(back)

From our readers

White Mountains a perfect anniversary retreat...and more

By Ken Pizzagoni

To escape the sweltering Valley heat, and to celebrate our 10^th wedding anniversary, my wife and I planned a weekend trip to the White Mountains.

Our objective was to enjoy quality time together, to relax amid the fragrant pines and to catch a few rainbow trout. 

When our getaway weekend finally arrived, we packed the car and boat, dropped off our 5-year-old daughter at grandma’s house and headed east on Highway 60 through Globe and the Salt River Canyon to Pinetop.

We arrived Friday evening at our bed and breakfast inn, appropriately named Pinetop Country B&B. We were greeted by our hosts Karen and Steve Kraxberger, innkeepers of this couples’ hideaway.

The next day, at Karen’s suggestion, we packed the boat and drove to the sporting goods store in Hondah to purchase our reservation fishing permits, required to fish on any of the lakes on Indian land.

Karen had advised us to visit Horseshoe Lake for some good trout action. The lake is 121 acres at an elevation of 8,100 feet and is located 18 miles east of Pinetop off Arizona 260.

This horseshoe-shaped "cienega", or meadow, was transformed into a lake in the mid-1960s. It has become one of the most popular reservation fishing lakes and has given up the state record for brown trout at 16 pounds 7 ounces.

It was renovated in the summer of 1990 and has more shoreline and fewer weeds than before. The lake was restocked with large rainbow-Apache hybrids, rainbow, browns and Apache trout.

As we pulled off the highway and turned into the lake, I noticed that storm clouds had rolled in and were threatening rain.

We launched the boat at 9:30 a.m., but I figured we missed out on the hot morning action.

To attract the prized rainbows, I tied on Super Duper spinning lures in a silver/red combination.

My wife offered to operate the trolling motor, so I had the opportunity to relax and to fish with two poles.

Slowly and deliberately, she trolled our small aluminum boat at a depth of 20 to 30 feet.  The rain began to fall on a portion of the lake, so we attempted to stay ahead of the cold front and drifted toward the dam on the opposite end of the lake.

Within minutes my wife had hooked her first fish: a small rainbow trout weighing about half a pound.

Of course, I had bet her a quarter that I would catch the first fish, so I had to pay up. The trout continued to cooperate, as over the next few hours we caught 15 in all, ranging from ½ to 1½ pounds.

The storm’s intensity increased as the thunder crackled overhead.  It was time to make our way back to the boat dock and call it a day.

The next day, following another scrumptious breakfast on the patio of our B&B, we reluctantly said our goodbyes to the hosts and the two couples we had met at the inn.

We packed the car and began our journey back to the Valley.

For more reasons than one, it had been a great way to celebrate our 10^th anniversary. Too bad we have to wait 10 years for another one.

Neighbor Ken Pizzagoni contributed this article to Wrangler News.

(back)