Some spots are better left unnamed. Actually I’ll rephrase that, almost every spot is best left unnamed. These tiny desert creeks and trickles that spill out of Arizona’s high country are best when they have to be found. The rewards magnified by hours spent pouring over google maps and old game and fish reports. That is one of my favorite parts of fishing in Arizona, that there is no guarantee of fish in the creek or even water in the creek bed. Arizona creek fishing still has an air of discovery about it that I feel some other states lack. There aren’t fly shops that know every creek here, or lines of fisherman waiting to fish their favorite spot. There is still solitude in trying to find water in Arizona and my favorite spots have been places where not another fisherman was seen on the day, or maybe for that week, or even that month.

This little creek is one of those spots. We left early on a spring morning and drove to the edge of the small canyon we would be hiking into. The hike in was easy down a set of overgrown switchbacks that hinted at a hot return hike out. The canyon wall we walked in was covered in mahogany barked manzanitas and every few steps brought the rustle of lizards fleeing our footsteps.

We quickly reached the bottom of the canyon and saw the little trickle that awaited us. It looked perfect. By that I mean Arizona perfect, around 1 cfs and covered in logs, sticks and overhanging branches. Surrounded by blackberries and wild rose. This creek would have very few easy casts and the walking would be slow, but that’s what makes these creeks my favorite.

Despite our better judgement we jumped immediately into fishing which contradicted an earlier plan to walk to the bottom end of the canyon and work our way up. What can I say, I was excited to see if the creek had fish! I started out with a parachute adams and got nothing in the first few pools. We moved down and spotted out first fish of the day, a little trout looking fish hiding next to a rock in a large (for the creek) pool. My first two casts didn’t even get a glance from the mystery fish. My third cast the dry fly sank and all of the sudden it was on, three fish fought for the sunken fly. It was time to switch it up and go sub surface. I tied on a mini simi and cast back into the pool, I had 3 fish on in as many casts but all three slipped the hook as soon as I tried to set it. On to the next pool I guess.

The next pool had three small fish suspended in the current at the head of the pool. I cast in front of them and began jigging my fly back towards the bank, all of the sudden the small fish scattered and a larger one darts out and grabs the leech! The first fish of the day was far larger than what I expected to find in the creek but by no means a monster. Still it had good colors and a toothy mouth for a small fish!

At this point we decided to go back to our original plan and start at the bottom and fish up, as fun as walking in blackberries and spooking all the fish was. We decided to start from the bottom, with renewed confidence that fish were biting.

We got to the end of our hike and Kayla started fishing a small pool that turned into a pretty fun spot to watch. Everytime her fly hit the water two or three little rainbows would fly up at it and inevitably miss the fly. This continued for a while before the larger residents began showing interests. In this little pool, around the size of a bath tub, she must have had a hit for 15 or so casts in a row. It was incredible, the bite was on and the fish were very hungry. One of the fish that came from this pool was a very dark colored rainbow, it seems when there is no consistent stocking you get a wide range of coloration and some of them can be pretty unique as they adapt to their environment.

The fishing continued to be good and the dry fly bite really took off around noon. Every likely looking corner of water would yield a strike it seemed.

Each fish brought to hand from this creek seemed to have a slightly different color and spotting pattern to it, just another reason to appreciate little waters that don’t get stocked any longer.

My best fish of the day came as a surprise when I cast a dry to the backside of a boulder. I couldn’t see the fly but I was waiting to see a ripple and hopefully it wouldn’t be too late to set the hook. The ripple came and I lifted my rod, there was a weight on the end and the weight did its best to swim back under the rock it had come from. I jumped to the other side of the creek and was able to pull the fish out from its hiding place. This fish had great color and was an energetic fighter.

We watched four fish rise in the pool above for a few minutes before sneaking up to the bottom edge. The fish didn’t seem to notice and continued gorging on the mayflies and little black stone flies that were on the waters surface, the first cast landed and two fish ran right at it! Both missed. The second cast was a different story and the “big one” in the pool inhaled the royal wulff.

We had fished our way back to the trail out of the canyon and it was a wonderful day, fish on drys and mini jigged streamers is a wonderful way to supplement a hike in Arizona’s beautiful back country!