... not so nice dirt road.
Man, that road was no joke. It took more than an hour to cover maybe 10 miles or less, with all sort of rocks, holes and inclines that made me sweat at times.
I have now a newfound respect for the Nissan Murrano AWD.
I finally made it to where I wanted to park, grabbed my gear and tried to find my way down to the bottom of the canyon.
It was beautiful out there and from the top of the rim, I could see running down below the promised waters of Chevelon Creek.
Making my way down was not easy. I thought there was a trail going down from around where I parked, but I could not find the trail-head.
But eventually, and after a few heels-to-butt slides, I made it down and found a nice spot to set camp.
After setting up my tent, I tried to fish the lake inlet and the creek for a short hour before dark. It was pretty windy and tough. I did not catch anything.
I think I had one strike on a bugger, but that’s about it. The creek was actually very low around the lake inlet, with maybe just one or two good holes.
But in one these pools, I did spook a couple of Elks that were taking a foot bath. I got a good look at them before they took off straight into the bush, which was really cool.
These things are massive!
The night was pretty cold. When I went to bed, my neoprene socks and keen sandals were still wet from wading. I found them all stiff and frozen in the morning!
I did not really expect freezing temps in AZ at that time of year. I mean, come on, it was 99F in Phoenix when I landed!
In the morning I fished the south end of Chevelon lake, which I read should host a solid population of rainbows and browns.
The lake was gorgeous early in the day, with the water like glass.
But then the wind picked up. I did see some bruiser brown trout cruising the shallows. They were moving fast and by the time I had enough line out to land a cast in front of them, they were long gone.
By 11am I hadn’t had any luck and the wind was brutal at times, so I decided to go pack my tent so I'm done with that and fish the creek upstream for the rest of the day before heading back to Phoenix.
The creek was much less exposed to wind than the lake. It was more like a trickle most of the time and I kept hiking upstream in hope of finding a good pool.
Hiking along the creek was more like bush-waking through the trails used by elks or other things.
The water in the creek was really clear and full of crayfish.
My strategy was to strip a bugger that looked like a pretty good crayfish imitation to me.
I tried a few promising spots to no avail. Around 1:30PM, I was starting to feel pretty drained and stopped by this pool for a lunch break.
At that point I was thinking that this was more of an exploration trip than a fishing trip, and I was happy with that.
An hour or so earlier, I had seen two bald eagles gliding off and on some trees just across the river from me. What a place! I wish I had a camera with a good lens on me.
Lunch done, I was standing on this rock in the foreground and started to cast and strip the bugger across the pool.
The pool was like many other that I came across, pretty much like still water, very clear and I could see the bottom of it everywhere.
I was convinced that no fish was here and I was watching my bugger dancing around, basically just for the fun of it.
Then boom.
Something big comes out of nowhere. And it is darting to the bugger!
Man, I don’t know if I pulled out the fly too early because I was surprised, or if the fish actually saw me and decided to turn around, but what I know for sure is that I was there standing on a rock, with a rod in my hand, shaking knees, heart pounding and no fish on the line. Unbelievable. The pool now looked as empty as ever again.
That thing was big, I would say near 20”, and it’s crazy that a fish like that was hiding somewhere in three feet at max of super clear water. Of course that was over. More casts, change of fly, nothing. It did not see that fish again.
But what an energy boost! My legs were not sore anymore and the pack on my back was weightless.
Time to also change my strategy. Even if the water is super clear and I can see every rock at the bottom of a pool, a fish could still be hiding somewhere.
More hiking.
Then I came across this big boulder in the background.
There is a good pool on the left.
I approach it carefully, make a cast from 30-40 ft and start a series of short strips. Bam! Oh YES!
It’s on and it’s strong!
After a good fight and my efforts to keep it away from the rock, I bring it to the net.
Here it is, a solid wild AZ brown that I believe was in the 16” range!
That fish was developing a gnarly looking little kype, which was pretty cool.
That timer delay thing with the camera on a rock worked only once, and so off he goes… Back to his lair underneath that big boulder.
I fished for about 30 more minutes and it was time to hike back.
I took a few more pictures of the scenery on my way. Such a beautiful place and I did not see any other soul in the canyon during my 24 hours stay.
The hike back up the canyon made me stop, panting like a dog, and ask myself if I was getting old.
As I was packing my stuff back in the car, I was also reflecting on the things that we will do and the places we will go to to catch a trout.
I only caught one this time, but this one might be the most rewarding fish I’ve caught so far.
Ok, now back to work!
My destination was the remote Chevelon Canyon in the Mogollon rim, not so far from the town of Payton, AZ.
I picked-up a rental SUV at the airport on Sunday around 2pm and was on my way to the rim.
It was a very nice couple of hours drive on HW 87 & 260 across the Tonto National Forest.
I then left the highway for a forest road on my way to the south end of Chevelon Canyon lake. It started with a very nice gravel road until I turned into a ... not so nice dirt road.
Man, that road was no joke. It took more than an hour to cover maybe 10 miles or less, with all sort of rocks, holes and inclines that made me sweat at times.
I have now a newfound respect for the Nissan Murrano AWD.
I finally made it to where I wanted to park, grabbed my gear and tried to find my way down to the bottom of the canyon.
It was beautiful out there and from the top of the rim, I could see running down below the promised waters of Chevelon Creek.
Making my way down was not easy. I thought there was a trail going down from around where I parked, but I could not find the trail-head.
But eventually, and after a few heels-to-butt slides, I made it down and found a nice spot to set camp.
After setting up my tent, I tried to fish the lake inlet and the creek for a short hour before dark. It was pretty windy and tough. I did not catch anything.
I think I had one strike on a bugger, but that’s about it. The creek was actually very low around the lake inlet, with maybe just one or two good holes.
But in one these pools, I did spook a couple of Elks that were taking a foot bath. I got a good look at them before they took off straight into the bush, which was really cool.
These things are massive!
The night was pretty cold. When I went to bed, my neoprene socks and keen sandals were still wet from wading. I found them all stiff and frozen in the morning!
I did not really expect freezing temps in AZ at that time of year. I mean, come on, it was 99F in Phoenix when I landed!
In the morning I fished the south end of Chevelon lake, which I read should host a solid population of rainbows and browns.
The lake was gorgeous early in the day, with the water like glass.
But then the wind picked up. I did see some bruiser brown trout cruising the shallows. They were moving fast and by the time I had enough line out to land a cast in front of them, they were long gone.
By 11am I hadn’t had any luck and the wind was brutal at times, so I decided to go pack my tent so I'm done with that and fish the creek upstream for the rest of the day before heading back to Phoenix.
The creek was much less exposed to wind than the lake. It was more like a trickle most of the time and I kept hiking upstream in hope of finding a good pool.
Hiking along the creek was more like bush-waking through the trails used by elks or other things.
The water in the creek was really clear and full of crayfish.
My strategy was to strip a bugger that looked like a pretty good crayfish imitation to me.
I tried a few promising spots to no avail. Around 1:30PM, I was starting to feel pretty drained and stopped by this pool for a lunch break.
At that point I was thinking that this was more of an exploration trip than a fishing trip, and I was happy with that.
An hour or so earlier, I had seen two bald eagles gliding off and on some trees just across the river from me. What a place! I wish I had a camera with a good lens on me.
Lunch done, I was standing on this rock in the foreground and started to cast and strip the bugger across the pool.
The pool was like many other that I came across, pretty much like still water, very clear and I could see the bottom of it everywhere.
I was convinced that no fish was here and I was watching my bugger dancing around, basically just for the fun of it.
Then boom.
Something big comes out of nowhere. And it is darting to the bugger!
Man, I don’t know if I pulled out the fly too early because I was surprised, or if the fish actually saw me and decided to turn around, but what I know for sure is that I was there standing on a rock, with a rod in my hand, shaking knees, heart pounding and no fish on the line. Unbelievable. The pool now looked as empty as ever again.
That thing was big, I would say near 20”, and it’s crazy that a fish like that was hiding somewhere in three feet at max of super clear water. Of course that was over. More casts, change of fly, nothing. It did not see that fish again.
But what an energy boost! My legs were not sore anymore and the pack on my back was weightless.
Time to also change my strategy. Even if the water is super clear and I can see every rock at the bottom of a pool, a fish could still be hiding somewhere.
More hiking.
Then I came across this big boulder in the background.
There is a good pool on the left.
I approach it carefully, make a cast from 30-40 ft and start a series of short strips. Bam! Oh YES!
It’s on and it’s strong!
After a good fight and my efforts to keep it away from the rock, I bring it to the net.
Here it is, a solid wild AZ brown that I believe was in the 16” range!
That fish was developing a gnarly looking little kype, which was pretty cool.
That timer delay thing with the camera on a rock worked only once, and so off he goes… Back to his lair underneath that big boulder.
I fished for about 30 more minutes and it was time to hike back.
I took a few more pictures of the scenery on my way. Such a beautiful place and I did not see any other soul in the canyon during my 24 hours stay.
The hike back up the canyon made me stop, panting like a dog, and ask myself if I was getting old.
As I was packing my stuff back in the car, I was also reflecting on the things that we will do and the places we will go to to catch a trout.
I only caught one this time, but this one might be the most rewarding fish I’ve caught so far.
Ok, now back to work!
But I've found that with a bit of research there is always great fishing within a few hours of any major US cities. 
