Granny and I had a nice drive from Denver and arrived in Phoenix late afternoon on Tuesday. In Phoenix we base out of our good friends Steve and Lisa Berry’s place. This was a long planned visit. Steve helped me buy the van back in November. Then he stored it till we picked it up January 3rd. Yesterday Steve, Granny and I put a bike rack on the back.
Today Steve headed for the San Juan River in New Mexico. Granny and I headed out to the Salt River to camp and meet another AZ friend, Mike Faulkinbury. It was almost a year ago to the day that Mike led me and Steve on a quest to add the Sonora sucker to our species list. A challenge, because suckers spend 90% of their feeding time cleaning rocks off the bottom. They suck up a nymph or small crustacean when given the chance but they don’t exactly run them down in full hunt mode. On that quest day in 2021, both Steve and Mike nailed one. My sucker fly fishing skills let me down. I was blanked.
Some people sleep on things overnight and conquer challenges the next day. I tried last year but the Salt River blew out on us overnight. I’d have to wait a year, till today in fact to try and redeem myself. We met Mike at noon at the same place we fished last year.
River conditions were excellent. The Sonora suckers were thick. But do you think we could catch one? Absolutely not. Mike and I, and even Granny fished hard all afternoon. No doubt I had a couple good looks from Mr. Sonora, but in the end it was another skunking. Two full Sonora sucker days in my life and nothing to show for it.
Granny, Ruby Van and I have a great campsite here in the Tonto National Forest. I’m going to sleep on my defeat once again and hope to wake up to another chance. I feel like I came very close to getting several to take my flies today. And unlike last years “sleeping on this” and the river blowing out, I think tomorrow will be the day!
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