Fly Fishing in Utah in Late December?

[Calloway99]

Hey all,
I am driving through Utah, on my way to Arizona, from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to drop off my mother-in-laws car and was wondering if there was any good fly fishing opportunities off #15 in late December?
Ideally I would like to fly fish a stream or river, Zion would be my first choice (for the scenery) and if possible I would love to find a good guide.

Thanks a bunch folks.

Sean
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[Dryrod]

[cool][font "Pristina"][green][size 4]Hi there Calloway99 and thank you for registering & posting with the BFT. We have several good people from Utah that post here on a regular basis. Someone should be by shortly to answer your question. Good luck and let us know how you made out.[/size][/green][/font]
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[Scruffy_Fly]

other options I know of but not in Utah:

Lees' Ferry - North West of Flagstaff Arizona. On the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam. This will take a day out of the trip by the time you make it there fish and then get back to I-15. But this is best done with a guide with a boat just to get you up river to the fishing. Walking in can be done.
Do a search: fly fishing arizona colorado river
[url "http://www.leesferry.com/"]http://www.leesferry.com/[/url]
[url "http://www.leesferryflyfishing.com/"]http://www.leesferryflyfishing.com/[/url]

My recommendation would be to forget about the fly fishing and go see the Grand Canyon. This 7th wonder of the world will surely impress you much more than the fly fishing would. I was there one time after a snow storm. But hey, you can do both. Stop at Lee's Ferry and fish and then continue on to the Grand Canyon. Doing both probably will consume a good two days though.

Further south towards the center of the Arizona. North of Sedona, one of the prettiest places to see in Arizona.

[url "http://thehookupoutfitters.com/trips/sedona.html"]http://thehookupoutfitters.com/trips/sedona.html[/url]

Do a web search on: fly fishing sedona oak creek canyon.

There are some options in Utah that would not be such a drive off the interstate but others will have to tell you about them.

Good luck.
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[riverdog]

About the only stream right off I-15 in southern Utah that you might be able to flyfish in late Dec is Leeds Creek just north of Red Cliffs. It's brushy but has plenty of beautiful bonneville cutthroat. Only problem is most of them are 4-8 inches. If you try it use a 6 or 7 ft rod. The Virgin River in Zion has very few trout. You need to fish outside the park at higher elevation on it's North or East Forks to find trout. Those areas are probable going to be snow covered and cold this time of year. Santa Clara is a little out of the way but if it's warm enough it's fishable in the winter. Someone mentioned Lee's Ferry already in Northern Arizona. Never been but hopefully I'm going to give it a try in a couple days. If I make it I'll probable post a report on the Utah fly fishing site. If you have any questions send me a pm .
You might look at
www.utah.gov/fishing/so_ut_trout_streams.html for some ideas but some of the info doesn't reflect the effects last year drought had on some of these small waters.
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[troutcougar1]

Lee's Ferry is a good call. This is the Colorado River just below Glen Canyon Dam (Lake Powell). And if you're headed toward the Phoenix Metropolitan area, then Lee's Ferry is actually right along a route that is quite a bit quicker and more direct than the I-15 through Vegas course. If you take the 15 South past Beaver, Utah you will shortly come to Highway 20. Little road, and if it's clear of snow take it East (left) 20 miles across to Hwy. 89, at which point the 20 ends in a T. Take the 89 South through Panguitch and Kanab, UT through Page, AZ all the way to Flagstaff, AZ then connect to I-17 via the I-40 West in Flagstaff. I-17 South will take you the rest of the way to Phoenix. This route saves at least a couple of hours.

Here's the best part: the 89 runs right next to the Dam as it crosses the Colorado. You can actually look off of the bridge down into the canyon and Lee's Ferry and see an island/sand bar and sometimes someone fishing it. Look at directions to a little place called "Vermillion Cliffs". It has some places to stay and some guide services. Maybe the best is a service simply called "Lee's Ferry Anglers" I believe. At any rate it's run by a couple named Terry and Wendy Gunn. They've been there forever, been on the cover of a bunch of magazines and know their stuff. Google them. The guides there use jet boats to cruise a dozen-plus miles upriver and land you on a nice gravel bar to fish.

The fishing can be awesome, but bundle up cuz there won't be much sun in the bottom of that canyon and the deasert landscape lies as to how cold it can get there even when your not standing in cold bottom-release water. But you're Canadian, so I'm sure you're prepared in respect to warm clothes while fishing.
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