12-15-2020, 02:45 PM
If you are going to drive over an hour from Kanab -- which almost every suggestion will be -- then play the smart card: go fish the East Fork Sevier in Black Canyon.
A. The river will be ice free (high water table, lots of springs = ice free river all winter long)
C. Access -- with the recent winter storms, some of the places mentioned may not be accessible. The EF Sevier is a maintained (plowed) road.
B. You will be fishing for rainbows, cutthroat, and browns that range from 12" - 24". Legitimately nice fish.
As much as I like those small streams in Washington / Kane counties (Leeds, Browse, Harmon / Mill, Kanab Creek, EF Virgin etc.) they are just not great streams. They are all very small, with typically very small fish (Leeds would probably be the nicest stream). They are very brushy and difficult to fish. They also will have unmaintained roads - which can be a problem this time of year.
If you were staying in St. George -- I'd throw out Beaver Dam Wash out near Motoqua. That would be a legitimate wintertime flyfishing spot, that could actually produce some winter dry fly action for small wild trout. The Santa Clara would be another decent option.
I know you are set on stream fishing for trout - but you have another option you could consider: Lake Powell. You could fish it from shore around Wahweap and get into some stripers....
A. The river will be ice free (high water table, lots of springs = ice free river all winter long)
C. Access -- with the recent winter storms, some of the places mentioned may not be accessible. The EF Sevier is a maintained (plowed) road.
B. You will be fishing for rainbows, cutthroat, and browns that range from 12" - 24". Legitimately nice fish.
As much as I like those small streams in Washington / Kane counties (Leeds, Browse, Harmon / Mill, Kanab Creek, EF Virgin etc.) they are just not great streams. They are all very small, with typically very small fish (Leeds would probably be the nicest stream). They are very brushy and difficult to fish. They also will have unmaintained roads - which can be a problem this time of year.
If you were staying in St. George -- I'd throw out Beaver Dam Wash out near Motoqua. That would be a legitimate wintertime flyfishing spot, that could actually produce some winter dry fly action for small wild trout. The Santa Clara would be another decent option.
I know you are set on stream fishing for trout - but you have another option you could consider: Lake Powell. You could fish it from shore around Wahweap and get into some stripers....