Woods Canyon Lake

John and I went fishing at Woods Canyon Lake with his family on June 14th. The lake is in northern Arizona about 25 miles past Payson on Highway 260. It was gorgeous! We left Phoenix at 2:45 AM to get to the lake by 5:00 AM. His dad drove down from Snowflake, about an hour northeast of the lake. We were one of the first groups there, which was nice on Free Fishing Day in Arizona. We fished the lake for just an hour, then started to hike up the river that served as an overflow for Woods Canyon Lake. We don't think it had overflowed for quite some time, but we found a few little deep patches of river that had some fish. As it turns out, John is quite the fisherman. All he had to do was dangle the worm in the water, and the fish would beat each other up to get to his hook. He caught four. I caught one that was so tiny, we had to get out a magnifying glass to confirm it was indeed a fish. I released...and we are pretty sure John's dad happily caught and kept the same fish just a few hours later! The view was so pretty. We were the only people hiking up the river. After climbing about three miles, we turned around and fished our way back. The temperature was a perfect 75 degrees, after warming up from the morning chill. We ate ham sandwiches, and I got some good stories about of John's dad about John. It was a lovely day! I have obviously lost my deep mental connection with fish, as I used to catch so many we couldn't keep up with bait. And apparently, I have a knack for tangling my fishing line. John was so sweet to me and very patient...always just smiling and re-baiting my hook instead of worrying about his line. It was fun to be with my man and watch him work his mastery at yet another skill. What CAN'T this man do? I think I like him...