Christmas in June

Triple digit temps sure get old fast. On Thursday I’d had enough and headed for the high country of Eastern Arizona. The flora and temperature change drastically as the elevation increases.

The first stop was a creek full of beautiful Apache Trout.

The fish were very cooperative and in short order I brought 30 or so to hand both on the SOS nymph and Grumpy Frumpys.

Fun fun on a little 3wt rod. Satisfied with the mornings take I packed up and headed to Becker Lake to meet up with Zach to try for some bruiser bows. The wind at Becker was pretty bad and never let up the whole day but we still managed a couple fish.

We celebrated a good day with a very spicy and authentic dinner at Los Dos Molinos, a well known mexican restaurant in Springerville. Good stuff after a long day on the water. With bellies full we checked in to a cheap hotel for the night.

The next morning we were up early and driving through the White Mountains to Christmas Tree lake. Elk were everywhere along the road but we managed to make it to the long rough road in to the lake. Christmas Tree lake was named for a tree cut for President Lyndon B Johnson at the white house in 1965. Its one the most stunning lakes in the Whites.

We had the lake to ourselves and got right to work casting big dries to rising fish.

It didnt take long, in the clear water up swam a big Apache and slowly slurped the hopper imitation off the surface.

This continued through the morning. Most of the fish we caught came on big foam dry flies with a few on the old trusty bloodworm. All the fish were big healthy Apaches. They are so unique with their big tall dorsal fin and yellow-gold bodies.

It was a great day and fun fishing with Zach. Coming back to the Valley was tough but the batteries were definitely recharged by two full days on the water.