LOL no UFO's. I try to stay away from the "vortex" areas, my positive energy comes from being on the creek.

I can't wait to get up there again.

That's hilarious. I've had to do the flat stanley thing too, but my pics weren't nearly as fun.

Congratulations Jason! There's nothing like being a dad.

Nice wingspan on that one! Good catch.

Oak Creek opened back up on the 1st after being closed since the end of May and I've been waiting for it. I was origninally planning on going up there with a friend, but the wife expressed some interest in getting up there too, so we made it a family trip instead, which was way more fun.

I dropped the family off at the parking lot at the West Fork which has one of our favorite spots to swim and slide where Oak Creek and the West Fork converge. Not to mention some cool history with Mehews Lodge of which you have to pass the remaining facade on your way to the creek. Kisses all around to the family, then I drove a little further north, parked and climed down to the creek hoping that the fish hadn't seen a fly in a few months.

I tied on a #14 Purple Haze, pulled some line out and with the bush behind me made a roll cast into a small pool below a small waterfall. I didn't see a splash, but my fly dissapeared so I pulled up and sure enough there was a fish on the end. A rainbow, not what I was expecting in this part of the creek but still a fish.



I remember reeling it in thinking, crap! The first cast curse.... sure enough, that's the only fish I'd see the rest of the afternoon. So here's more photos of the other spots I desperately tried to find fish on.







I ended it here, this pool was long enough for me not to bother trying to find a way around it and with the curse in full effect I decided to call it a day.



Water was cold, at 58.8 maybe I should have gone further South instead of North, but I had such great luck the last time I was here I had high hopes.



I picked up the family and we drove up to Flagstaff for the night. After breakfast we headed up to the Lava Tubes which is about 30 minutes from town and another 10 miles down forest roads. It was our first time here, and it was really cool! Both figuratively and literally. The temps inside the cave are a steady 35-45 degrees all year round. As you climb down into the opening you feel the cold air coming up, and it was really refreshing.



Here's the kids at the entrance to the cave



Wife and daughter inside the cave, one of the few pictures where the flash on my phone actually had enough to reflect off of to get a picture.



We headed over to Williams after that for a quick zipline ride, coffee and a 15 minute historically educating horse drawn carriage ride. We headed back to Sedona for dinner on our way home to Oaxaca which is one of our regular spots. It was a really fun weekend, and as a San Diego native, I'm surprised at how much I love living in Arizona sometimes.

I've still got browns on the brain, I'll be getting back up to Sedona again in the next few weeks for revenge!

Once Oak Creek opens up again in Sedona I'll be there. It's been closed since the fires, so those fish have to be hungry by now! I'll be sure to post a report when I go.

Great report. There's something about bass fishing that gets the heart beating.

That is awesome. I really need to get out there with you guys. Let me know if you have room for one more, I'd drive out for a chance at one of those.

Tried to go flyfishing last weekend to a small creek on the Mogollon Rim, I say tried because we didn't end up catching anything on the creek. I did foul hook one small brown that jumped at my fly, but that doesn't count. My problem was the smallest flies I had were #16 and this small creek didn't seem to have anything larger than about 5-6 inches from what I saw. If I had a #18 dry fly I would have probably got a bunch. There were plenty of strikes, but no hook ups. I'm thinking the recent rains we had really took a toll on this small stream since I've fished it before and saw bigger fish, but who knows... maybe it just wasn't my day.

We did go to Willow Springs Lake after for a bit and my buddy's son caught a stocker rainbow.

The trail in



Nice hole with a tree in the way



Had 3 or 4 bites here



Oddly, nobody home here. Either that or my buddy (seen upstream) spooked them already



I did mention it was a SMALL creek right?



View of Willow Springs Lake



With all the rain it was shocking to see the water level this low

Tom please do. And bring the fly rod if you have time. I'll show you what small fish look like. lol

Steve, it's really cool. I was really glad we checked it out. And I'm thankfull my son has an appreciation for nature too. We're not exactly "off the beaten path" here, but we're getting there.

Last winter I took my son for a dudes fishing weekend. We didn't catch anything, but we had a good time exploring some new parts of Arizona we hadn't seen before. The Tonto Natural Bridge was kind of a last minute decision. We were driving through Payson and saw a sign for it. We would have been about 3 hours too early to check in to our cabin, so we decided to check it out. Really glad we did.

View from the top



He was anxious to get in there, so I stopped for more pics



Moss growing underdeath the waterfall. Notice the people in the lower center to get an idea of the size of this hole



Some pretty cool pools inside (no fish)



And out the other side before the hill climb back to the car



Good father son time for sure.

Thanks Tom, this site is looking great!

Will there be a freshwater section? Or is this site going to focus on saltwater only. Either way I'm ok with it, but I could post some trout and bass reports from the desert if you decide to add one.

Those are toads!

Awesome report! Congrats on the new species too.