Pheasant Tail Fly Fishing | White Mountains Camping Trip

We learned a few lessons from last year

If the process of making my book taught us anything, it’s that group stillwater fishing/camping trips are a ton of fun. Last year we went to Chevelon Canyon Lake with a sizable group and it was a bit of a disaster. It took us a full day to get our boats down to the lake, JC got a concussion and a busted lip, I broke a Sage X and a pair of Simm’s G3’s, and the fishing was so so. It was a mostly good idea, I think we just picked the wrong location for that type of trip. This year we wanted to make things easier and certainly more inclusive to some of our newer anglers that might have been emotionally devastated by a Chevelon trip. Rather than picking somewhere with steep canyon hiking, we chose a spot with plenty of lakeside camping opportunities. This trip was amazing. Kris Bare and I closed up the shop friday night and drove straight to the white mountains. The first day was mostly a lazy day of drinking beers and casually casting around the lake. Brad Dahl even smoked some pork shoulder. This trip was open to anyone that wanted to join us. Arizona has a small but friendly community of anglers and whether you are new to the state or new to the sport, I am proud of how welcoming we are.

After a few days in the tents, most headed back home and a few of us split off and stayed at The Ranch at South Fork to keep fishing. Guyton, who runs the ranch is awesome host and a fun dude to hang out/fish with. If camping isn’t your thing or if you want a higher degree of comfort on your white mountains trip, you should absolutely stay in one of their cabins.

The weather was fantastic.. which was great for the comfort of camping but not so great for the fishing. Even though we are approaching mid november, these fish weren’t in a festive fall mood yet. We hopped around a few different lakes and found some nice fish and it’s only going to get better and better before the lakes eventually ice over.

Thank you to everyone that has bought a copy of my book! They finally came in and I will be cranking out the orders this week. If you haven’t bought a copy yet, I have them available here. Thank you guys!