Big Ugly Spider & Gorgeous Little Trout

While most fly fishers that pass through Phoenix, Arizona don’t bring their fly rods, I always do. In fact, Phoenix is one of my favorite places to travel for work because the fishing here is so enjoyable. Personally I like chasing the grass carp (white Amur) in the ponds in and around the city limits. Grass carp are incredibly challenging with the fly and chasing them is the ultimate. Not only do these ponds have the grass carp but also koi, common carp, largemouth bass, bluegill sunfish and black crappie. Sometimes I venture northeast to the Mogollon Rim where trout fishing can be fantastic or not too far beyond even fish for Apache Trout. And when I get the chance I love to fly fish the reputable bass lakes found in every direction.

I arrived in Arizona last night and will be presenting my latest creation, “Fly Fishing Through Midlife  Heaven” to Desert Fly Casters on Wednesday night. This is a PowerPoint presentation highlighting what I can honestly say has been the best year of fishing and traveling of my life. A year ago I was a little nervous about my career adjustment but so far it’s surpassed my wildest expectations.

I’m here early so I can do some fishing. Today I went with friends and hosts Steve Berry and Cinda Howard. Both of them are locals and know the fishing inside and out. Steve is a fulltime spokesman and helicopter pilot for the city of Mesa, Arizona Police Department. He devotes much of his free time to fly fishing. He not only fishes but he is very involved with the community teaching fly fishing and is president of Desert Fly Casters fly fishing club. Cinda is fulltime in the fly fishing business. She manages the Orvis Fly Shop in Scottsdale, AZ, teaches fly fishing and is also very involved in Desert Fly Casters fly fishing club. She is frequently found harassing the fish of Arizona but also hosts trips around the world. Her most recent adventure took her to Alaska with Midnight Sun Trophy Pike Adventures where she landed numerous northern pike over 45 inches!

Our jaunt began today with a three hour drive to Canyon Creek on the Mogollon Rim. Although scorching hot in Phoenix, it was a comfortable 70° in the mountains. We arrived at the creek at about 9:30 and hiked a mile downstream from where we parked and cut off to start fishing. This stream is tiny. In some places it’s as narrow as three feet across and in its widest spots not more than fifteen feet. I don’t do enough small stream fishing at home so today was a true pleasure. While Steve and Cinda rigged up dry-dropper rigs (a dry fly with a nymph dangling below tied off to the hook of the dry fly) I went straight dry with a size 10 Chernobyl ant.

On any small creek I prefer to start downstream and fish up. Assuming most river trout face upstream into the current, I have a better chance at them not seeing me and spooking. I fish fast but thoroughly dropping my fly on all the good looking spots. I generally find small stream trout aren’t too selective so if I don’t get a strike on the first drift I move up a few steps and hit the next spot.

The other thing about a small stream like Canyon Creek is that if you’re fishing with friends you either split up and fish different sections or stay together and take turns. You just can’t have three people jockeying for spots and expect the fish to hang around. Cinda, Steve and I have a lot of catching up to do so we stayed together and took turns. Cinda went first and Steve and I  kicked back to watch. It quickly became apparent that there were plenty of aggressive small brown trout that were literally only 4 to 6 inches. Steve dropped into the next run and hit a very nice rainbow that I’d of guessed to be nearly 14 inches. I was surprised to see such a nice sized trout out on this tiny creek but it turns out Cinda and Steve have caught a few monsters over the years that broke the 20” mark!

Canyon Creek was not only full of trout today but it was absolutely gorgeous. The trees are just beginning to turn and while the most places are full swing into fall, it is just starting here. Between the three of us we must have caught a dozen trout and a wolf spider. Yes you heard me correctly, a wolf spider. The spider was nearly the size of my Ross Evolution reel. We spotted him crossing the road near the river and after a photo or two I messed with him  for a minute. I set my Chernobyl in front of him and twitched it a few times. At first there was no reaction but then like a striking rattlesnake he attacked my ant and went into a full blown wrestling match with the fly. When he discovered it wasn’t real he let go and appeared very embarrassed.

We ended the day with one of the best meals imaginable. We had it thanks to a mutual friend, Chef Michael DelMaria, who kindly invited us to have dinner with him at his fantastic new restaurant called Heirloom. Heirloom is located in North Scottsdale at the DC Ranch. I have known Chef Michael for years because he is a veteran angler of the Jackson Hole One Fly Contest. All I can say is that if you ever get the chance to eat at Heirlooms, I’d highly recommend it. Every course of the delicious meal was superb starting with our appetizers and ending with our desert. Chef even has his own special blends of coffee to finish off the evening.

Tomorrow is an urban fishing day in the lakes and ponds around Phoenix. We are fishing around the city because we need to be done early as I will be giving my presentation at the Desert Fly Casters fly fishing club. Expect to see some cool carp pictures here tomorrow!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Northwoods Hardwater Madness

I’m on the way home from our annual Chippewa Retreat Ice Fishing Invitational held in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin. Technically a tournament, this is really a fun fishing trip with a little friendly competition amongst friends. The get-together is hosted by George Hillenbrand and based out of John McGraw’s resort, Chippewa Retreat. Well known Wisconsin fishing guides Joe Petska, Brett Jolly and James Petska lead us during the event. It’s great fun. George takes incredible care of us and best of all; we catch lots of fish in one of the most beautiful winter settings imaginable.

Over the years this event has brought out the worst in weather. We’ve suffered through snow storms, subzero temperatures and high winds. Last year the final day greeted us with 25° below zero temps and wind chills down to 75° below zero! But this year Mother Nature treated us to two of the nicest days on the ice we’ve experienced in years. Day 1 was easily 45° and calm. The biggest concern was frying the face from sun and snow reflection.

Most ice fishing in Wisconsin is done with tip-ups. If that’s a new term to you, tip-ups are basically holders of your line that set in the ice hole. There’s a flag attached and rigged in such that if a fish takes the bait, up goes the flag and you get your butt over there and try to hook and land the fish from the icy depths. While you anticipate the pop of the flag, you can relax or you can jig. I personally prefer to drop a tiny jig in about 8-feet of water and beat up the bluegill, black crappie and yellow perch that fall for the treat.

Our fishing on Day 1 did not disappoint. In the state of Wisconsin, three lines are allowed per angler. For most, that means setting up two tip-ups and working one jigging rod. Fishing was so good that we never got all our lines in the water. Northern pike were setting off tip-up flags so fast that no one had much time to drop a jig. By the end of the day we had exercised over 50 pike up to 25”s! David Baker landed 17 pike himself. Mixed in were some very respectable largemouth bass. The biggest taken by John that measured 19” – not bad for a largemouth through the ice!

Catching fish all day is hard to beat, but rather than another pike filled day, we spent Day 2 trying for walleyes. From personal experience chasing walleye through the ice, I knew a 50 fish day was not in the cards. With all the tip-ups set out, we kicked back and waited . . . and waited . . . and waited. Two hours into the day only four flags had popped, none of which produced a fish. The walleye weren’t feeding, but rather perch were tripping the flags. I broke out the jigging rod and started whacking the perch. In a short time I iced over 20. George’s tournament judges you on numbers of fish caught and I felt I had “most fish” in the bag. I moved to deeper water in search of a mid day walleye on the jig. Walleyes don’t feed particularly well during the day so I knew it was a long shot; however there’s always a chance.

I took a seat in our ice shelter with George’s friend Marvin Hirn and joined him in some jigging. We put in a couple hours of effort, but we managed nothing more than some great conversation and a few Leinenkugel's. It was soon brought to my attention that Larry F. Burtschy II, a fierce competitor in his own, had found a school of perch and his fish count was now eighteen. Even though a fun tourney among friends, that was all it took for me to head back to my perch hole. I dropped my jig down and after a few minutes regained the proper jig motion and began hammering the perch. Larry remained hot on my tail until his 26th. His 27th fish eluded him for some time and I broke away and ended with a final count of 49. The tournament ended at 3 pm.

It was another enjoyable day despite the lack of walleye, and while most of the gang left after the tournament, Rick Schreiber, Larry and I and the guides hung out through sunset in hopes the walleye bite would occur. It didn’t. We had about ten flags pop, but only two cigar sized walleyes to show for it. Although some of us were reluctant to leave, at 6 pm we used the last light of the day and collected our gear and returned to Chippewa Retreat.

After a good shower, George took us all to dinner at one of the finest restaurants in Manitowish Waters, Smokey’s. Eating on this trip is as much fun as the fishing itself. George does not mess around. No one has ever left one of his dinners hungry. NO ONE! To give you an example, we had about ten people at the table, yet we ordered over a dozen appetizers. Some of these appetizers weren’t appetizers at all, but rather full entrees that we split up. Two of these entrees were the king crab dinners! Needless to say, we relished in several major feasts over the last few days.

This fantastic trip ends with our rest-up day. This day generally entails hitting some of the local taverns that Northern WI is famous for. Rick and I love to play pool and there’s no better place in the world. We had a great time shooting and watching Olympic Hockey and the NASCAR Race with the locals while the others rolled dice and challenged us on occasion.

Unfortunately all good things come to an end. George announced weeks ago that this was our last ice fishing trip. However, not all bad news, George is replacing it with a fully guided fly fishing for musky trip in October 2011. It’s a ways away and it’s sad to see five great years of ice fishing come to an end, however the new trip will be extremely exciting.

Now, Rick and I are somewhere in the air between Minneapolis and Salt Lake City. I’m already back to work on the computer getting this blog done and gearing up for a weekend in Pleasanton, CA in which I will be speaking at the Fly Fishing Show. I have several presentations to give and some casting demonstrations. I’ll look forward to seeing some of you there!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site