Days 30 and 31: Niners Win, Great Burger, And a Campsite Near an Apache Trout Creek

I found a great sports bar in Pinetop Arizona to watch the 49ers – Arizona Cardinals game. I could not pass up watching the game in a sports bar in the home area of the 49ers opponents. I had a fantastic cheeseburger, gigantic in size and flavor, and watch the game, thankfully sitting near a table consisting of 49ers fans.

After the game I purchased online an Arizona fishing license for an entire year. The costs were $20 per day or $55 for a year. Not a tough choice. I had planned on going to a road cutout on the West Fork of the Little Colorado River to fish for Apache Trout, but with further research I found that there was a campground on the West Fork of the Black River which also qualified as an Apache Trout location for the Western Native Trout Challenge. I drove to the campground, getting in just at dark.

The West Fork of the Black River was the creek / river I had dreamed of during this entire trip. There was a long pool, 50 feet or more, with an undercut bank right by the campground. I planned to fish the pool in the morning, dapping a hopper-dropper rig all along the undercut banks. It was a nice night’s sleep and all was well for my chance to catch an Apache Trout in the morning.

I woke up to find that two young lads were fishing the “pool of my dreams” with their grandfather. Immediately I saw an Apache Trout hanging from a hook, several feet from the water while his brother was taking a picture. The fish was out of the water for several minutes when the grandfather recommended that they release the fish back into the water if they were not planning on eating it. I watched as the fish was placed in the water only to be quickly belly-up on the bottom of the pool.

I headed upstream to fish and found trails along the banks of the creek and many entry ways into the creek through the bushes. I only fell into marsh bogs twice, and saw four catchable trout swim away, quickly, from water I was intending to fish. Same story as my Willow Creek experiences.

After exhausting my energy, I went back to the pool and talked to the grandfather, his son, and his two grandsons. We chatted about my trip and they were very interested. The grandfather stated that since I’ve been fishing so hard, it wouldn’t really have been cheating if I had put their fish into my net earlier and taken a photo of it.

I was disgusted. Really, really disgusted………………………that I had considered that earlier lol. However, I have to live with myself and my ethics and I admonished myself severely for even thinking of the possibility of putting someone else’s fish into my net. Not going to happen, EVER.

Since there was plenty of time left in the day, and I was too tired to hike up a creek, I drove to the town of Alpine to buy another tube of flotant. I had lost the tube I purchased earlier in the week, somewhere, somehow. A quick drive to the West Fork of the Little Colorado and I was ready to fish another creek to catch an Apache Trout. The Black River campground was only 15 miles away from the Little Colorado, so I had a close campground to spend the night.

The West Fork of the Little Colorado had a parking lot and paved trail just off the highway. I geared up and worked the river / creek for an hour. I placed my fly in places that were similar to immediate successes earlier on my trip. Water that just HAD to hold a trout, followed by great floats of my fly led to no indication that trout existed in this water. Furthermore, rain had started to fall. Normally rain is no big deal, but I still have to catch 3 species of trout in southern California to qualify for the first medallion awarded by the WNTC. Those fish are in much higher elevations than the trout in New Mexico and Arizona.

Exhaustion helped me make a decision. The small creeks I’ve been fishing need a fitter, trimmer, me to succeed. I will come back to Arizona and New Mexico to catch fish for the WNTC, but also to complete the trout challenges for each of the states (two more possible medallions). Thirty One days on the road, with snow possibly falling any day in the mountains of southern California, it was time for me to move on to catch fish in California.

It will be a 9 hour, two day trip to Porterville, California, to attempt to catch the Kern River Rainbow, the Little Kern Golden, and the California Golden Trout before snow falls. Time to get on the road.

Tight Lines!