839 | Apache Trout Rivers, Desert Creeks & Carp in the Canals with Ben Smith of AZ Wanderings
Wet Fly Swing Fly Fishing Podcast
Dave Stewart
4.7 • 530 Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2025
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
#839 Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/839
Presented By: FishHound Expeditions, Smitty's Fly Box, Mountain Waters Resort, Jackson Hole Fly Company
Sponsors: https://wetflyswing.com/sponsors
Ben Smith of Arizona Wanderings walks us across Arizona — from the high-country creeks that hold Apache trout to the canals and reclaimed ponds around Phoenix, where carp and tilapia lurk. He talks native-fish recovery efforts, the best shoulder-season windows for trout, small-stream tactics (long leaders, stealth, and micro presentations), and the surprisingly wide variety of warm- and cold-water opportunities within a few hours of the city. Along the way, Ben shares how he started blogging, why he still ties flies and furled leaders, and how junior angler programs are getting kids bitten by the fishing bug.
#839 Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/839
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Today we're heading deep into the heart of the desert to see what fly fishing really looks like across Arizona. |
| 0:07.3 | From chasing native Apache trout in the icy mountain streams to stocking carp in the canals around Phoenix. |
| 0:14.0 | Today's guest has spent years exploring every hidden corner of this rugged state. |
| 0:18.5 | By the end of this episode, you'll have a roadmap for fishing Arizona from the desert |
| 0:22.1 | floor to the high country creeks. |
| 0:24.1 | And a reminder that even in the driest landscape, there's always a place for a fly rod |
| 0:29.5 | and a little curiosity. |
| 0:31.3 | This is the Webfly Swing podcast where I show you the best places to travel to for fly fishing, |
| 0:35.1 | how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip, and what you can do to give back to the fish species we all love. |
| 0:42.5 | Ben Smith is here to take us into how elevation, heat, and water flow shape everything in |
| 0:48.0 | Arizona. We're going to find out what flies work there, what he's tying these days when |
| 0:52.7 | nothing else is working, and why small water, |
| 0:55.7 | stealth, and simplicity often lead to the best days on the water. Here we go. Here he is, Ben Smith. You can find |
| 1:01.5 | him at AZWanderings.com. How's it going, Ben? It's going good. Dave. Thanks for having me out. |
| 1:08.4 | Yeah, yeah. Thanks for putting some time aside here. We're going to talk a little bit around Arizona, and I think you're in the Phoenix area. We're going to touch base on some of the species you have there. One that I haven't caught yet is Apache trout. You know, brown trout is always on the list of people around the country. And I think you got started kind of out east and worked your |
| 1:27.5 | way west. So we're going to talk about that. But maybe we can start there just on kind of your |
| 1:31.8 | update on, you know, I know you're busy with kids like me. What's your first memory of your |
| 1:37.0 | fishing? It started out east for you. Yeah, it started out east. I grew up in New York and |
| 1:42.0 | Pennsylvania. My grandma has a beautiful little cottage on a small |
| 1:48.0 | lake in Bradford County. And my first memories are fishing on the end of the dock, you know, |
| 1:54.4 | dunking bread balls for sunnies and blue gills. And then I must have been 11 or 12 and someone gave me a, you know, |
| 2:03.8 | a Walmart combo for a for a fly rod and with some spider patterns and started catching |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dave Stewart, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dave Stewart and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.