Fishy stuff in Vegas proper |
Rural Southern Nevada |
Utah streams |
Northern Arizona:
Lees Ferry
Flagstaff area |
Further Afield:
Southern California, salt and fresh;
Premium tailwaters (Green, San
Juan) |
General Las Vegas links |
Digest of this guide
Within three hours of Vegas are some reservoirs and tiny streams with trout and other game fish, if you know where to start. The Nevada Division of Wildlife has begun to publicize some of them, and the region is a tolerably frequent topic in the Las Vegas Review-Journal's "Trip of the Week" column.
Two well-known reservoirs are in Nevada state parks in Lincoln County: Spring Valley (commonly called "Eagle Valley") and Echo Canyon (both near Pioche).
The lakes are tubable, and the tributary/outlet streams are surprisingly full of trout -- browns as well as rainbows -- though only a few feet wide. The fish are pretty opportunistic feeders, except in beaver pools. Some have escaped plantings in the lakes, but others are streambred.
Outside the scenic little town of Caliente -- nearer Vegas but further into the boondocks and 10-20 degrees cooler -- Beaver Dam State Park had been a great place to practice your small-stream skills or teach a kid in Beaver Dam Wash or Schroeder Reservoir. But after severe flooding in winter 2005, authorities breached the dam as a safety measure. There were trout above and below the old lake, which was too small and too shallow to be a thermal buffer or refuge, but big enough to be a target for helicopter stocking in the old days. It could be a neat place to watch natural processes reclaim the silted-in lake bed.
 |
 |
West of there is the Wayne Kirch Wildlife Management Area, also known as Sunnyside, a collection of half a dozen ponds maintained for fishing and waterfowl. These are pretty rich lakes, so expect to use lots of damselfly and callibaetis nymphs, maybe some snails, mostly fishing deep from a tube. There are bass as well as hefty trout. There are restrictions on some parts of the water, for the sake of the ducks. Sunnyside is deep in the middle of nowhere, so bring sufficient supplies. There is a campground. The area is stark, usually windy, with typically Nevada temperature extremes. Not entirely my kind of scenery. Access is sometimes restricted by legal car racing on the road to Ely.
The late LJ DeCuir posted a trip report to the Flyfishing Digest List about his visit to Sunnyside during a convention visit in the early 1990s that also included a day trip to the Lees Ferry tailwater on the Colorado in Arizona.
Sunnyside is on the road to Ely, an old copperoplis hurting from recent mine closures, seat of White Pine County, and still the biggest crossoads town on "the loneliest road in America," US 50. I've not fished up there, but there are some experts on the region in the Las Vegas Fly Fishing Club, and it sometimes gets written up. For a while, Comins Lake was the go-to spot for big trout, but now they are rare, because some clown put somoe pike in the lake.
The Nevada Northern Railroad, a steam tourist line, and Great Basin National Park are nearby attractions.
This is a part of the state where the Air Force does a lot of fighter-pilot training, secret-weapon testing, and according to at least one local broadcaster (who acts like he's been cosmic for years) and assorted mystics, UFO-hiding. These stories center on "Area 51" or "Groom Lake," the secret base featured in movie, Independence Day (though the filming of that tedious epic was much further north, near Wendover). The Official Nevada "Extraterrestrial Highway" begins in this area, running away from the Lincoln County fishing areas.
At least in its treatment of southern Nevada waters, Richard Dickerson's Nevada Angler's Guide (Frank Amato, 1997) sets a low standard: spotty coverage, clumsy writing, and negligible editing. Portions read as if they were lightly retouched tourist brochures and NDOW reports. Some of the discussion -- for example, the claim that it is "an easy float" down Beaver Dam Wash to Schroeder -- is so bizarre that I doubt he's actually been on all the waters he purports to guide one to. But Dickerson is based in northwest Nevada, so he'd have little reason to venture to the drier, uglier opposite corner.
For stream fishing, head four or five hours' drive north on I-15 to southern Utah. The Sevier River system, especially its upper reaches and tributaries above Cedar City, is mostly meadow stream: brown trout water. Expect runoff to cloud up most stretches in April and May.
The Sevier system parallels US-89, a road that also gives access to Bryce and Zion National Parks and the spectacular Cedar Breaks National Monument; you can get to 89 by travelling through Zion from Hurricane/St. George, mixing with traffic via Cedar City and Duck Creek, cruising a good two-lane (Rt 20) from south of Beaver to north of Panguitch, or white-knuckling the logging road from above Beaver to Junction.
A well-publicized tributary of the Sevier is Mammoth Creek near the town of Hatch (named for the senator's family, I believe, though coincidentally there is a state trout factory there): browns and cutts there are a lot of fun, and there is adequate casting room even in the narrower sections. The stream combines the oxbows and cutbanks of a cattle-laden meadow stream with the pocket water of old lava flows. One of the most interesting, accessible sections, the Hatch Ranch permits angler access but not camping. As early as 1999 rumor had it that the owner intends to restrict angling to artificials-only. It wouldn't hurt. Best to check in Hatch or Panguitch, to protect yourself and the access.
If you prefer steeper gradients and pocket water, stay on I-15 and try the Beaver River and its tributaries in Beaver Canyon above the town of -- you guessed -- Beaver, seat of Beaver County, about four hours north of Vegas.
These are very fertile streams, with good populations of trout and insects. (Unfortunately, in 1998 whirling disease was reported in the Beaver and two dozen other Utah waters. It was first discovered in the Fremont River in 1991.) Additionally, a handful of small lakes (Kents, Little Res, Anderson Meadow, Labaron) lie off the Forest Service's (and timber truckers'!) gravel road up Beaver/Tushar Mountain, a route that eventually joins US-89 in the town of Junction. The lakes and upper stream are above the 8,000-foot mark, so expect cooler temperatures -- and don't repeat my mistake of inflating a float tube down at only 2,000 feet. After a heavy-snow winter, there can still be snow drifts and masses of spring wildflowers in the meadows in mid-July, with more snow to be seen up the road at the Elk Meadows ski area.
these streams are among my favorite waters, so forgive me if I don't say much publicly about them. You'll enjoy exploring this part of the Colorado Plateau anyway.
Generally, you won't have to worry about hatch-matching in these streams. Attractors and elk-hair caddises (try a size 18 dark gray or tan in mid-summer) are usually productive, with midges and terrestrials as backups and streamers or buggers for spring's high water and the fall brown spawn. Spinner falls are a joy in summer an hour or so before dark (and earlier if the water is well shaded); try size 14-16 Hendricksons, both spentwing and hackled. Bivisibles (light dun, gray gray or black [white-faced], and brown [orange faced]), sizes 10-20, are among my staples. Beadheads and soft-hackles, fished upstream, are effective nymphs. Big stonefly nymphs can be effective even when the water is off-color. Terrestrials are staples; big ants and smallish hoppers have worked best for me.
Most of these waters are legally fishable year-around, and I've had some fine success on balmy February days as well as April ones; runoff can be a problem. The Sevier will color up, as will its major tributaries such as Mammoth and Asay Creeks. But there are springfed brooks flowing into the upper Sevier that run clear and in the 50s just about year-around. This being the mountain West, streams can change character notably from one year to the next, sometimes because of irrigation drawdowns and other human degradations, sometimes beavers, sometimes spring runoff or summer monsoon flash floods undoing the beavers' work.
The Aquarius Plateau above the East Fork of the Sevier and the town of Escalante is famous for big brook trout in high lakes, but I don't have enough experience to comment on them. However, John Campbell, who runs the Outdoor Source, has for many years run guide trips and a small camp based in the area. However, he is gradually backing off from that service.
The Fremont River nearby is one of the most publicized streams in the area. I've fished the stretch in the Fishlake National Forest between Johnson Valley and Mill Meadow reservoirs. The lower end is easier to get to, mostly meadow water, with lots of room to camp -- and more pressure. Further up the mountain the stream is hemmed in by small trees and bushes and crossed by snags and rocks -- good places to practice specialized tactics like dapping and the bow-and-arrow cast in pockets -- with the occasional glade. Access gets more difficult further up. There are some great possibilities downstream, around Bicknell, if you hunt for them. (While in Bicknell, try one of the plate-sized pancakes at the Aquarius Inn.)
This is the region President Clinton, from safely across the Grand Canyon, turned into the Staircase-Escalante National Monument in time for the 1996 election, and now it is suffering from growth and tourism as a result. It may be merely coincidental, but it seems that since 1997 a lot more fencing and "posted" signs showed up along favorite stretches of the Sevier system, and more roads are being paved.
The town of Panguitch is the major center along the Rt. 89 corridor between Kanab and Richfield, not too far from a pretty good, eponymous lake fishery. (Fishing olive herl scuds from shore at the dam at Panguitch Lake just after most of the ice had gone got me some 15-17" brook trout and some similarly sized rainbows early one April.) Mammoth Creek, other Sevier watershed opportunities, and Bryce Canyon National Park are nearby. Sqatting at a right-angle bend of US 89, Panguitch is a bit less than four hours from Las Vegas.
Do not expect haute cuisine along Rt.89. In Panguitch, the Flying M restaurant is a serviceable place to eat: good pancakes, tacky touristic decor. A cowboy barbecue joint -- not far from the local espresso stand -- has gotten good reviews. There are also some fast food outlets, albeit with shorter hours than most of their ilk.
Panguitch Anglers Fly Shop and Inn (435/ 676-8950 ph; 435/ 676-8519 fax) lies between Panguitch and Hatch, not too far from the road to Bryce Canyon. When I was last in their original shop, in downtown Panguitch, the selection was small, but the owners seemed very well plugged into fishing news and conditions and reported that they had gotten local teens enthusiastic about flyfishing and conservation. They have expanded and now offer guiding and a bed and breakfast. I'm interested in seeing how the enlarged operation turns out.
|
 |
There are a few other stores catering to fly anglers in the region. Gart Brothers in Cedar City (home of the Utah Shakespearean Festival, among other events) and Dixie Rod and Gun (adjacent to Outdoor Outlet) in the retirement/ golf-course/ LDS Temple community of St. George have some fly gear, and even some bargains, and were for years staple, unsatisfying places to get minor gear and information.
Licenses are available in the shops (usually closed Sundays) and the inevitable Wal-Marts and K-Marts.
Utah was the first state to put its entire fishing regulations ("proclamation") on the web, along with other interesting information. And, of course, keep track of web resources, among them Jack Amundsen's Utah Flyfishing Home Page.
Utah waters get limited coverage in the Vegas papers, which may be just as well. Steve Cook's large Utah Fishing Guide (published by Utah Outdoors) briefly profiles many waters in this end of the state, leaving out some favorites but including many I didn't know existed. Its maps and directions are about as accurate as I'd want to find in a publication describing "my" waters. So they can sometimes mislead, but the descriptions do include GPS coordinates and Delorme Utah Map and Gazetteer page references. (Not that Delorme is perfect: it continues to misplace one of the Forest Service campgrounds near the Beaver River and its directory page misnames a reservoir near Fish Lake.) I'm inclined to disagree with Cook's recommendations about tactics, which have to be sparse in such a big reference book. For the conscientious angler, Cook includes advisories about waters tainted by whirling disease, along with reminders about etiquette and conservation.