Grand Canyon At Lee's Ferry
1995 by Portly Bob
This was a great trip. My wife had a business trip to Phoenix and this gave me some time to do a trip that I would not have normally considered. This one was EXPENSIVE!! (about $700 for just me), but worth it. I used Lee's Ferry Anglers as a guide service.
From Phoenix it was about a 8 hour drive (they say 5) through great scenery and nothing else (this is in the middle of nowhere). I stayed at the Vermillion Cliffs Inn. When I arrived the owner of the Inn greeted me and had a nice room ready for me. He asked me what I wanted to eat and made a couple of suggestions, all of which sounded fabulous!! I had a steak that was outstanding and the restaurant had 150 different kinds of beer, and after 8 hours in the car I tried about 1/2 of them.
The atmosphere was excellent and the locals were interesting. I had a drunk Navaho Indian invite me to do the peyote ritual with him...but that is another, long and strange story.
After good eat, drink and sleep I was awakened at 5am for fishing. The guide took me out on the river for a full day of fishing on the river. We fished until 7 pm that evening. I took 5 nice, chubby native rainbows that fought outstandingly in the fast, cold waters of the Colorado.
If you have never fished the area, I recommend hiring a guide. The technique that is used in fishing the river is a long line nymphing method that is peculiar to the average fisherman, but needed to catch fish on the river.
A nice bow I caught at Lee's Ferry
There are no hatches to speak of on this part of the river and all the insect life is in the water (the fly of choice was a size 18 Brassie), so if you want to dry fly fish, you may as well forget about it. I only saw a small hatch of size 22 black flies that some trout were rising to, but the guide told me it was a long shot to catch them this was...I did try, but was rejected.
All the fish that I caught were taken by nymphing from the sand bars that the guide ran me up to in his boat. Even though the style of fishing was not quite what I was used to, it was a blast and I would recommend this trip to all who have the cash and time. Take a camera. because the scenery is breath taking. Every turn of the river lends a new and interesting view . There are cliff dwellings and fossils all along the river. Big horn sheep can be seen all around and golden eagles fly over your head all day. (I even saw cougar tracks at the waters edge).
I give this trip 4 rods due to the cost. If you can afford the price tag, it's a 5!!!
