Flyfishing turned to hiking

[huck]

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

[Latimeria]

Wow, you guys have been getting hammered with rain and the lake was still that low?  Unreal.

I'm still amazed that those tiny creeks hold fish.  Granted, I have caught fish in small creeks, but never anything bigger than a 16" chub.  Trout were only maybe 11" at most and that was from NJ! 

Keep the AZ reports coming!

[huck]

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.

[Latimeria]

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.

Excellent!  I can't wait, Tim!

[sasquatch]

Crazy. I would never expect fish in a creek that size. What do I know.

[MASSfisher]

Cool pics.

And I agree...never though a creek that small would hold fish lol.