Fly fishing Southern Utah

[Ohwow]

I moved to St. George and im going crazy looking for streams in the area to fish like up north. I heard there is a small stream coming off Pine Valley Mountain and i was wondering if anyone has heard of it and knows where it might be. Thank you very much for your help.
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[riverdog]

Santa Clara River flows out of the Pine Valley Mtn into the Virgin River. Access it above the town Veyo in the National Forrest for summer fishing. I think it's Hwy 18 you take from St. George.
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[Igottabigone]

Try the golf course ponds. I used to do that on a weekly basis when I went to school down there. Bass on a fly rod is really fun.

[PBH]

There are a number of streams flowing off the Pine Valley. Leeds Creek, Pig Creek, Quail Creek, Browse, Harmon, Mill.....
(and those are just the creeks flowing down the east side!)


Here, maybe this will help you a little bit:

http://wildlife.utah.gov/fishing/so_ut_t...reams.html
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[riverdog]

I'm pretty sure the trout never really got established in Browse Creek- goes dry with all the drought in past 5 years or so. Leeds Creek on the other hand is doing very well with the cutts that were transplanted from the west side of the pine valley mtns. Only about 15 miles from St. George. Very brushy but with a short rod not too bad to fish. The other place on the link for southern utah waters that has faired poorly is Beaver Dam Wash (above Motoqua). Floods of January 2005 destroyed Schroeder Dam just northwest of the Utah border in Nevada. While it was too small to cool water below, the resevoir did get stocked with rainbows during the summer and many could be found downstream in Utah in the winter. Used to be great shortsleeve winter fishing in a beautiful remote location for fish into the midteens. Last couple years haven't even seen a trout.
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[PBH]

[quote riverdog]I'm pretty sure the trout never really got established in Browse Creek- goes dry with all the drought in past 5 years or so. [/quote]

I'd beg to differ. You need to get higher....
Although, the fires from a couple years ago were a concern. But, there are still plenty of bonnies in South Ash (Browse).


[quote riverdogThe other place on the link for southern utah waters that has faired poorly is Beaver Dam Wash (above Motoqua). Floods of January 2005 destroyed Schroeder Dam just northwest of the Utah border in Nevada. [/quote]

I dont' know anything about Schroeder Dam, and I have heard the Beaver Dam Wash has struggled in recent years -- due to drought. However, this would not have affected Slaughter Creek. Do you have any recent info on Slaughter Creek?
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[riverdog]

PBH, thanks for the info on South Ash Creek. I mostly winter fish down there and try to avoid the snow. Do you know at what elevation you find the bonnies there? I might have been as I thought North Ash and where N & S Ash Creek combine to form Ash Creek was also called Browse Creek. Maybe we should stick with the Ash Creek names to keep it simple. Beaver Dam Wash is tiny, typically 4-10 cfs in winter if there wasn't been recent storms. Slaughter Creek averages about one tenth that size. I've never seen trout in Slaughter Creek in a dozen or so trips in the last 5 or 6 years. It was running well and clear this past March and all I saw was tons of Dace or whatever the little native fish are called in the Virgin River system. Many trips 3-5 years ago when trout where plentiful in the Wash, Slaughter Creek was dry where it drained into Beaver Dam Wash. I don't know if you ever been down there- the road is horrible, you cross the stream a dozen time, boulders for a road in places, the stream jumps it's bed and runs down the freestone road for upto a hundred yards at a time. A few times I had to slow down as not to run over rainbows swimming in the road. I had many sunny 65-75 degrees of fishing in winter. Huge old cottonwoods lower down changing over to juniper and then pinyon pines higher up. The black basalt canyon as you hike up a few miles from the end of the road is beautiful. Never encountered a single person who didn't come with me. I hope the trout make their way back down from Nevada. I'm sure Utah will never stock it given the endangered native fish species in there. Maybe if we get a couple good water years in a row I'll venture back one winter to see if they've returned.[fishin]
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[richyd4u]

[quote Ohwow]I moved to St. George and im going crazy looking for streams in the area to fish like up north. I heard there is a small stream coming off Pine Valley Mountain and i was wondering if anyone has heard of it and knows where it might be. Thank you very much for your help.[/quote]

I was just down in St. George last week and had a blast catching largemouth at some local ponds. I would say that with living in St. George, you will have to broaden your fly fishing horizons and adapt to warm water fishing. Hard to do (I know since I moved from the cold northern Utah streams, to the warm water of Kentucky), but I've learned to love throwing topwater poppers for those fiesty bass! Good luck!

-Rich
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[Ohwow]

Thanks for the reply Rich I have been told that the bass fishing on a fly rod is amazing. What ponds around the area can you get into, and since I have never done this before what kind of flies were you using if you don't mind sharing some information.
Thanks for your help.
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