| Well... I'll admit it - I routinely get turned on to the best fly | | | | to fish a little differently, my style is to hike as far back |
| fishing in the White Mountains region. Our designated | | | | as I feel like that day - then begin fishing back up river |
| broker Bob Pollock at Greer Land & Investments | | | | against the stream. |
| is a legendary fly fisherman in the Greer area with | | | | I generally hike for 45 minutes down the trail which is |
| over 25 years experience. In addition, my wife Wendy | | | | about 3 miles. The first 1.5 miles of the hike is fairly |
| Krueger has been guiding fly fishing in the Alpine and | | | | wooded along the river, there will be a small meadow |
| Greer area for the past 9 seasons. Between the two | | | | opening, then the meadow will open up to a larger |
| of them, they have covered as much of our | | | | meadow. Continue south along the Thompson Trail |
| surrounding water as anybody else... | | | | which is actually an old railroad grade, about halfway |
| I enjoy fly fishing tremendously, but I usually gravitate | | | | through the big meadow the trail will dip down low |
| towards the Yellowstone, Gallatin and Madison Rivers | | | | (probably an old bridge location). Hike through the dip |
| in Montana. I like big water dry fly fishing with plenty of | | | | and after a few hundred yards you will notice that the |
| room for my backcast. Unfortunately outside of Lees | | | | trail veers off to the west, begin hiking cross country |
| Ferry on the Colorado River, there are very few | | | | directly across the meadow in a southeasterly |
| areas in Arizona that get me really excited about | | | | direction. You will be travelling slightly downhill and |
| fishing. Sure, I'm okay with whiling away the day down | | | | angling toward the obvious bottom of the meadow. |
| on the Lower Black River south of Wildcat Crossing | | | | There is a great camping and picnic spot where the |
| wet fly fishing for Brown Trout - but I'd much rather | | | | meadow ends and this is where I usually assemble my |
| have surface strikes and plenty of them. When I feel | | | | rod. If I'm travelling alone, I carry a sidearm, an old habit |
| the urge to snag a few large hook jaw Brown Trouts | | | | from Montana. I'm generally concentrating so much on |
| off an Elk Hair Caddis, I head to the Upper West Fork | | | | the water that I may walk up and startle a bear or |
| of the Black River. | | | | mountain lion...(although I've had no experiences myself |
| Directions - From Alpine take US 191 (formerly US666) | | | | with those critters in this area). If we've been getting a |
| north of town 1 mile and turn off at Big Lake Road or | | | | lot of rain, especially during monsoon the pools are |
| Forest Road 249. Travel west approximately 16 miles | | | | pretty cloudy. These are good for a few casts, but I |
| past the Sierra Blanca Ranch, then the Three Forks | | | | have had far better luck casting directly upstream, |
| Area to Forest Road 249E. Continue travelling west | | | | usually around corners on my side of the stream, and |
| past the Indian Springs trail head, around the back side | | | | having my dry fly float blindly along the edge of the |
| of Big Lake past South Cove, down a big hill to the | | | | river. I routinely catch nice Brown Trout in this manner |
| junction of Forest Road 116. Turn left (west again) on | | | | using a variety of flys including hoppers. I generally fish |
| Forest Road 116, you'll drop into the drainage with an | | | | the entire large and small meadows in about 2 hours |
| old cabin on your right, continue another 1/3 mile and | | | | and catch and release quite a few fish. |
| there will be a Forest Service ramada parking area. | | | | If you want to fish this area successfully, you need to |
| Directly south 100 yards will be the Thompson Trail trail | | | | be an early riser. I like to be on the water around 6AM. |
| head and the Upper West Fork of the Black River. | | | | This means I leave Alpine about 4:30AM in the |
| There is a culvert right at the road which is okay for a | | | | summer, drive for 45 minutes and then hike in for 45 |
| dip of the line, but I like to head directly south down the | | | | minutes. I have tried fishing the area later in the morning |
| trail. After 1/4 mile there will be a fish barrier to protect | | | | and in the afternoon with limited success. I figure if your |
| the Apache Trout, you cannot fish in this area, travel | | | | goal is to catch fish, you should be there when they're |
| another 1/3 mile and there will be another fish barrier, | | | | feeding. |
| you may begin fishing below this area. Everybody likes | | | | |