Over the weekend my father and I made our way down to Canyon Creek. It was my first time fishing these waters but my dad had heard great things about this river. I was pushing to go to Tonto Creek, but he insisted this one would be better. He was right.
Now, in order to get to Canyon Creek this time of year takes a great bit of effort. The roads are rocky and not maintained and some of them are even closed, getting ready to be opened in a couple weeks. The snow melt from the White Mountains has all the rivers running well ahead of their normal flow rates this time of year. It is even more significant this year as we had a wet winter.
The following images are ones I shot while on our fishing expedition:
As you can see from these two pictures and the one at the top, much of the river was swollen from all the snow melt. The flow rate was some 600% above normal levels for this river. It made for some great fishing waters though and the scenery reminded me much of what I saw on one my favorite movies, which I have clipped in a link below.
The water was cold and deep. You can't really tell from some of these pictures but there were spots on the river that were easily 5-6 feet deep. It was perfect Brown Trout waters.
Then there were some places where the water narrowed and got moving a bit faster. I crossed the river several times in order to navigate my way around trees and canyon walls, and of course to make it to the best fishing holes. These areas pictured here were the kinds of areas I was forced to cross. I fell in my fair share of times.
The stretch that we fished was located deep within a canyon but came out in somewhat of a meadow on the other side. This made it perfect for us. We had some deep fast moving water as well as slower water which gave us many fishing opportunities.
However, the single greatest aspect of all of it though was that since it was so remote, not many people fished there. There was really no other sign that people had even been there before. That is my kind of fishing!
As we made our way down the river, my father fished on one side of the river and I on the other. We alternated fishing holes as we moved along. With each step I glanced around me in the mud to make sure there were no fresh bear tracks anywhere in the area. Fortunately I found none. That was a great sign because there are many bears in that area. It was funny because after the trip, my dad said he had glanced around with each step as well to check for bears. We have seen too many movies I think!
An amazing feeling came over me as we fished that river together. It's hard to explain exactly how I felt, but often a feeling and an image would pop up in my my mind from one of my favorite movies. Although we were not in Montana the scenery and setting reminded me and made me feel like this:
Although Brad Pitt is not quite as handsome as I am, I think the feeling is still applicable ;)
We caught many fish that day, in fact if you look closely at the thumbnail picture at the top you will see my father holding a very nice Brown Trout. These are some of my favorite moments in all of life. Just me and pops out on the river fishing a magnificent river enjoying each other's company and enjoying the beautiful sounds and sites of nature. These are the types of memories I will cherish forever. Hopefully he will as well.
Of course we had our traditional bet of who catches the First Fish, the Biggest Fish, and then the Most Fish. Each category going for a dollar each. Unfortunately my dad won all 3 bets taking all the cash. However, I would gladly give up much more cash for moments like these!
Thanks for reading and live well my friends!
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com
*Image sources are my own
