Oak Creek, Arizona

Catch-and-release water above Slide Rock

From the Highway 89A bridge at Slide Rock State Park upstream to the Sterling Springs hatchery boundary, including the West Fork, Oak Creek is catch and release for trout with artificial flies and lures and barbless hooks only. This is the best water in the canyon: pocket water and pools under the red walls, wild browns in the shade, and the West Fork trail from the Call of the Canyon parking area leading into the quietest fishing on the creek.

Canyon campgrounds

Cave Springs, Pine Flat, Bootlegger and Manzanita are the Coconino National Forest campgrounds along 89A that put you on the creek, and the roadside pulloffs between them are where most anglers start. Slide Rock charges a day-use fee and fills with swimmers by mid morning in summer, so fish it at dawn or skip it. The best fishing is usually a walk away from any parking lot.

Lower canyon and Page Springs

Below Grasshopper Point the creek warms in summer and is managed as put-and-take water with rainbows from the Page Springs hatchery, and by the time it reaches the USGS gauge near Sedona it has left the trout canyon. Cold springs around Page Springs and the hatchery cool the creek again farther downstream, but that reach is mostly private.

Brown trout

Wild browns are the creek's real trout and they dominate the canyon above Slide Rock. They are wary in the clear water and heavily fished roadside pools, so long leaders, 5X or 6X tippet and an upstream approach matter more than pattern. Baetis in spring and fall, caddis in early summer and terrestrials through the hot months bring them up.

Rainbow and Gila trout

Arizona Game and Fish stocks rainbows through the canyon and has added Gila trout, the state's native trout, to the stocking mix. Stocked fish concentrate near the campgrounds and pulloffs and are far easier than the browns; treat every Gila trout as a release fish.

Season and regulations

Oak Creek is open all year, and the spring-fed flows keep it fishable in winter on mild days. Normal summer and fall flows of 30 to 80 cfs at the Sedona gauge wade easily, spring runoff can push it over 200 cfs and blow out the fishing, and 30 to 100 cfs is the window this page compares the gauge to.

The catch-and-release, artificial-only, barbless rules apply from the Slide Rock bridge up to Sterling Springs including the West Fork; standard Arizona trout limits apply elsewhere. Check the current AZGFD regulations for the exact boundaries and any changes.