Fishing License for Grand Canyon trip

[Tele til yoor Smelly]

And for my second question on the forum-

Is there any special fishing license I need for a Grand Canyon trip, or just the standard Arizona fishing license? Thanks!

[desertrat]

Nope you don't need anything special just a AZ license, which you can pick up in Marble Canyon, right before the put-in.

[Osprey]

Any opinions on fishing it at these levels (25k)? I talked to one guide but am still up in the air if it's worth the gear/hassle/time. launch in two weeks.

[Tele til yoor Smelly]

Originally Posted by Osprey

Any opinions on fishing it at these levels (25k)? I talked to one guide but am still up in the air if it's worth the gear/hassle/time. launch in two weeks.

Good question!

Also- so if you do get tthe license, it looks like for out-of-staters the 4-month license is the way to go- only a few bucks more than a 5-day. I see there's also a Colorado River-only one but it costs more and I assume covers the whole year; as far as I can tell the 4-month license covers the Colorado River too?

[Preston H.]

Originally Posted by Osprey

Any opinions on fishing it at these levels (25k)? I talked to one guide but am still up in the air if it's worth the gear/hassle/time. launch in two weeks.

If you take fly fishing seriously, then maybe not. I suppose you might have fewer good spots at that level.

However, the rainbows in GC are practically domesticated. Years of human food deposited in the eddies at campsites has turned a once cagey fish into something like a glorified panfish. Spincasting is really the way to go. Cheese is a great bait, but IMO you cannot beat raw bacon. It stays on the hook better than anything else, and it gives you a chance of catching catfish and carp too, if you care for landing big, ugly fish.

Seriously, fishing in GC is way more trout farm than wilderness stream. You know it's bad when the motor well of an S-rig is the best fishing spot on the river.

[BrianK]

just got off a trip last week - we had constant flows of 23k - one of the guys on the trip fly fished the bank at every campsite in the first half before hiking out at phantom and he caught at least 10 fish/day. Some pretty big. I'd say its worth it if you like to fish.

He didnt fish at all from the raft so I dont know how well that would have worked.

[Osprey]

Great first hand info Brian, that helped. Yeah, I would definitely be fly fishing.

My buddy who guides at LF in the winter had told me this, he hasn't floated the canyon though.

Not really for the big river downstream of the Paria, but Lower Tapeats Creek and the one that runs by Phantom Ranch (bright angel) should fish good. Also the wading between the Paria and the boat launch will be really good, its just like fishing the pocket water on the Madison when the flows get high

[Fuzzy]

Caught so many quality fish at some camp in the 20's. So fun

[farmboy]

Originally Posted by Tele til yoor Smelly

And for my second question on the forum-

Is there any special fishing license I need for a Grand Canyon trip, or just the standard Arizona fishing license? Thanks!

You need an AZ fishing license, but the Park circus scientific unit has killed all the trout because they weren't natural and the Humpback chubs can't survive in the cold water that lake fowel has created, so I wouldn't even bother. I had incredible luck fishing down there up until my last trip 3 years ago, when I didn't catch any, but they forgot to tell me this when I bought the license.

[desertrat]

Originally Posted by farmboy

You need an AZ fishing license, but the Park circus scientific unit has killed all the trout because they weren't natural and the Humpback chubs can't survive in the cold water that lake fowel has created, so I wouldn't even bother. I had incredible luck fishing down there up until my last trip 3 years ago, when I didn't catch any, but they forgot to tell me this when I bought the license.

My last trip we talked with the GCMRC fish people and they said that they have stopped all fish killing as of a couple years ago and that the trout numbers have returned to previous level. There are certainly tons of trout and their will be until the dam is removed. Apparently Chumb numbers went up during the kill which was focused around Fence fault and the LCR and have yet to go back down.