Troutline

Oak Creek

Arizona·Red Rock Country·34.86° N, 111.76° W
Flow
35.4 CFS
Oak Creek near Sedona
Water Temp
67°F
Oak Creek near Sedona
Condition
Above Normal
Weather
74°F
Showers And Thunderstorms Likely
near Sedona

Insights

Flow
35.4 CFS — wading range
Solid water for fishing.
Wind
Wind 2 mph — calm
Easy casting and clean surface presentations.
Water Temp
Water 67°F — warm
Fish low-oxygen areas only. Land fish quickly and keep them wet.
Pressure
Pressure rising
Feeding may slow as fish sit tight.
Sky
Rain incoming
Surface activity often spikes ahead of the soaking — watch the window.

Oak Creek runs down the Mogollon Rim from the head of Oak Creek Canyon to Sedona and on toward the Verde River, and it's really two fisheries wearing one name. Up top — from the Highway 89A bridge at Slide Rock State Park upstream to the Sterling Springs Hatchery boundary, and including the West Fork — it's catch-and-release, single-barbless, artificial-only water holding wild brown trout, a few of them genuinely large. Fourteen to eighteen inches is common and fish over 20 inches turn up in a creek you can step across. Below Slide Rock, through the swimming holes and roadside pull-outs along 89A, it's a stocked, tourist-thick put-and-take stream that Arizona Game & Fish plants with catchable rainbows through the warm months. Knowing which reach you're standing in is the whole game here.

Practically, this is small, technical, wade-in creek fishing — pocket water and runs connecting a chain of pools, cut into a slot canyon so narrow the walls do half your hiding for you. You're mostly casting upstream and short, keeping line off the water, drifting drag-free to fish that see a lot of people. A 9-foot 4- or 5-weight, a leader to 5X or 6X for dries (drop to 3-4X for nymphing the deeper pockets), and a stealthy, low-and-slow approach do the work. Nymphing carries most days; when Baetis come off in spring or Tricos come off on July-through-September mornings, the dry fishing turns on. The upper reaches and the spring-fed West Fork run cold enough to fish year-round; the lower canyon warms hard by midsummer and fishes best spring and fall.

The trade-off is people. The lower canyon along 89A is one of the busiest recreation corridors in Arizona — Slide Rock, the swimming holes, the leaf-peeper traffic in October — and the stocked pools get pounded. The fishing that rewards the drive is the walk-in: the West Fork above Call of the Canyon, several miles of wild-brown pocket water where the crowds thin out fast once you're past the first mile of maintained trail. There are no fly shops in Sedona itself; plan on sourcing flies from Flagstaff or online, and check the special-regulation boundaries before you fish, because this is one of the most tightly regulated trout streams in the state.

Species

  • Brown Trout
    Primary · Sep-Nov, Spring · 10-18"

    The signature fish of the catch-and-release reach and the West Fork — wild-reproducing, occasionally over 20 inches in a creek you can step across. This is the wild trout the drive is for.

  • Rainbow Trout
    Common · Apr-Oct · 9-14"

    Arizona Game & Fish stocks catchable rainbows in the lower canyon put-and-take reach below Slide Rock through the warm months; a few hold over in the colder upper water.

Ideal wading flow20–60 CFS
Blow-out>200 CFS
Ideal water temp50–62°F

Spring is the peak — Baetis hatches, pre-runoff clarity, and cool water top to bottom. Fall (Sept-Nov) brings BWOs, aggressive browns, and thinning crowds after leaf season. Summer fishes early on the West Fork and upper reach for Tricos and terrestrials, but watch for monsoon flash floods that can send the canyon to hundreds of CFS and turn it chocolate for a day or two — a rim thunderstorm can blow it out with no rain at your feet. The lower canyon warms into the high 60s and 70s by midsummer afternoons, so fish it early or move up. Winter is a year-round season with midges and the odd BWO on warm, clear days.

Sections

4 sections on this river

West Fork Oak Creek (Call of the Canyon walk-in)

WadeBrown Trout · Rainbow Trout

A small, cold, spring-influenced tributary canyon of tight pocket water and step pools in a dramatic slot. Walk-in only from the Call of the Canyon / West Fork trailhead on 89A; several miles of wild brown trout water open up once you hike past the maintained first mile, with the upper reaches entering the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness. Inside the special-regulation catch-and-release zone.

Best for: Unpressured wild brown trout on dry-dropper and short-line nymphing — the best pure-angling water on the system, where stealth is everything.

Upper Canyon — Sterling Springs to Slide Rock

WadeBrown Trout · Rainbow Trout

Pocket water, riffles, runs, and connected pools in the narrow head of Oak Creek Canyon — the coldest mainstem water, spring-influenced near the Sterling Springs Hatchery. Roadside access off 89A through the canyon switchbacks at multiple Coconino National Forest pull-outs, with private inholdings to respect. This is the mainstem half of the catch-and-release, single-barbless, artificial-only zone.

Best for: Wild brown trout and rainbow trout on upstream nymphing and dries in the cold wild-trout reach.

Lower Canyon — Slide Rock to Sedona

WadeRainbow Trout

Pools and runs along the 89A corridor that warm significantly in summer and are managed as put-and-take. Heavy roadside access at Grasshopper Point, Encinoso, Halfway/Banjo Bill, and Slide Rock day-use — fee sites with extreme crowding from May through October and during fall color. Below the special-reg boundary, so general statewide rules apply. Come for easy fish, not solitude.

Best for: Stocked rainbow trout for kids and beginners; fish early mornings before the swimmers arrive.

Lower Oak Creek — Page Springs to Cornville

WadeRainbow Trout

Where the creek leaves the canyon and meanders through Page Springs and Cornville toward the Verde — spring-fed cool water near the Page Springs Hatchery, warming to a warm/cool-water mix downstream. Much of the bank is private (wineries, the hatchery), so public access is limited. The Cornville gauge at the bottom shows what the whole system is doing.

Best for: Holdover trout near the springs and incidental fishing lower down; secondary to the canyon reaches, with access the real constraint.

Regulations

Current fishing rules and restrictions

One of Arizona's most tightly regulated trout streams. From the Highway 89A bridge at Slide Rock State Park upstream to the Sterling Springs Hatchery boundary — including the West Fork — trout are catch-and-release, artificial-fly-and-lure only, single-barbless hooks (effective Jan 1, 2023). Below Slide Rock, general statewide trout rules apply and Arizona Game & Fish stocks the put-and-take reach.

  • Catch-and-release zone: Highway 89A bridge at Slide Rock State Park upstream to the AZGFD Sterling Springs Fish Hatchery boundary, including the West Fork of Oak Creek
  • In the C&R zone: all trout released immediately unharmed — none kept
  • In the C&R zone: artificial fly and lure only
  • In the C&R zone: single-pointed barbless hooks only
  • Below the C&R zone (Slide Rock downstream): general statewide trout regulations apply — this is the AZGFD-stocked put-and-take reach
  • Arizona fishing license required; a general license covers trout (no separate trout stamp)

Verify the exact C&R boundary language and any in-season changes against the current AZGFD regulations before you fish — the special-reg zone is well signed but the boundary is what determines whether you can keep a fish.

Source: Arizona Game & Fish Department (2025-2026 Fishing Regulations). Regulations change annually — verify before fishing.

Access & Logistics

Getting there, fly shops, and lodging

Getting There

Sedona, AZ

~2 hrs N of Phoenix, ~30-45 min S of Flagstaff via 89A

Camping & Lodging

Coconino National Forest campgrounds line 89A through the canyon — Cave Springs, Pine Flat, and Manzanita offer day-use and camping — alongside canyon cabin rentals and Sedona hotels. Flagstaff has full services ~30-45 minutes north.

There are no fly shops in Sedona or Oak Creek Canyon itself; source flies from Flagstaff (Babbitt's) or online. Most canyon pull-outs and trailheads — West Fork/Call of the Canyon, Grasshopper Point, Slide Rock State Park — are fee day-use sites (Red Rock Pass or per-site fee), and West Fork and Slide Rock parking fills early on weekends and in fall-color season, so arrive early.

Conditions data is live from public monitoring networks. Regulations change annually — always verify current rules with your state fish & wildlife agency before fishing.

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