Little Canyons

One of the nice things about living in the western part of the USA is having an endless choice of canyon streams to fly fish. And, if you are a small stream fly fisher, it doesn't get much better than fishing those small Rio's flowing through the little canyons throughout our western states. Working your way upstream against the cascading water, fishing pockets of wild trout, while surrounded by rock walls makes for a memorable day. The beauty is almost overwhelming.

With the fast flows in many of these canyon streams, the trout don't have time to think about what is a legitimate food rushing down the current. They have to quickly hit perceived food to survive. And, that is one of the reasons I enjoy a mountain Rio squeezing through a rocky canyon as it makes its way to merge with larger waters. Everything is fast! The water. The drifts. And, most importantly, the trout smacking a dry fly. Even the sunset arrives faster when you're down in the bottom of a canyon.

Not all of the canyon Rio's run fast and furious. Some can also be slow moving, and that's when things get a bit more technical. The size of streams range from tiny to medium sized moving waters. I like them best when there is some turbulence combined with slower pockets of water among boulders. Yeah, dropping a dry fly softly into a pocket of smooth water around a boulder is exciting for me. I can't imagine ever tiring of that...