With fishing buddy Jim the Man(oledes) on the East Coast for the summer, I decided to solo it on a canyon fly-fishing adventure today. I strayed from my usual places, the forks of the San Gab. The verdict: if you live anywhere near the expanded Monument, live to fly fish, and, well, you know, actually have a terrible case of fish fever, get on out there!

Although the pic (third row, Scotch Broom) doesn’t even begin to do the hatch justice, I saw literally thousands of — ladybugs! — swirling around all over the canyon. At first, I had no idea what I was looking at. They appeared to be tiny round orange flying buttons. When one finally landed, I couldn’t believe it.

Also, I didn’t get a shot of two snakes coiled like a legendary Cadeusus in everyone’s favorite springtime activity. That was amazing.

So, head out early to avoid the coming heat; bring lots of water, sunscreen, a decent hat, and a great lunch. Don’t wear shorts or short sleeves because we have a whole lot of poison oak and stinging nettles. If you don’t know what they look like, safe your skin some real agony and look the up.

I now take my Zoleo with me into areas without a cellphone signal. I’m also crazy about two apps: the amazing Merlin Bird ID from Cornell Lab and the in-need-of-an-update Seek connected to INaturalist.

Be super mindful of snakes. Little rattlers are just starting to grow up, and you don’t want to inadvertently put your hand in a crevice or step on one. Their rattles are still immature, and they don’t yet know how to control their venom flow.

I Euro-nymphed and pulled in seven in about an hour and change. The trout were still hanging way down. The biggest (second row) was a porker and dove straight into a deep pool, which was a thrill. Technically, I guess I was nymphing because I used a 4 wt., eight-footer, but what the hell, it’s all high sticking, anyway. There was not another soul on the water but me. Now that’s fishing.

I’m not going to name this spot, but if you email me, I’ll give it to you.

See you on the river, Jim Burns