Headed down to the southwest corner of the state for the weekend for some fishing and mountain biking. Fished right on the edge of the Mojave Desert where the Joshua trees give way to Pinyon pines. The road in is very rough with stream crossings a good dozen times. And a few spot the stream jumped its bank for the road altogether. Was a bit balmy late Saturday morning and since 99% of this small stream is under 6 inches deep I decided to wet wade it. Unfortunately after an hour clouds came out so I switched to waders. After another hour the sun returned but the temp dropped a good 10 degrees and the wind picked up a bit. Finally it warmed back up. I had been nymphing but switched to a hopper with the calmer conditions. Had mostly picked up 6 inch trout with only a few going 9-12 inches with the nymph. but with the hopper most were 9-12 inches. Not real big but since the stream isn't much more than a garden hose worth of water about all you could expect. The last hour an and half probable picked up 15-20 on the hopper. All the fish where very spooky in the crystal clear trickle of water. However most would usually hit the hopper up to 3 times if not hooked first. That's what you get with fish that probable have never experienced a fly before. Warmed back into the mid 60's when I got back to the car. I guess the cold front had come and gone without any need for the coat in my backpack. The one pic of round fruit is wild squash that I occasional stumble upon down in the Mojave desert. The big old cottonwood tree in the last picture has a circumference of 25-30 ft when I measured it a few years ago.
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That looks like a very cool place, and a much more pleasant place to ride out the cold front than it was up north. Any place with wild rainbows is great, but when the scenery is fantastic, so much the better.
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Yes! Nice looking scenery, weather, and fish. I am so jealous!
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Fantastic Dog.....jealous all the way, very nice.
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I has using my 7 ft 2 wt. I have three 2 wt rods- a 5, a 6 & a 7 ft one. Average cost was $40 - 50 per rod but they don't make 2 of the rods any more. This stream is as wide open as it gets so went with the longer one. The brushy small streams I go with the 6 ft. The 5 ft only sees action in the thickest brush imaginable. Hard to get any distance at all with it. This stream and many others I fish a 1 wt rod is all you need (of course I think a premium 3 wt is all you need for 25 inch trout in rivers anyway ). Anyone happen to know where I can get one for less than a hundred bucks? 6 ft would be ideal[
]. I'm certainly not going to spend hundreds on a rod for footlong trout so I have a feeling it isn't going to happen.
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I have a 6' 3wt. I doubt I will ever use again.
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[quote flygoddess][/quote]Fantastic Dog.....jealous all the way, very nice.[/quote]
No kidding ! It's easy to see he's guarding you're next fishing hole !
I enjoy you're reports riverdog and look forward to them...[fishin]
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I have a Fenwick 5 wt that is 5'3" LONG...FACTORY MADE. I tried all sorts of line on it and it likes TT in a 5 wt. But I get what you mean about distance challenged. The TT really shoots.
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You're definitely the bushwacking, backcountry king! Nice stuff from untouched water.
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My philosophy with fishing is to do all I can to enjoy solitude and pristine places while I still can. Didn't see a single piece of trash the whole time on the stream. When everything wears out then I'll buy a boat with a engine not just a kayak I paddle myself. From St. George that little creek took a good hour and a half of driving on mostly dirt roads and a 45 minute hike to reach the area with trout. If anyone wants the GPS coordinates to where I fished I'd probable share them in a pm. It's a lot of work and most of the year it's way too hot to bother anyway. Not exactly tarpon back there so I doubt many will work that hard to fish there.
FG, that TT line was $65 and the smallest size was 3 wt that I found. I'll just stick with my 6 ft 2 wt when I need some casting ability.
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On my 2 wt, I have Orvis Superfine...LOVE that stuff.
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Hey, I recognize that dog. He was barking at me out on a trail a couple weeks ago[
] Looks like a great trip.
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