FISHING THE FOUR CORNERS

Photographs by Charles C. Niehuis To the casual observer of southwestern geography there is no unity in the high country of the "Four Corners" of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. This area has arbitrarily been divided into four commonwealths. But long before man-either white or red-populated the southwest and set up these artificial boundaries, the Creator, in His intricate scheme, had made one dependent upon the other.

One descriptive anonymous quote worth repeating here is: "When the Lord was making the earth He saved the good things until last. Then when He was just about finished He'd found He had too much left over, so He stacked it all on end in the Four Corners country." But actually most people have been misled about this section and the photographer who reportedly "captures the truth" in his pictorials has been our worst deceiver.

For example, the Navajo Reservation, which comprises most of the Four Corners country, is practically always pictured as a stark and nearly barren wasteland, beautiful in its rawness. Erosion by wind and storm have left fantastic and awesome formations. And more film has been burned by amateur and professional photographers in attempts to capture its color than almost any other area on the hemisphere.

Thus these same photographers have done the Navajos and us an injustice-by picturing only that part of the reservation.

Few travelers following the main highway which crosses Navajoland realize that much of the reservation area is high ground-mountains rising to more than eight thousand feet, composing a plateau along the Arizona and New Mexico boundary, covered with pine, spruce, fir and aspen. That in the alpine valleys separating these higher peaks lie turquoise lakes fastened in lush green settings. One really has to fly over Navajoland in the early morning, when the sun is just rising, to really become aware of its beauty and its untouched possibilities. For it is then you can catch the silvery reflection of light on many lakes and streams. And looking down on themif you have the imagination-you can visualize yourself fishing those lakes and streams and camping in the verdant glades surrounding the bodies of water. And, my imaginative friend, you could be right! Trout can be caught in the lakes; listen to the musical names of these waters-Antelope, Fluted Rock, Wheatfields, Tsaile and Little White Cone Lakes. Too, warmwater game fish-bass, bluegills and catfish-can be caught in Fluted Rock, Round Rock, Springs Canyon, Red Lakes, the San Juan and the Colorado rivers. The scenes adventuring fishermen, hunters and campers will find in the Lukachukai Mountains, for example, are far different from the familiar ones usually associated with this land of the Navajos. Aspen-sheltered glades Surround the lakes. You'll hear the sough of wind in spruce, pine and fir trees. And the fishing and hunting are really good! The Navajo Tribal Council, well aware of its naturalresources, long ago established its own Resources Committee. This group administers the fish and game to be found on the reservation and is developing this wildlife resource. Too, they have developed campgrounds and facilities at these lakes. Here is the list:

Comfort stations and garbage disposal pits are located at all campgrounds. There is no limit on duration of stay. House trailers are permitted at all campgrounds. Leave the camp the way you expect to find it CLEAN. Extinguish all fires before leaving camp site.

Simmer stovens frequent in Southsestera Colorado

Additional information can be obtained from the Navajo Tribal Conneil at Window Rock, Arizona. They have an exciting four-color map of Navajoland which locates roads, lakes, streams and the towns. This you should have in order to get the most out of your fishing trip complete with adventure.

If you are a non-Navajo and want to fish and hunt on Navajoland, you will be required to have a state license as well as a permit from the Navajo Tribal Council. For example, if you are in that part of the reservation embraced by Arizona, you must have an Arizona hunting and/or fishing license, and if in New Mexico, you must comply with the regulations covering the take of game in that state. The same rule applies in Utah This may seem unjust to you, but these three state game departments and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cooperate with the Navajo Tribal Council in keeping the Indians lakes and streams stocked, enforcing game and fish laws and in wildlife management problems.

The fees you pay to the state and the Navajos make good fishing, hunting and camping facilities available.

This high country you will enjoy on the Navajo Reservation is part of the backbone of the Rockies, which extends to the north and east into the corner of Colorado.

Here, the terrain literally leaps up into the highest mountains in the United States. Within a circle 65 miles in diameter, ninety-five peaks are over 12,000 feet high. All of them are snow-capped, and many have perpetual glaciers. Water from the melting snows is the beginning of streams that drain into the San Juan, Las Animas (originally called by the early Spaniards, "E Rio de las Animas Perdidas"-the River of Lost Souls), Uncompahgre, Gunnison and the San Miguel rivers, which in turn find their way to empty into the Colorado River. Much of the water that will be stored in Powell Lake (to be formed by Glen Canyon Dama) and the water that is stored in Lakes Mead, Mobave, Havasu and Iruperial and Laguna reservoirs in northern and western Arizona on the Colorado River, comes from these San Juan Mountains.

The San Juans, of which 65% of the land arca is over 7,000 feet, is very like the Alps of Europe. In fact this region is often referred to as "The Switzerland of America."

Here, as in Navajoland, are lakes and streams, many hundreds of miles of fishing water, all in an alpine setting. Thick stands of spruce, Colorado blue, Engelman, Silver, and fir, Western yellow pine, and cedars sur romd and shade the waters.

Trout streams and lakes are too numerous to list here, for all of this ligh country has a perpetual runoff from great deposits of snow every winter. Every camyon and vale has a running stream and there are many mountain lakes.

The best sources of information as to the types of streams and lakes, where they are located, what kind of facilities are available, and what you can expect to find in the way of fishing and hunting can be found in two guides. One is a book: The Official Colorado Fishing and Hunting Guide, costing $zoo, which can be obtained from most bookstores in southwestern Colorado, or by writing to Tim K. Kelley, 774 15th Street, Boulder, Colorado. This book also contains maps. Another, the Colorado Sportsman's Guide, is a packer of maps in a folder. This sells for $1.95 and is published by Edward W. Pulver & Son, 2317 North 45th Street, Seattle, Washington.

While trout fishing in many streams of Arizona is classed as "put-and-take" fishing, ie, the trout are raised in a hatchery and rearing ponds and therefore, "tame," much of the trout fishing in the Four Corners area is Angling for "wild trout. These fish have been raised in tumbling, frothy mountain streams and timberline lakes. So these trout are accustomed to feeding on larvae, nymphs and insects that are found in and on the waters in which they live. This means then that they can only be caught on good trout fishing tackle.

Spinning gear, of course, is always good and useable on lakes and big bodies of water. Spinning gear allows you to use spoons, wobblers and spinners, which are good for taking brown trout early and late in the season. Rainbows can be caught almost any time. Cutthroat, or the "native" trout of Colorado, prefer wet and dry flies. And brook tront are especially choicy about their lures. The trout of the high country, the San Juans, the "Switzerland of America" are almost all wild, or produced naturally. And the best way to catch them is with trout fishing tackle having fine terminal gear. Six-to seven-foot-long tapered leaders should be used, coming down to at least a 2x taper for natural bait fishing, or perhaps even finer, to a 5X or 6X, especially if you are nsing dry flies.

The natural insects that are found on trout water in the high Four Corners are: mosquitoes, gnats, various flies and moths, many of which come from larvae and nymphs hatched in streams and lakes. The natural baits are, of course: worms and night crawlers found under stones and rocks near the water and grubs and larvae and nymphs found in debris along the water's edge. The hook used should be small enough to be hidden within the body of the natural bait, because wild trout are leery of heavy and exposed hooks or hervy leaders.

Artificial flies tied to simulate the natural baits are equally good producers of good fishing, if you have good reproductions and know how to use them.

Some of the best artificials produced are done by the fly tiers of Arizona. Emil Grimm's "Hard-backed Nymphs" were done especially for the alpine lakes of Colorado. Custom fly-tier Grimm learned his trade on the famous trout streams of the East Coast: the Beaverkill, the. Ansable, ere.

Walter Flesher also does up some very fine dry flies. Walt's "Arizona Mosquito" tied with Arizona Javalina bair and his "Western estern Bee" in sizes iz to 20 are favorites of mine. The only trouble with Walt Flesher's fires is that you can't get enough of them-he's usually busy fishing his own creations all of the time.

Emil Grimm's dry flies, too, in gray, brown and black pateras and their many variations, are exquisite in per fection.

Another Arizona fly tier who ranks with these two greats is Don Olliver, who developed the "Olliver Twist, a black nymph, which Ed Kano proved out repeatedly for me in fishing for big trout in mountain country such as you'll fish in the Four Corners area. So, there you readers have it-trout streams and lakes that you bave possibly overlooked, those in the Four Corners country, where the States of New Mexico, Colorado and Utah join with Arizona in offering a vacationland that is probably the more spectacular in scenery than any other part of the nation-a land that is now being made accessible with newly constructed roads for your adventuring.