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Arizona Fishing report 3-19
With warmer days through much of the state and the Verdal equinox just around the corner, fishing is busting loose. The spring spawn is underway at the desert lakes for largemouth bass.
One of the fishing hot spots right now is Lake Havasu, where smallmouth and largemouth bass are actively spawning. Stripers should be in post-spawn activity patterns. Even with the spring break crowd, it wasn't too crazy there. Anglers were catching some nice bedding bass.
Other early bird lakes should be Alamo, Saguaro and Martinez (lower Colorado River backwater), and Lake Pleasant.
Lake Pleasant can be a good choice because it has white bass, striped bass, and largemouth bass, giving anglers a variety of sport-fish species to target. But Pleasant can be challenged by wind at times. The flows in the Agua Fria River have finally calmed down to 200 cfs. Not sure if the white bass and striped bass will continue any spawning activity. Let us know if you go.
You might just find some of the best fishing at the Urban Program Lakes. They have been stocked with rainbow trout throughout the winter. This week they are being stocked with bluegill (take the youngsters). Plus they are scheduled to be stocked with catfish on Thursday, March 25.
The lakes are full an spilling. Snow melt and runoff are going to make life and fishing interesting, and sometimes even challenging (but hopefully in a good way). The Verde River ramped up again this week, while the Salt River flows slowed -- temporarily I'm sure. We still have lots of snow in the White Mountains.
Don't forget the Game and Fish Outdoor Expo the last weekend of of the month. We'll have the kids fishing pond there again, and the fishing demonstration tank. I'll be working the fish demonstration tank, so drop by and say hi.
Go catch some memories.
Crappie Report:
Well finally something good to report! It’s been a long wet winter and all the low pressure systems have made crappie fishing very tough. Besides a good fall bite at Bartlett and some early pre-spawn bite at Alamo, it has been very slow. Many of us wondered if San Carlos would survive and if Roosevelt would ever take off, well here’s the good news.
Alamo- Many anglers are reporting catching crappie shallow in the river end. No huge number yet but it looks like they want to spawn. I was at Alamo a few weeks ago and most of the debris has settled and the water had pretty good visibility.
Bartlett- Now that she is plenty full and the water has started to settle, Crappie are starting to stage for the spawn. However, there is still some floating debris so be careful. Look for crappie shallow north of the Yellow Cliffs and up river end.
Pleasant- No report but I would try Castle Creek or Humbug Cove.
Roosevelt- Some real nice slabs are being caught on both ends of the lake. Most of the good reports I’ve heard were from the Tonto end, but the Schoolhouse and Windy Hill areas would be go to spots as well. The fish are starting stack up and are actively feeding. Be careful of floating debris as the lake continues to get high in- flows of water.
San Carlos- Boy that was close! Two months ago it looked like SC might be the victim of a major fish kill as the lake was below 2 percent. The deepest spots near the dam were only about 15’ deep and many flatheads that were caught had crappie in their bellies. Last Sunday LeRoy Price of Bass N Crappie Guide Service out of Globe reported to me that the water at the dam was 57’ deep! Good numbers of crappies are being caught on the east end of the lake shallow with grubs and minnows. It’s not like last spring but it’s a good start. Launching at Soda Canyon is no problem but remember that SC has no marker buoys on it was be very careful when under way.
All the lakes continue to get more water and the snow pack hasn’t really even started to melt. I would guess that the spawns will be a little late this year but with warm temps coming, it shouldn’t be long. Look for pre-spawn crappie at the mouths of the cove and on the flats.
In order to protect our sport The Arizona Crappie Association practices and promotes the immediate release of all crappie under 10” in length.
Bill (Piscolli) Eveland
BPS/ AZCA
CENTRAL WATERS
URBAN LAKES -- The final winter trout stockings Urban lakes is the week of March 8-13. Urban lake water temperatures are rising into the 60s signaling the annual stocking changeover from winter trout to spring catfish.
This week’s trout delivery will be the ninth one of the season, concluding a very successful stocking season. A real bonus this year was the larger sizes of the stocked trout that are a result of an excellent growing season at our Colorado vendor’s hatcheries.
Trout are stocked into lakes at rates of 50 to 80 fish per lake surface acre. For Payson’s Green Valley Lakes, trout stockings will continue every two weeks for another two months until the middle of May.
All lakes and ponds in the Phoenix and Tucson areas will be stocked with 15- to 20-inch channel catfish on Thursday, March 25. Beginning with the spring season kick-off stocking, catfish will be stocked eight times through early July at rates averaging from 40 to 60 fish per acre. Nearly 14,000 pounds of Arkansas farm-raised catfish will be delivered and stocked into 20 Urban Fishing Program lakes every two weeks by Mr. Fish, our outstanding fish contractor.
Twice each year, the Game and Fish Department stocks 5- to 8-inch bluegills into all Urban Fishing Program waters to replenish this popular sport fish and offer some great fishing opportunity for young anglers. A delivery of bluegill was scheduled for this week. More than 18,000 of the feisty, hard biting sunfish will be stocked at rates of 90-150 fish per acre across 20 waters.
Daily bag limits for sunfish (includes bluegill and redear sunfish) are 10 per day at Urban Lakes or 5 per day at Urban Ponds. Best baits for bluegill are meal worms or worms fished 2-4 feet under a small bobber.
March offers the best time of the year to fish your nearby park lakes for trout, sunfish, bass and catfish. Good fishing for trout will continue through March as all lakes receive their final stockings the week of March 8-13.
Most trout are falling for Power Bait fished on the bottom. Other good baits include worms, corn and salmon eggs. The cool morning hours are the best times to target the trout. As waters warm up, try fishing for largemouth bass that are now moving closer to shore as they prepare to spawn and search for food.
Reports keep coming in of anglers catching catfish, even though it has been nearly four months since the last cats were stocked.
Excellent trout fishing conditions can be found at Payson’s Green Valley lakes. Best bets for these pine country trout are Power Bait, corn and worms. Some success has been found by anglers using spinners, small spoons and nymph and wet fly patterns.
TEMPE TOWN LAKE -- Flows will vary from day-to-day depending on the water releases from Saguaro and Bartlett Lakes, but they will likely continue 24-7 for some time to come. Most fish adapt well to higher flows. Flows on Wednesday morning were 10,100 cfs.
These flows can make it challenging to fish, although one young man (pictured on the left) proudly showed off a 5-pound bass he caught (he saved a picture on his cell phone). Fish it like a river rather than a lake. Cast slightly up current and retrieve slowly. For bait anglers, the same applies -- as the current carries your bait downstream, adjust your line accordingly to keep in contact with the bait so you can feel a bite.
Don’t forget the current bag limit for largemouth bass at Town Lake is four fish per day with a 13-inch minimum length restriction.
There are also no gas powered boats allowed on the lake and Tempe Town Lake permits are available at the City of Tempe Town Lake Operations Center, 620 N. Mill Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85281. Phone: (480) 350-8625.
LAKE PLEASANT - Lake elevation 1,696 feet (93-percent full). A couple fishermen in float tubes fished Castle Creek and caught two using dropshot. Visibility was only about a foot where they were. Two anglers took the water temperature and it was 58 degrees in one of the bays. Dropshot was the only thing working for them; the bite was pretty slow and required some patience. They boated 4 largemouth bass. They fished from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Bite shut off when the breeze stopped around 3 p.m.
The Agua Fria River inflows ramped up to more than 2,000 cfs on Monday but the flows diminished to 1,000 cfs by Tuesday afternoon, then ramped up to 1,250 by Wednesday morning following the second storm.
Anglers had been catching spawning white bass where the Agua Fria River enters Lake Pleasant (off Table Mesa Road), but the high flows and increased mud (in the parking area) made it all but impossible to fish it on Monday and Tuesday. Tough to predict how those flows will impact the white bass spawn. The striped bass spawn is likely over for the most part, but you never know. Post-spawn striped bass are likely dispersing. It's tough to say where you will find them right now. Let us know if you do get into them.
Bright sunshine this week should result in largemouth bass heading for the spawning beds in the backs of the more sheltered coves. Try Castle Creek, Humbug, Bass Bay, Goose Bay and Coles Bay.
ROOSEVELT LAKE -- Lake Elevation is 2,151 ft (100 percent full). Tonto Creek runoff was 2,240 cfs while inflow from the Salt River was at 4,200 cfs on Wednesday morning. Outflows (water releases) must at least match inflows.
An angler fished the main lake flats with Power Worms on a shakey head jig and caught 11 largemouth bass in 15 to 20 feet of water. Sizes were within and under the slot. He mentioned the bite was subtle as the fish seemed to be checking the worm out without committing all that much.
Another angler had a similar report and caught 4 largemouth bass.
A group of fishermen flipped worms into the brush, threw swimbaits, spinnerbaits and various other lures in the Tonto end. They caught a few with the biggest at four pounds.
An angler fished the Tonto end and the fish were hanging around the drop-offs. Dead sticking a Texas rigged roboworm was what the fish were interested in. The bite stopped around 3 pm.
One angler didn’t have any luck until 3 pm when the wind started to pick up. The fish were biting on white spinner baits. He caught 14 largemouth, mostly slot fish with one 5 pounder.
APACHE - Lake elevation is 1,907 feet (92 percent full).
A 10-pound 30.5-inch walleye was caught at Apache in late February (see picture to the right). So far this is a 2010 big fish of the year. We only have a few entries so far this year, none in the catch and release category. There is plenty of room for your big fish. Those of you who like to catch yellow bass there are plenty of record size ones in Apache according to our surveys. See the 2009–2010 fishing regulations page 36 for rules.
Expect inflows and outflows from this lake from now through the rest of the spring. Pretty much, the inflows to Roosevelt will mimic the outflows, and the outflows here will mimic the inflows from Roosevelt.
CANYON LAKE - Lake elevation is 1,658 feet, which is 96 percent full.
A couple very experienced fishermen fished a morning at Canyon and landed one largemouth using a jerkbait. It was windy and the warmest temp they found was 53 degrees. Visibility was 4 feet and the water was a bit stained but pretty clear. They noted some trash and large logs around most of the bends up in the channel. They also saw a herd of bighorn sheep.
Game and Fish surveys show that the bighorn sheep population is rebounding in this area.
Another couple anglers noted the same temperature and was fishing with a drop shot and came up with a 5 pound channel catfish. It was 22 inches long.
Although the inflows and outflows will create a current, the main body of the lake will be indirectly affected. But the long narrow portion of the lake will now fish more like a river, albeit an awfully deep one. Those who figure out the bite pattern with these flows might just catch a new state record bass here, or maybe a giant walleye. Haven't heard of huge trout since the lake was lowered for work on the dam, but some no doubt hung on.
Tonto National Forest has closed the Acacia day use area at Canyon Lake until April 30 for construction projects.
The parking lot at Acacia will be closed as well as all rest-room facilities, picnic tables and armadas. There will be no beach access to Acacia including the picnic area immediately adjacent to the east and all sites west of Acacia to Key Hole. Key Hole is also closed. The designated "no boating area" at Acacia will not be open to swimming. For more information contact the Mesa Ranger District office at (480) 610-3300
SAGUARO LAKE - Lake elevation 1,526 feet at 96 percent full. Releases on Wednesday were 5,960 cfs. Pretty much, the inflows to Roosevelt will mimic the outflows, so therefore the outflows here (and Apache and Canyon) will typically mimic the inflows from Rosy.
The fishing has turned on at Saguaro in shallow water to about 12 feet in coves. Try Texas rigged robo worms, jigs and dropshot. Two fishermen caught about 40 fish on one outing.
The storms, water inflows and colder nights earlier this week likely chilled down the water temperatures, but Saguaro has been known to warm up fairly rapidly on sunny days, especially in the more sheltered coves. Bass should be staging for the spawn, and bedding bass will be likely again now that the fronts have past. However, these conditions might also result in a more protracted spawn. Let us know how you do.
BARTLETT -- Lake elevation is 1,794 feet, which is 94 percent full. Reservoir release on Wednesday was 4,440 cfs.
One angler caught a crappie full of eggs, he released her. Another fisherman caught an 11-pound bass on a Carolina-rig. He saw a few otters as well. Dropshot worked well between 20 and 45 feet.
One angler fished all day and caught 15 largemouth bass. Most were just below the slot and 2 were over the slot. Dropshot worked the best. Water temp was between 52 to 58 degrees. .
Angler reports:
Fished Bartlett Saturday for Crappie. Water temperature was averaging about 59 degrees everywhere we went. Caught 10 crappies about a mile upstream from the Yellow Cliffs area where there is some tree stick ups. They weren't biting on any jigs we put in.
Had to use just a minnow a hook and a 3/32 ounce split shot weight, trolling slow.
The two fish my son is holding up (see pic on left) were full of eggs. The rest were kind of small (great eaters).
Gary Spinner
HORSESHOE - Lake elevation is at 2,021 feet, 89-percent full. The road into Horseshoe is closed.
VERDE RIVER -- Verde River flow at Tangle Creek was 9,270 cubic feet per second on Monday.
LOWER SALT RIVER -- Salt River into Roosevelt is 5,680 cfs as of Tuesday afternoon. They are releasing 6,100 cfs out of Stewart Mountain Dam from Saguaro as of Tuesday afternoon. The Lower Salt can be extremely tough to fish at these flow levels. One angler said she spent most of the day without catching a fish.
CREEKS – No trout stockings until April. Should be a superior runoff year.
COLORADO RIVER NORTHWEST
LAKE POWELL -- Wayne's Words, March 3: It is still winter at Lake Powell. Surface water temperature is near 50F. Warm water fish are not excited about cold water conditions. That will change as day length increases allowing the sun to shine on the water for longer periods each day. There will be a measurable difference that can be tested by thermometer and with fishing success. Warm water fish react very quickly to any warming. They can easily feel the heat and quickly move to the warmest water available.
Habitat and forage conditions coming out of winter are mostly positive. Sport fish are fat and numerous. Lake level is still falling. That will continue through March. Declining water is not a positive for angler success. However, the dominant variable is rising water temperature, which will negate the effect of falling lake level.
The first species to respond will be walleye. They spawn with the first warming. Expect walleye to lay eggs on lake rockslides and gravel bars as water temperature rises to 53F. That does little good for fishing success because walleye don't eat much when in spawning condition. It will be at least mid April before walleye are caught regularly by anglers.
Largemouth bass are a different story. Big bass are the first fish to react. Some dandies have already been caught with many more to come. Bass fishing tournaments will be held each weekend in March. Expect winning weights to be near 20 pounds for 5 fish. That is a far cry from a decade ago when winning weights were closer to 7 pounds for the same five fish.
A shoreline ringed with flooded brush and a large crop of shad have made the difference. Largemouth fishing in 2009 was of record proportion for fish size and quantity. Nothing has changed to compel those results to do anything but increase. Expect 2010 largemouth fishing success to be among the best ever seen. March bass fishing success will mark the beginning of a very special year.
Smallmouth bass are slower to react. Expect these smaller but more numerous bass to come out of hibernation when water temperature hits 57F.
Crappie will follow and become catchable in early April. Both species will spawn near the third week of April depending on the vagaries of spring temperature.
That leaves striped bass. There has been no noticeable movement of stripers to the main channel. Famous spring fishing for stripers near the dam and in the channel has not begun, nor is it expected. Abundant forage in the backs of canyons gives stripers no reason to move. They love to eat shad and will stay with the food. They can just as easily spawn in the back of the canyon as near the dam. So why not eat while waiting for the spawning event.
Stripers will be caught near shad schools in the backs of canyons. Trolling will be the best technique to locate a school, while spooning and casting to schoolmates trailing the hooked fish will often put more fish in the boat than trolling. Expect stripers to come out of winter averaging 3-4 pounds with a few larger females exceeding 6 pounds.
This will be a year to remember as fishing success for all species in both size and number will be remarkable. Plan your trip now so as not to miss the anticipated fishing bonanza.
Great efforts are being made to prevent invasive species like quagga mussels from being transported to the lake. Some ramps are still closed so that all entering boats can be checked before launching. During March all boats must be launched at Bullfrog or Wahweap Main Ramp between the hours of 6 AM and 5 PM. No night launching will occur as ramps will be closed after dark. All of these precautions are meant to protect this wonderful resource from the devastation that would occur if invasive mussels were inadvertently released. Please help with this effort by giving proper attention to your boat and helping to educate all on the destructive nature of invasive species.
Lake Powell Fishing Forecast for 2010 by Wayne Gustaveson, Utah Division of Wildlife
Fish are grinning at Lake Powell. All of the little necessities for successful fish life are perfect.
There is enough snow in the mountains to make the lake level rise just a little bit this spring. A modest increase would allow the lake to lap at the remaining layer of green brush that has been growing on the lake shore since 2002 when the lake declined due to drought. The effect of brush along the normally barren rocky shoreline created much more living space and shelter for all fish. It has been a long road back but the journey has really been worth it.
The drought silver lining had some positive effects. The lake was low enough that waves stirred the old bottom sediment releasing long buried nutrients. Added nutrition created a bumper crop of forage fish which in turn enhanced the populations of hungry sportfish.
Lake Powell has long had only one forage fish that ventures into open water. In 2000, gizzard shad were found in the lake. Today that second shad population is huge and the threadfin population is strong.
This all translates into great conditions for fish but what does it mean for anglers?
Anglers will have to adapt to be successful. That wont be hard for those pursuing largemouth. Bucketmouth bass love brush and won't venture far from it. Those accustomed to fishing for largemouth will be right at home casting lures into brush thickets and dragging them back with fish instead of tree limbs attached. If this is new to some they will have to invest in spinnerbaits, weedless lures or learn to embed the hook inside a plastic bait to allow it to swim through tree branches without hanging up.
Smallmouth numbers are high. Fish are generally larger than last year. Luckily anglers can use traditional techniques to catch these rock loving fish. The subtle difference is that bronze bass will chase lures in open water more often now in response to the higher number of shad swimming in the upper water levels. Bottom feeding bass can be caught too.
Striped bass are fat and constantly chasing shad. Those expecting incredibly easy spring time bait fishing will be disappointed. Stripers migrate to the dam and main channel when food is scarce. That is not the case in spring 2010. Fat stripers will be in the backs of the canyons near shad schools. Cover lots of water while trolling deep diving baits. Each time a fish is caught, stop the boat and try casting, spooning or bait fishing to increase the catch. If the school moves on then troll again to relocate them. Then repeat the catching process each time the school is in range.
Walleye are one of the bonus fish for 2010
Expect excellent walleye fishing in the Good Hope Bay area. We found an extraordinary number of walleye in our fall fish sampling in 2009. That will translate to great fishing from April 15 to June 15 in the upper lake. For the rest of the lake walleye will only be caught in modest numbers during the same time frame. A great technique is to troll medium running lures along mud washed points in the main channel during May.
Crappie are the other bonus.
Dense brush has allowed the species to come back in big numbers over most of the lake. Crappie will spawn in April land early May. Use small plastic or marabou jigs fished right in the densest cover to catch these tasty pan fish.
This is obviously a very enthusiastic report. The only detractor may be that forage and cover are too good. That makes it easy living for a fish and harder for anglers to catch fat fussy fish. But this is an accurate assessment of what to expect in 2010. I invite you to come to Powell and match wits with any of the eight species of game fish that are thriving here this spring. There will be enough fishing action to make ever trip worthwhile.
See you on the lake.
LEES FERRY -- Report courtesy Lees Ferry Anglers at http://www.leesferry.com/report/index.php
Recent Fishing Conditions: Spring weather has finally arrived; thank goodness! It has been a tough winter from a weather perspective. In a normal winter we might get snow that sticks for a couple of hours, two or three times each winter. This winter we saw it snow 15 or 20 times; we have had over 3-in of moisture since the first of the year which is half our normal annual rainfall (it just rained another ½-inch while I was writing this so now we’ll call it 3.5 inches). So the arrival of spring at Lees Ferry is more welcome this year than most.
The best part of spring is the prolific midge hatches that occur as the days warm and the sun rises higher in the sky and sunlight returns to the canyon. The fishing is just now really starting to turn on as the midge hatches increase in magnitude, duration, and frequency.
Current water flows are just about perfect for wading and drifting and will remain at this level through May and possibly June depending on snow pack. As of now the snow pack in the Rockies is 80% of normal; however, March and April are often times of heavy snowfall in the Rockies.
Currently the fish are staging to move into the riffles to feed on the emerging midges. Many of the fish are holding in the deeper water at the tails of the riffles and are most easily reached by anchoring the boat in the deeper water and drifting a long leader midge rig into the slower water on the seam of the riffle. This will likely change soon, as the midge hatches increase and the fish move into the shallow water to feed on the concentrated midges.
The spawn has been a so-so event this winter, although the historic peak of the spawn has yet to arrive, (March 15) so it is not out of the question that we could still get a decent spawn. Most of the larger fish decided to take the month of February off; during this period we caught very few larger fish and lots of smaller (13 to15”) fish. I attribute this to the fact that most of the big fish were staging in the deeper water to prepare for the spawn. Most all the recent spawning activity has been taking place in deep water and more redds are appearing every day. A weak spawn this year would not be a real problem since we have such a large population of small fish from the prolific spawn that took place two years ago following the spike flow.
Walk-In Fishing: This area has been getting very little pressure. This is the time of year for this stretch of river to wake up and get really good. There are times in the spring that this stretch of river actually fishes as good or better than the upriver section. Again, it is all about the prolific midges and water level which is perfect for wading this area. The Paria River has been dumping lots of muddy water for the last few months and it is possible that trout may be moving from downriver seeking the clear water above the Paria, which is the section of river that we refer to as the walk-in.
Fish Behavior 101.
Why fish eat and why they don’t.
“Any man who claims to understand fish is a fool.” T G
“When you are guiding; some days you are the dog, other days you’ll be the tree.” TG
Fish are weird; there is just no getting around it. One day they are jumping in the boat, the next, they are nowhere to be found. Some people say that this is what keeps bringing us back to the stream, that this uncertainty we call “fishing” makes us more competitive. After all these years I do understand a little about fish and I would like to share some ideas on why fish are happy one day and not the next.
First and foremost the fish have to be present in the area of water that you are fishing.
Fish are not always going to be in the same spot. This is especially true at Lees Ferry where you have water that fluctuates on a daily and monthly basis. A spot that is stacked with fish at one flow may be a “fish desert” at another level.
FOOD and SHELTER: the two things that determine the location of fish. If there is no food present there is no reason for a fish to be in a specific location. However, if you find the highest concentration of food, you will always find the highest concentration of fish, assuming that this concentration of food has been present long enough for the fish to locate it.
At Lees Ferry we have two different major feeding plots (each with hundreds of sub-plots). The first is PROLIFIC MIDGE HATCHES. Midges hatch throughout the year; however, by far the largest hatches occur in the spring. The lifecycle of a midge is very similar to a butterfly; the adult midge’s sole purpose is to make babies. In a nut shell, this is how it works…the adult midge mates with other midges in a swarm, then the female lands on the water to lay the fertilized eggs, she stays on the water for a second or so then flies off the water and then lands again to lay more eggs (this is a survival mechanism which helps protect her from being eaten by a fish). The eggs slowly sink and eventually hatch into a larvae (think of a tiny caterpillar) the midge lives as a larvae for a long time, living in the algae and mud. Then though some miracle of nature the midge larvae get a call to pupate in mass, (think of a butterfly chrysalis). As they pupate the midge, encased in a hard protective husk, slowly floats to the surface. The size and color of the midge pupae varies with the specie and with 50 different species of midges inhabiting Lees Ferry we have a large variety of sizes and colors of pupae. When the pupae reaches the surface, the midge hatches through the husk and the adult midge crawls out, dries his wings and flies off to repeat the entire process.
Fish do feed on adult midges but mostly on the carcasses of dead midges that accumulate in back-eddies. The importance of a midge as a food source occurs in the emerging stage. When midges hatch they often do so in mass numbers and for long durations. The fish know this is happening and move into the riffles to feed on the emerging midges.
WHY DO FISH MOVE INTO RIFFLES TO FEED ON MIDGES?
Midge pupae are small, anywhere from a size #18 to #30. It takes a lot of midges to sustain a Lees Ferry trout; however, if you were to measure the midges as a percentage of total biomass, they far exceed all other food sources combined. Riffles are areas of river where the water transitions from very shallow to slowly deeper water. Do not confuse “points” with riffles, they look similar, however, the water on “points” transitions from shallow to deep in a short area. Fish move into the shallowest part of the riffles to feed on the CONCENTRATED MIDGES. Imagine if you had a thousand midges in a column of water that was 3-feet deep versus 6-inches deep, the midges are going to be much more concentrated in the 6-inch deep water. This is why we often tell people that they are wading in areas that they should be fishing.
The other kicker to midge hatches is water volume: as the water flow increase the midge hatches decrease. This is something that I do not understand but I know it to be true. So the best midge fishing is always in lower water flows. If I were to put a number to it I would say the best midge fishing is in water less than 14,000-cfs. This is why in the spring, (March, April, and May) some of our best fishing is on the weekends when the water is at the lowest level of the week. We often see good midge hatches in September and October, but not the mass swarms that happen in the spring.
The other situation that makes fish eat at Lees Ferry is HIGH WATER FLOWS. Anytime the water flows are high (above 16,000-cfs) food is dislodged, moved around, and transported by the current. Here we are talking about WORMS and SCUDS. High water flows normally occur 4 months each year, the 2 hottest months, July and August, and the 2 coldest months, December and January…this is all about electrical demand and high demand equals high flows. There are exceptions and high flows can occur at other times if there is a high lake level in Lake Powell and high runoff into the lake. This happened 1983-86 and a couple of other times in the 90’s. The best fishing periods at Lees Ferry has always been preceded by periods of higher than normal water flows. In high water the fish will concentrate in the rifles and the tail out of the riffles to feed on the drifting food. In addition to the riffles, feeding fish can be found though longs runs between riffles. This is the time of year that the most productive fishing is usually from a drifting boat as opposed to wading.
WEATHER. Any change in the weather can shut off fish feeding. I cannot explain why this happens, however I guarantee you that it is true. I was in Placentia, Belize last year fishing with noted guide Eworth Gartbutt. A cold front was pushing through (it dropped to a frigid 78 degrees) and Eworth said “Terry, you realize that permit fishing and a north wind do not go together.” I thought to myself how fishing is fishing no matter where you are in the world.
Impending weather change make fish at Lees Ferry not want to eat. It might look like a normal day, the sun may be shining and not a breeze is blowing but a storm is on the way and the fish know it and for whatever reason they decide to take the day off from eating. I saw it this week when I was fishing with a customer that I have fished with for two decades and the weather that day was a classic cold front, it was windy, cold, and spitting rain.
My client is a good stick and at the end of the day he had landed two fish and his companion had landed three fish and they were all smaller fish. The next day started cold but warmed quickly due to the cloudless day and bright sunshine. They landed more than 30-fish including a 19-in football and several fish that were in the 18-in range. If they would have only fished the one day that might have concluded that the fishing at Lees Ferry sucks or that we are “blowing smoke” or overrating how good the fishing is…that actually happened with one trip last month when a couple of guys had a similar experience fishing with me one day with a cold front pushing through.
So poor weather makes for poor fishing most of the time, however, there are exceptions and I have seen some great fishing on days the wind is howling and the snow is flying. Often times the impending or approaching weather is worse on fishing that the bad weather itself. I can’t explain this but I can tell you that more often than not, a change in the weather will affect fishing in a negative way.
Lees Ferry Fishing History
I have probably spent more than 60,000 hours on this crick and I thought that it was time for me to pen a brief history of fishing at Lees Ferry, I'm not sure that I have all the answers; however, here is my best effort at explaining the fish history at Lees Ferry.
Let's start in the beginning:
1963 Rainbow trout were stocked in the Lees Ferry reach of the Colorado River as were mayflies, caddis, scuds, cladophora (algae) snails and crayfish. Some things took while others did not.
For the next 10 years nobody fished this stretch of river and these fish grew to immense size unmolested by man.
By the mid-70's the Ferry was discovered, the limit was 10 fish and there were many limits that came out of this river that exceed 100-lbs. The limit was reduced in 1978 from 10 to 4 fish. Brookies and lahontan cutthroat were stocked in the late 70's and also grew really big. The largest brookie that I ever saw weighed 5-lbs after it was gutted. The largest cutthroat was near 8-lbs. I caught a 33 1/2 in rainbow in 1984 and in 85 saw a 16.5-lb fish that was caught in front of the boat dock. There are rumors that a kid from Page once caught a trout that he cleaned and gutted and after he hiked back up ropes trail with the fish it weighed 20-lbs. We did not talk in inches at the Ferry we described fish in pounds. Lees Ferry was the best trophy trout fishery in the world. What created it and what happened to it? No one really knows.
The theory of new and fertile reservoir makes perfect sense from the standpoint that the new water in Lake Powell was full of nutrients, however, there was an exception to that theory at Willow Beach, the tailwater below Hoover that produced thousands of giant rainbows (state record rainbow 21-lb 5.5 oz, Sept 1966) 30 years AFTER the construction of the Lake Meade reservoir.
Could it have been something as simple as sewage that was allowed to flow into the river from Vegas and Page that dramatically increased the nutrient load and allowed trout to attain massive size? I truly believe this to be as good a theory as any and one that I have never heard discussed.
I started guiding here in 1983, the same year of the great flood when the river flowed at 100,000-cfs. This volume of water essentially stripped the river of all of the food and big fish need lots of food to survive. After the flood there were remnant large fish but not near the numbers that existed prior to 1983. By this time Arizona anglers were spoiled; I remember when people were disappointed because the biggest fish that they would catch in a day of fishing was ONLY an 8 pounder. Stocking of brookies and cutthroats were discontinued while the annual stocking of fingerling rainbow trout continued.
From 1984 through 86 the water releases from Glen Canyon Dam averaged 35-40,000-cfs. This is a bunch of water. Fish started growing again and by the late 80's we were catching lots of large fish; I remember days where my clients would catch more than a hundred fish that were 20 to 24-in long. In those days almost everyone was using night crawlers with spinning rods (Larry Allen was fly fishing) and often the fish took the bait deep and died. In 1986 we pushed for and received a new regulation that required the use of artificial flies and lures only. Fishing got better and better. Kamloops trout were stocked but never did well.
In 1989 we had opened Lees Ferry Anglers Fly shop and Guide Service just in time for the government to begin studying the effects of Glen Canyon Dam with a program called Glen Canyon Environmental Studies (GCES) headed by David Wagner, (who later became involved in The Glen Canyon Institute, a group dedicated to the decommissioning of Glen Canyon Dam). For 2 years, releases were radically altered on a 2 week basis then the river was held level at 5,000-cfs for 3 days while measurements were taken. This is the famous time where all the fish became "snakes" with long skinny bodies and big heads. The poor fish condition was attributed to a nematode infestation; I say that the trout were starving to death as a result of the erratic flows.
In the early 90's, following the studies and erratic flows, the fishery crashed hard; there were hardly any fish left in the river. We asked the AZ Game and Fish Department to stock fish at Lees Ferry and they responded by stocking 60,000 "catchable" trout in the river. With 20-20 hindsight, this may be the single biggest mistake that we ever made at Lees Ferry. With the "native" trout population depleted, the introduced fish interbred and possibly became the dominate strain of trout at the Ferry. I remember that a year after the 6-in "catchable" fish were stocked they were all 18-inches, shiny and fat river rockets (they were very recognizable due to their hatchery origins, tails and fins were distorted). A year and two years later they were still 18-inches. I believe that their growth was not limited by food but genetics. These fish interbred with the native fish and that Lees Ferry gene still pops up once in a while and we see a fish well into the 20's but they are rare. Stocking at Lees Ferry was stopped with the exception of a few fingerlings released with nose tags to try and track their progress.
The 90's saw Interim Flows at Lees Ferry which changed the way Glen Canyon Dam was operated. The same flows were designed to protect the environment of the Grand Canyon and the Lees Ferry trout fishery (hard to believe but the fishery was once that important). The regulated river flows, a full reservoir, and high snow pack in the Rockies, all combined into perfect conditions for the Lees Ferry trout fishery to boom throughout the 90's.
My business grew to where we had 14 full time guides and there were plenty of other guides working the river as independents. It was boom time not only for the fishery but the economy was hitting on all cylinders. The fish were big and there were lots of them. Anyone could catch fish at Lees Ferry and people came from all over the country to fish this river. Lees Ferry Anglers Fly Shop became one of the largest retailers of fly fishing equipment in the United States.
In 1996 we saw the first experimental "flood" which had little effect on the trout fishery but brought the concept of "saving and restoring the Grand Canyon" through artificial floods, into every living room in America via every network and cable TV station in the country.
Then came the Great Western Drought. In the summer of 1999, Lake Powell was close to full with reservoir storage at 23.5 million acre-feet, or 97 percent of capacity. 2000 was a really dry year with very little runoff. The Bureau of Reclamation was being pressured by the Grand Canyon Trust and other environmental groups to study the effects of steady flows on the Colorado River, since there was no water coming in this was the perfect year for them to conduct an experiment where they could also reduce water going out of the lake. So a very hasty experiment was organized where the flows were reduced to 8,000 CFS for June, July, August, September, and October. These months are normally high water months. There we were, with a river that is chock full of big trout (One estimate at the time from the AZ. Game and Fish Department was Lees Ferry had 50,000 fish PER MILE), and the water was suddenly reduced by more than 50 percent.
Well, guess what happened? The fish got stressed, there was not enough food, and the fish started dying.
Too many fish, not enough water and food equals disaster and the fishery crashed AGAIN. The 8,000-cfs experimental flows caused much more damage to the resource than the trout population crash: Conditions were perfect for the propagation of the New Zealand Mud Snail. Prior to the experimental flow we had seen not one Mud Snail, at the conclusion of the experiment the Mud Snails were everywhere in the river, the New Zealand Mud Snail population had become established and exploded to levels that were incomprehensible. In addition to this the conditions created by the low flow experiment had allowed the explosion of growth of tamarisk trees, an invasive, exotic specie of tree, to grow in thick carpets all along the river, right down to the edge of the 8,000-cfs level. We organized groups to pull tammies and I spent my days guiding and pulling trees and we were able to save many of our fishing areas from being overcome by these trees. There was nothing that we could do about the snails...they were here by the billions.
During the next 5 years (2000 through 2004) unregulated inflow to Lake Powell was well below average. This resulted in Lake Powell storage decreasing during this period to 8.0 million acre-feet (33 percent of capacity) which occurred on April 8, 2005. This time the fishery did not bounce back like it had every other time, nobody understood what was going on, me included. The fish were growing slow, there were not many of them and we had several years of poor spawns. The Bureau of reclamation conducted another High Flow Experiment; the timing of this flood was very poorly timed to occur when no flood had ever previously occurred on the river. It happened in November. No one knows why (timing?) but this flood really hammered the aquatic food source. The scud population was severely depleted and it has taken several years for the population to recover.
I figured it out; it came to me suddenly in February 2006. In mid February, the sun climbs high into the sky which allows sunlight back into the canyon and lets us to see into the river... This particular day I looked around and saw a river that was full of Algae...it was everywhere! This was something that I have not seen in years and something that I forgot that I was not seeing. It dawned on me that the river was suddenly healthy and it had to be a result of the large inflow into Lake Powell the previous year and the reason that our fishery had been doing so poorly for the past several years was the fact that there was hardly any inflow into Lake Powell and the lake and river WAS STARVING FOR NUTRIENTS!!! Now those nutrients were back. The above normal winter snow pack and runoff into Lake Powell in 2005, stirred up a tremendous amount of nutrient laden sediment that had accumulated at the lake mouths of the Colorado River, San Juan River, and the Green River. Lake Powell elevation increased 43-ft. and the rivers flowing into the lake mixed the sediment and nutrients into the lake water. The turning point and the beginning for the recovery of the Lees Ferry fishery occurred in 2005 when Lake Powell had the first above normal snow-pack and runoff year since 1997. Since then we have had normal or above normal runoff almost every year.
The increased nutrient load in the lake and river is evident by the dramatic increase in aquatic vegetation and aquatic organisms that has occurred throughout the river since 2006. The fish population is back to near the levels of the late 90's. The river is full of large and healthy fish. For those of you that remember what the fishing was like in 1999 and 2000you should be as excited as I am about the current conditions and what the increased nutrient load should do for the fishing at Lees Ferry. In 2008 we got another experimental flood. This one was of short duration and happened at a more “normal” time, early March. We don't know if it was a direct result of the flood or what but the new Zealand Mud Snails have essentially disappeared ever since. Immediately following the experimental flood, just about every fish in the river was spawning...this is something that we have never seen before and have not seen since.
Last year, 2009, the average fish that I was putting into my net was a very fat 17-inches, and we were catching lots of larger fish. Then we had the invasion of all the fish that hatched 2 years ago from the epic spawn that followed the 2008 experimental flood. Now the river is chock full of all sizes of fish from 12 to 20-in, however, we are currently catching lots of the smaller fish because there are so many of them and they have yet to be educated (I’m working on that). I do not remember a time where the river ever held so many different year classes of fish as we see today; this should bode well for several years to come.
What the future holds for this fishery is in constant dispute. A couple years ago, Living Rivers and The Center for Biodiversity threatened the Arizona Game and Fish Department with legal action if they were to stock fish at Lees Ferry. There are those that want to see Glen Canyon Dam removed so the river can once again flow free. Trout are being blamed by many (with little or no scientific evidence to support the claim) for harming the Humped Backed Chub in the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon trust is currently suing the Bureau of Reclamation to try and force them to run steady flows from Glen Canyon Dam, they want low flows in the summer, winter, and fall, high flows in the spring. They think this is going to help the Chub. Not sure what this would do to the trout fishery but it the Grand Canyon Trust prevails in the lawsuit it would seriously reduce and almost eliminate the ability of Glen Canyon Dam to generate electricity. This would put thousands of tons of additional carbon in the atmosphere since this electricity will have to be replaced and the only feasible replacement is construction of yet another coal fired plant somewhere in the southwest. And of course there is the least predictable and most important ingredient of all...the weather. It is possible that we might not be out of the drought and that Lake Powell could once again enter a dramatic decline. On the other side there is always the chance that the flood of 1983 could once again occur and wash everything away.
I cannot waste my time worrying about what might happen to the river that has given me and many others so much. I'm just going to keep doing what I have done for most of my life...helping others to enjoy the beauty of Glen Canyon, guiding and sharing my knowledge of trout and fishing, and to continue to do everything in my power to help to protect this National Treasure, the Lees Ferry Trout fishery.
Lees Ferry Fishing Tips: I have been using 6 and 7X fluorocarbon tippet and feel that the lighter tippet results in a much higher success rate than say 5X. Anglers might argue that they break fish off on such light tippet but my argument is that in order to break a fish off, you first have to first get a fish to eat your fly and you are going to get more eaters with lighter tippet than heaver tippet.
When wading the riffles you need long dead drifts. There are 2 types of drifts; perfect dead drifts and all other drifts. Perfect dead drifts catch fish at Lees Ferry; all other drifts don’t catch fish here. You get a dead drift by mending the line, then throwing slack line on the water. If your line is straight from your rod tip to your indicator or you move your indicator during the drift, then your drift is not perfect and will not catch fish. The key to success is to stay over fish, get the flies down to the bottom, and get a long, perfect dead drift.
The turning point and the beginning for the recovery of the Lees Ferry fishery occurred in 2005 when Lake Powell had the first above normal snow-pack and runoff year since 1997. Last year we had almost exactly the same conditions. The above normal winter snow pack and runoff into Lake Powell in 2007-08, stirred up a tremendous amount of nutrient laden sediment that had accumulated at the lake mouths of the Colorado River, San Juan River, and the Green River. Lake Powell elevation increased 43-ft. and the rivers flowing into the lake mixed the sediment and nutrients into the lake water. It usually takes several months before we see this mixing affect. The increased nutrient load in the lake and river is evident this spring by the dramatic increase in aquatic vegetation and aquatic organisms throughout the river.
For details on Lake Powell conditions and snow-pack, go here: http://lakepowell.water-data.com/
For a real time graphic view of water releases and ramp rates go here: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/az/nwis/uv?09380000
The AZ Game and Fish Department has detected whirling disease in a very small percentage of Lees Ferry trout that were collected for a random sampling. More recent samplings have turned up no sign of the disease, which may mean that it was a “one time” exposure, where the disease was not established or that the disease is present but at a very low prevalence. Anglers should still use caution in cleaning their equipment both before and after they have fished here or in other waters. For more information visit: http://www.whirling-disease.org
LAKE MEAD –The current water level is around 1,102 feet above msl. The striper bite has been slow. If you want to find the stripers, look for shad on your fish finder. They should be in 40-50 feet deep. The stripers are usually underneath them in 60-70 feet. Trolling may be your best bet.
Launching conditions at South Cove will remain fair. The concrete ramp the National Park Service completed last year is two lanes with cones marking the edges. Use caution not to go off the sides of the metal extensions at either side. National Park Service is working to keep the ramp open. Temple Bar Launch Ramp is two lanes. Launching conditions in general are better at Temple Bar than South Cove.
Important notice: With the discovery of invasive quagga mussels in Mead, Mohave and Havasu, proper cleaning of all watercraft is critical to help prevent the spread of these invaders. Please drain and dry your livewell and bilge on land. Drain all the water you can from your engine. Also, inspect your vessel and trailer, removing any visible mussels, but also feel for any rough or gritty spots on the hull. These may be young mussels that can be hard to see.
For more information, go to the Arizona Game and Fish Department's web pages at azgfd.gov or visit http://100thmeridian.org/.
LAKE MOHAVE – The lake level is around 643 feet above msl. Trolling with anchovies in 30-50 feet has been producing some stripers, while catfish are on the bottom.
Biologists from both Arizona Game and Fish Department and Nevada Division of Wildlife with the help of volunteers, National Park Service and Bureau of Reclamation personnel have continued to install fish habitat in Carp Cove, Box Cove and now Shoshone. Fish habitat consists of PVC structures, wood pallet structures, tamarisk bundles, and some Christmas trees. The largemouth, bluegill and catfish are really utilizing the new structures. Additional habitat will be added at several locations over the next two years. These structures are fish magnets.
There is a wheelchair accessible fishing pier just south of the main launch ramp at Katherine's Landing. If you fish Mohave and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.
Important notice: With the discovery of invasive quagga mussels in Mead, Mohave and Havasu, proper cleaning of all watercraft is critical to help prevent the spread of these invaders. Please drain and dry your livewell and bilge on land. Drain all the water you can from your engine. Also, inspect your vessel and trailer, removing any visible mussels, but also feel for any rough or gritty spots on the hull. These may be young mussels that can be hard to see.
For more information, go to the Arizona Game and Fish Department's web pages at www.azgfd.gov or visit http://100thmeridian.org/.
WILLOW BEACH - Trout are stocked every Friday. Fishing is usually best immediately following the stocking.
Important notice: With the discovery of invasive quagga mussels in Mead, Mohave and Havasu, proper cleaning of all watercraft is critical to help prevent the spread of these invaders. Please drain and dry your livewell and bilge on land. Drain all the water you can from your engine. Also, inspect your vessel and trailer, removing any visible mussels, but also feel for any rough or gritty spots on the hull. These may be young mussels that can be hard to see. If you fish Willow beach and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.
For more information, go to the Arizona Game and Fish Department's web pages at www.azgfd.gov or visit http://100thmeridian.org/.
TOPOCK MARSH – The crappie in the marsh are back on the bite. Largemouth bass, too, are active at both South and North Dyke as is the catfish.
Game and Fish Biologists surveyed Topock the first week in February. Bass, crappie and catfish populations continue to do well.
You can access the marsh by boat at the North Dike, Catfish Paradise, and Five-Mile Landing. All three also provide plenty of area for shoreline fishing too. For more information on the marsh, contact the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge at (760) 326-3853 or go to http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges...asu/index.html.
Important notice: With the discovery of invasive quagga mussels in Mead, Mohave and Havasu, proper cleaning of all watercraft is critical to help prevent the spread of these invaders. Please drain and dry your livewell and bilge on land. Drain all the water you can from your engine. Also, inspect your vessel and trailer, removing any visible mussels, but also feel for any rough or gritty spots on the hull. These may be young mussels that can be hard to see.
For more information, go to the Arizona Game and Fish Department's web pages at www.azgfd.gov or visit http://100thmeridian.org/.
COLORADO RIVER BELOW DAVIS DAM – Rainbow trout are stocked by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service monthly. Trout were stocked last week for the last time this year. The fish are stocked in two locations; Davis Camp and near The Riverside. Trout fishing at the stocking sites is great immediately following the stockings, then the fish move out and you need to find them.
Rainbow trout are located throughout the river below Davis dam, but anglers typically report catching trout on the Arizona side across from the Riverside, off the shore of Davis Camp and in the big bend area. This year we have received multiple reports of larger holdover trout being caught. USFWS will be stocking trout once a month from October until March. Remember to fish for trout, you need a trout stamp on Class A and Lifetime fishing licenses. In the back bays where the water is warming nicely, the smallmouth bass are beginning to move on their beds. They’re not locked on, however. Sizes vary, but one or two have tipped the scale around 3-pounds. Finesse worms and crawdad colored lures–chartreuse ox blood–are working fine. Bluegill and Redear are also in the back bays. Stripers are hard to come by, but a few between 1- and 5-pounds have been reported. One was taken south of Devil’s Elbow in ten feet of water on an anchovy.
The water level will go up later in the day, but it will drop after sunset. Water levels on the river fluctuate, so be careful. You can check the Bureau of Reclamation Web site for flow predictions http://www.usbr.gov/lc/riverops.html before you go. If you fish the river below Davis Dam and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.
Important notice: With the discovery of invasive quagga mussels in Mead, Mohave and Havasu, proper cleaning of all watercraft is critical to help prevent the spread of these invaders. Please drain and dry your livewell and bilge on land. Drain all the water you can from your engine. Also, inspect your vessel and trailer, removing any visible mussels, but also feel for any rough or gritty spots on the hull. These may be young mussels that can be hard to see.
For more information, go to the Arizona Game and Fish Department's Web pages at www.azgfd.gov or visit http://100thmeridian.org/.
SOUTHWESTERN WATERS
HAVASU -- Both largemouth bass and smallmouth bass are spawning. The temperature in the bridge channel was 61 F on Thursday at 10 a.m.
Striper fishing should also be picking up.
The lower end of the lake near Parker Dam is stained from Bill Williams River inflows. This should act as a nutrient boost for this lake. Anglers should try fishing the edge of the stained water for stripers.
SandPoint Fishing Report courtesy Karen Coats:
Water temp is 57
November monthly big fish winners are
Striper Joe Egan 6.7
Bass Carl Koontz 5.9
Cat Leonard Post 25.14
December monthly big fish
Lunker Carl Koontz 5.3
Bass Jim Haremza 4
Striper Rick Spitler 6.3
Catfish Pauline Dey 9.5
January monthly big fish
Lunker Carl Koontz 11.5
Striper Carl Koontz 11.5
Bass Jim Farnam 3.12
Catfish Leonard Post 6.13
February monthly big fish
Lunker Carl Koontz 11.5
Striper Leonard Post 6.12
Bass Fred Tedesco 4.10
Catfish Cathy Pingel 11.11
Carp Jack Leggett 20.7
Fish report from the this week Topock Gorge
News is skimpy this week. Largemouth bass bite in the Topock Marsh is hot! Sizes are running between 1- and 5-pounds. The bucketmouths are hitting green crawdad colored crankbait in the middle of the day. Water in the Topock Gorge is cloudy due to the recent rains. The catfish are swimming free and are being taken in three to twelve feet of water on small pieces of spam. Sizes have been ranging between 2- and 8-pounds.
Georgia, Capt. Doyle's Guide Service
ALAMO LAKE – Thanks for everyone's help at the Alamo Lake clean up last Saturday.
Report Couresty Mark Knapp, Alamo Lake State Parks. Well folks, another week of rain and more on the way. It's really starting to bum me out! I'm ready to come out of hibernation, but need 3 days of 110 degrees to do so. Until then I will continue writing this from my cave. Bass fishing is decent as of Saturday.
On Sunday they cranked open the gates and are releasing 3000 cfs until Monday night. Then the releases will be dropped back to 40 cfs on Tuesday. So far the lake has dropped a foot. We were hoping that the lake would recede enough to evaluate Cholla Ramp to see what portion of it we could open up. With all the new inflow into the lake I'm not sure where were going to end up at. Were hoping to bump the flows back up to 1,500 cfs and get the lake level down to 1,130. Once we get to 1130 I can evaluate the damage to the ramp, and hopefully reopen a portion of it. I think what were going to do is tear out the turn around, pour a cement patch over it and that will make up for the undercut area. I will keep you posted as we go. Right now plan on using the main ramp until further notice.
No good reports of crappie fishing. One angler reported catching 9 yesterday, only to get skunked today. The air temp is supposed to be in the 80s by the weekend so that should finally jump-start everything. I was informed this week that on March 20 we're having 5 tournaments on the same weekend. Were figuring that when all is said and done were looking at 200 plus boats, not counting the general public. The term royal cluster comes to mind with this. If were still here next year I'm going to push to go back to issuing permits and avoid this mess. speaking of being here. We're still being told that we're closing on June 3. The governor has let it be known that she is all for privatizing the parks and is passing legislation to do so. If and when that will happen I have no idea. I'll let you know as I know. The lake level is currently at 1134 and rising and lowering. Thats all I got. Mark
Regional Outlook
Alamo Lake:
While largemouth bass are present in all sizes, fisheries surveys in the spring indicated that there seem to be an unusually high proportion of bass within the protected slot limit (you are allowed to take one bass in the protected 13-16 inch slot). Hopefully fisheries surveys in the fall will reveal that these fish have grown beyond 16 inches. Regardless, bass fishing should begin to pick up when the weather cools a bit, and is expected to be good to excellent throughout the fall. All types of bait, plastics, spinner baits and top-water lures should work. As the weather cools off, try slowly working plastics in deeper water.
There is a very robust population of channel catfish in Alamo Lake that are probably under-fished. AGFD conducted hoop-netting surveys in June, and netted and released over 400 catfish, up to about 7 pounds, with plenty in the 2 to 4 pound size. The best concentrations of channel catfish seem to be found along the upper two thirds of the shoreline, on the western side of the lake. For channel catfish any of the prepared catfish baits will work, as well as chicken livers or your own secret concoctions.
There are other fish present such as bluegill, redear sunfish, tilapia and carp that are a lot of fun to catch. More decent-sized bluegills and redear sunfish, up to about a pound, have been showing up in recent surveys, a trend we hope continues. When Alamo Lake was first impounded, it was widely known as the place to go for sunfish. Sunfish can be caught on a variety of baits and lures. They are particularly susceptible to fly-fishing, and are very enjoyable when caught on light fly-fishing tackle.
Lake Havasu & Topock Gorge:
Fishing for largemouth bass, as well as smallmouth bass, is expected to be good to excellent. Sizes will range from 13 inches and up, with an occasional fish in the 4-6 pound range. Every year, smallmouth bass are becoming more and more numerous in Lake Havasu and upriver. Bass tournaments now often experience nearly a 50/50 ratio of smallmouth to largemouth bass.
Striped bass fishing last summer indicates a rebounding shad population, and striper “boils” on schools of shad were more common. Most striped bass in Lake Havasu tend toward the small side (12-18 inches) but occasional fish over 8 pounds are not uncommon. During the annual striper derby held last May, the number of stripers caught was down significantly, but more large fish were weighed in than usual, including 31, 28, 24 and 15-lb fish. Channel catfish as well as bluegill and redear sunfish fishing should be fair to good. Flathead catfish fishing should be fair at the lower end of the lake throughout the fall. Flathead catfish can reach 40 pounds or better in the lower portion of the lake. To find them, select the interior points in the coves and the areas where artificial structure has been placed.
The cooler weather causes the bite to slow down, so it is important to work your lures more slowly, and in deeper water. Put away your topwater lures and switch to plastics, crank baits, spinner baits, jigs, etc.
Colorado River (Parker Strip Area):
Smallmouth bass, with fish over two pounds in size are expected . In addition, redear sunfish should also be fair in the pound-plus sizes. The Parker Strip is well known for its smallmouth bass fishing, especially in the area from the dam to several miles downstream. The Parker Strip is also home to some really impressive, dinner-plate sized redear sunfish of two pounds or better. Channel and flathead catfish fishing is always fair in this section of the Colorado River. Below the dam, striper fishing may pick up this fall, using live shad or anchovies.
Colorado River (between Palo Verde Diversion Dam and Walter's Camp):
This area should be fair for both smallmouth bass (in the channel) and largemouth bass (in the backwaters) throughout the entire area. Channel and flathead catfish are always fair to good in this section of the Colorado River. Most of the flathead catfish will be in the 2 to 5 pound size range, with an occasional fish over 30 pounds. The time for fishing for both species of catfish is in the evening to midnight. As the weather warms, so will the cat-fishing action.
Colorado River (between Walter's Camp and Picacho State Park):
This section of the Colorado River is relatively remote and can only be accessed by boat from either end. Fishing is expected to be fair to good for flathead catfish with sizes over 40 pounds. Largemouth bass and bluegill are also present in the various backwaters and slack water areas. Other species available in the main river are smallmouth bass and striped bass.
Colorado River (between Picacho State Park and Imperial Dam):
This area is expected to be fair to good for largemouth bass, channel catfish, and flathead catfish. Bass and channel catfish in excess of 5 pounds are present along with flathead catfish as large as 40 pounds, or larger. Bluegill are also present in the various backwaters and an occasional striped bass will be caught in the main river channel.
Colorado River (between Laguna and Morelos dams):
This area will be fair for largemouth bass and flathead catfish. Bass in excess of 5 pounds are common and flathead catfish over 20 pounds are a good bet. In this area accessibility to the river is dependent on the amount of water being released. Usually shallow draft boats work the best. The lower end has had some dredging work done and larger boats may be able to get on the river in that area.
With the increase in border issues and illegal activity on the lower end of this stretch, we recommend exercising extreme caution, avoiding nighttime use, or even staying away from the area between Pilot Knob to Moreles Dam, altogether.
Regional Hot Spots:
Alamo Lake will be the hot spot for largemouth bass and channel catfish. There are many fish in the lake at the present time (especially channel catfish), and keeping some to eat will not impact the population in the slightest, and will perhaps even enhance it. Next choice would be Lake Havasu for striped bass, Lake Havasu and the Parker Strip for smallmouth bass and sunfish, and Martinez Lake and Imperial Division backwaters for largemouth bass. For the die-hard flathead catfish angler, large catfish can still be caught from Walter’s Camp down to Imperial Dam and fishing will continue to improve as the weather warms.
If you need any additional information or assistance don't hesitate to contact the Yuma Regional office at (928) 342-0091 and we will be happy to give you whatever information we have.
CENTRAL MOUNTAINS
Note: Recent snow has made the higher elevation trout lakes in the Flagstaff and Williams areas either inaccessible or ice-covered, or likely both. Fishing is viable in the Verde Valley and Prescott areas.
WILLIAMS LAKES:
KAIBAB LAKE — Campground area is closed.
CATARACT LAKE — Campgrounds are closed.
CITY RESERVOIR — Road is closed.
DOGTOWN LAKE —. Road and Campground area is closed.
JD DAM — Road is closed.
RUSSEL TANK - Road is closed
SANTA FE — Lake is full.
WHITEHORSE LAKE — Road is closed
FLAGSTAFF LAKES:
LOWER LAKE MARY — No fish, but lots of snow.
UPPER LAKE MARY — Expect snow and ice.
ASHURST LAKE — Road is closed due to snow.
FRANCIS SHORT POND – Frozen.
KINNIKINICK LAKE — Road is closed due to snow.
MARSHALL LAKE — No fish. Inaccessible. However, due to good snow pack, this lake should have more water in it this spring.
LONG LAKE — Road is closed.
SOLDIERS & SOLDIERS ANNEX — Road is closed
STONEMAN LAKE — NO FISH.
Verde Valley
OAK CREEK -- Has been stocked. Flows were running high earlier this week.
WET BEAVER CREEK -- No reports. Was not stocked this week due to high flows, but could be stocked if flows diminish.
DEAD HORSE STATE PARK – Trout are scheduled to be stocked again this week, the week of March 8. While the bite has not been as good as it was last year, trout can be easily caught on power bait, corn, or spinners. Many anglers prefer to make their own homemade dough baits. They typically consist of flour, vegetable oil, and garlic powder. Many anglers have their own secret ingredients that they believe works better than anybody else’s.
VERDE RIVER (throughout Verde Valley) – Trout were stocked last week, the week of March 1. Look for the trout to be schooled up at the stocking sites. Stocking sites are at Tuzigoot Bridge outside of Clarkdale, The bridge that leads to the Deadhorse State Park, at Deadhorse State Parks access point called the Jacks, at the White Bridge in Camp Verde, and at Bignotti Beach. Flows were up considerably on Monday and Tuesday.
West Clear Creek -- Flows are up considerably. Is scheduled for stocking this week, but flows will have to diminish first.
Prescott Area Lakes
FAIN LAKE — Trout are sheduled to be stocked this week, the week of March 8. Bright colored Power Bait will be your best bet. Spinners can work well also.
Bluegill were stocked on June 15 and again the week of June 20. Catfish were stocked the week of June 15.
GOLDWATER LAKE — Trout are scheduled to be stocked the week of March 15. The fishing pressure has been low as well as fishing success. Few anglers are successful in catching at least one fish, but the quality of the fish caught has been good. Power Bait and salmon eggs have been the best for trout.
Both bass and catfish were stocked the week of June 22. Bass were stocked on June 10. The bass are being stocked to give a boost to a dwindling population in the lake and to reduce the excessive number of crayfish. Please practice catch and release with the bass, while the population gets re-established.
Game and Fish Biologists surveyed Goldwater on Sept. 15, 2009 and found bass and catfish populations to be much improved over last year. The number of green sunfish was greatly reduced. The bass had a successful spawn this year. If you fish Goldwater and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.
Granite Basin –The bass and bluegill are not biting. Look for the fishing to pick up in the spring when the water warms. If you fish Granite Basin and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.
LYNX LAKE — Trout were stocked last week, the week of March 1. Fishing should be improved following the stocking. Trout can be easily caught on power bait, corn, or spinners. If you are not catching anything try moving to a new spot.
Fingerling brook trout were stocked Sept. 17. Five hundred pounds of catfish were stocked on June 10. One thousand six hundred brook trout were stocked on May 11. The brookies were about 3 to the pound.
MINGUS LAKE –Trout were last stocked the week of Oct. 19. This was the last scheduled stocking until the spring. While the gate is closed you can still walk in. The best bait is usually orange, pink, or white Power Bait, fished on the bottom with a treble hook and an egg sinker.
Someone illegally stocked yellow bullhead into Mingus several years ago. These fish compete directly with the trout and keep growth rates very low. If you witness anyone, anywhere, moving fish like bass, bluegill, catfish and stocking them, please report it to our Operation Game Thief Hotline at 1-800-352-0700. Illegal stockings cost YOU money!
WATSON – The fishing has been slow down all winter. Look for the fishing to begin to pick up late April, early May. Large numbers of small crappie are in Watson, but I have not heard about people catching them.
Game and Fish Biologists surveyed Watson last fall and found the bass, sunfish, and bullhead to be plentiful. Crappies were also doing well. Look for the crappie fishing to pick up in a year or two. If you fish Watson and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.
WILLOW CREEK RESERVOIR – The fishing has all winter, look for the fishing to pick up in April.
If you fish Willow and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.
MOGOLLON RIM
Forest Service gates are locked on the Rim Roads (no vehicle access). Forest Service roads are inaccessible to vehicles. Snowmobile access is allowed.
CHEVELON LAKE — Forest Roads 300 and 169 are closed to the lake. The gate is locked for the winter. Snowmobile access is allowed.
BEAR CANYON LAKE — Forest Roads 300 and 89 are closed to the lake. The gate is locked for the winter. Snowmobile access is allowed.
BLACK CANYON LAKE — Forest Roads 300 and 86 are closed to the lake. The gate is locked for the winter. Snowmobile access is allowed.
GREEN VALLEY LAKES -- Excellent trout fishing conditions can be found at Payson’s Green Valley lakes (this is an Urban Program Lake). Best bets for these pine country trout are Power Bait, corn and worms. Some success has been found by anglers using spinners, small spoons and nymph and wet fly patterns.
WILLOW SPRINGS LAKE – Forest Road 149 is closed to the lake. The gate is locked for the winter. Snowmobile access is allowed.
WOODS CANYON LAKE — Forest Roads 300 and 105 are closed to the lake. The gate is locked for the winter. Snowmobile access is allowed.
WHITE MOUNTAINS
Note: Nearly all interior Forest Roads are inaccessible to vehicles. Contact the US Forest Service in Springerville for up to date information on road and forest conditions at (928) 333-4372. Highways 261 and 273 are closed to vehicle access. Snowmobile access is allowed.
BECKER LAKE — Fishing is good. Anglers are catching large rainbows on bugger flies and rapalas. Trout are also now cruising the shallows. The lake is ice-free. The boat ramp is accessible. The lake is open to artificial lure and fly only, barbless hooks, and a 2 trout bag and possession limit. Try lures such as Z-rays, Super Dupers, and KastMasters spoons, and spinners (Mepps, Panther Martin, and Rooster Tail).
Try flies such as wooly worms, wooly buggers, Yeager bugger, brown stone nymphs, peacock ladies, small nymphs like hares ear, pheasant tail, zug bugs, prince nymphs, and midge patterns. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and up to 10 hp gas motors.
BIG LAKE — Highways 261 and 273 to Big Lake are closed to vehicles for the winter. Snowmobiles are allowed. Big lake is ice-covered. Always check ice thickness before ice-fishing on the lake.
CARNERO LAKE — The lake is ice covered. Forest Roads 117 and 117A are inaccessible to vehicles due to snow. Snowmobiles are allowed. Always check ice thickness before ice-fishing on the lake.
CLEAR CREEK RESERVOIR — No reports. The lake is ice-free. Try fishing worms, lures such as spinners (Mepps, Panther Martin, and Rooster Tail), Crankbaits, spoons (Z-rays, KastMasters, and Super Dupers), and Rapalas.
CONCHO LAKE — The lake now has a fair amount of water, but fishing is poor. The lake is ice-free. There are private property owners on the northwest side of the lake and they have closed that portion of the shoreline to public access.
CRESCENT LAKE — Highways 261 and 273 to Big and Crescent Lakes are closed to vehicles. Snowmobile access is allowed. The lake is ice-covered. Ice thickness is 30 inches.
FOOL HOLLOW LAKE — Fool Hollow Lake is ice-free, full and spilling. A few trout and walleyes are being caught on lures and night crawlers. Fishing is fair. Boat ramps are accessible.
Try worms, salmon eggs, Power Bait, lures such as Rapalas, crankbaits, lead head jigs, spinners (Mepps, Panther Martin, and Rooster Tail), and spoons (KastMasters, Super Dupers, and Z-rays), and flies such as wooly worms and wooly buggers. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and up to 10 hp. gas motors.
GREER LAKES — All Greer Lakes are ice-covered. Check ice thickness before ice-fishing on the lake. The spur road from Highway 373 to the lakes is still snow packed and inaccessible to vehicles. Snowmobile access is allowed.
HULSEY LAKE — Forest Road 86 is inaccessible to vehicles. The lake is ice-covered. Check ice thickness before ice-fishing on the lake.
LEE VALLEY RESERVOIR — Highways 261 and 273 are closed to vehicles. Snowmobiles are allowed. The lake is ice-covered. Ice thickness was 20 inches when measured two weeks ago. Always check ice thickness before ice-fishing on the lake.
LUNA LAKE — The lake is ice-covered. Check ice thickness before ice-fishing on the lake. The road to the lake has been plowed. Try ice-fishing near the dam with jigs or small spoons with an attached worm.
LYMAN LAKE — Lyman Lake State Park closed to the public on Feb. 22.
NELSON RESERVOIR — The lake is ice-covered. Unsafe ice. The amount of ice cover can change rapidly with changes in daily weather patterns.
RAINBOW LAKE — The lake is entirely ice free, full and spilling heavily. The boat ramp is accessible. Fishing is slow for trout and bass. Pike are becoming active. One angler caught 6 pike on a Mepps Aglia spinner. Please do not release pike back into the lake. Also try worms, lures such as KastMasters, Z-rays, Panther Martin and Rooster Tail spinners, crankbaits and Rapalas. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and up to 10 hp gas motors. The water temperature last week was 44 degrees.
SCOTTS RESERVOIR — The lake is entirely ice free, full and spilling. Fishing is slow. The boat ramp is accessible. Try worms, Power Bait, lures such as spinners (Panther Martin and Rooster Tail), spoons (Super Dupers, Z-rays, and KastMasters), jigs, and Rapalas. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and up to 10 hp. gas motors. The water temperature last week was 44 degrees.
SHOW LOW LAKE — The lake is ice free and about 4 feet below spilling. Boat ramps are accessible. One angler caught her limit of holdover trout last week on Power Bait. Also try worms, Power Bait, lures such as spinners (Mepps, Panther Martin, and Rooster tail), spoons (Z-rays, and KastMasters), crankbaits, leadhead jigs, and Rapalas. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and up to 10 hp. gas motors. The water temperature last week was 44 degrees.
WOODLAND LAKE — The lake is mostly ice-covered. Unsafe ice conditions prevail. The lake is full and spilling. The amount of ice cover can change rapidly with changes in daily weather patterns. Roads into the boat ramp, fishing pier, and dam are open. The water temperature last week was 38 degrees.
WHITE MOUNTAIN STREAMS
Highways 261 and 273 are closed to vehicles for the winter. Most forest roads are inaccessible. Snowmobiles are allowed. Streams are mostly ice-covered.
LITTLE COLORADO RIVER-GREER – The stream is accessible in town and up to Government Springs. The stream is mostly open water, running clear, and flowing at base flows. Spring runoff has not yet started at this elevation. Deep snow is still present on the banks and the water temperatures are very cold, so fishing is likely slow.
SILVER CREEK--- Fishing is poor. Runoff from recent storms and melting snow at this elevation has significantly increased the turbidity in Silver Creek. Silver Creek on Arizona Game and Fish Department property is currently open to artificial lures and flies only, barbless hooks, and catch-and-release fishing from Oct. 1 through March 30. The upper section is open to fishing.
Try small lures such as Mepps, Rooster Tails, and Panther Martin spinners, and flies such as wooly worms, wooly buggers, peacock ladies, prince nymphs, zugbugs, shrimp patterns, midge patterns, and small beadhead nymphs. If trout are rising on the surface, try Adams, midges and caddis fly patterns in sizes 16, 18, and 20
SOUTHERN WATERS
It is becoming increasingly difficult for the Department to update its weekly fishing report due to an inability to visit all of fishing locations weekly to gather fishing reports. So in an effort to provide a better report the Department is asking anglers to take the time and report their fishing success stories here in southern Arizona. Angler fishing reports can be sent to Don Mitchell, Regional fish Program Manager by email at dmitchell@azgfd.gov. These reports will then be complied and reported in our weekly fishing reports.
During the winter months fishing in the southern part of the state for the most part turns to trout fishing with Parker Canyon Lake, Patagonia Lake and Roper Lake and Cluff Ranch being stocked regularly between November and March. To get the latest information on the stocking schedule it is suggested that anglers check the Departments website for the stocking schedule at the following link: 2009 - 10 Stocking Schedule. Although fishing reports have been hard to come by it’s a safe bet that anglers wanting to catch trout during this time of the year can do so using powerbait, worms and small flashy spinners and lures.
URBAN LAKES -- The final winter trout stockings Urban lakes is the week of March 8-13. Urban lake water temperatures are rising into the 60s signaling the annual stocking changeover from winter trout to spring catfish.
Fish stockings at Tucson’s Lakeside Lake will resume with a large load of trout. Most trout are falling for Power Bait fished on the bottom. Other good baits include worms, corn and salmon eggs. The cool morning hours are the best times to target the trout.
This week’s trout delivery will be the ninth one of the season, concluding a very successful stocking season. A real bonus this year was the larger sizes of the stocked trout that are a result of an excellent growing season at our Colorado vendor’s hatcheries.
Trout are stocked into lakes at rates of 50 to 80 fish per lake surface acre.
All lakes and ponds in the Phoenix and Tucson areas will be stocked with 15- to 20-inch channel catfish on Thursday, March 25.
Beginning with the spring season kick-off stocking, catfish will be stocked eight times through early July at rates averaging from 40 to 60 fish per acre. Nearly 14,000 pounds of Arkansas farm-raised catfish will be delivered and stocked into 20 Urban Fishing Program lakes every two weeks by Mr. Fish, our outstanding fish contractor.
Twice each year, the Game and Fish Department stocks 5- to 8-inch bluegills into all Urban Fishing Program waters to replenish this popular sport fish and offer some great fishing opportunity for young anglers. A delivery of bluegill is scheduled the week of March 15-20. More than 18,000 of the feisty, hard biting sunfish will be stocked at rates of 90-150 fish per acre across 20 waters.
Daily bag limits for sunfish (includes bluegill and redear sunfish) are 10 per day at Urban Lakes or 5 per day at Urban Ponds. Best baits for bluegill are meal worms or worms fished 2-4 feet under a small bobber.
March offers the best time of the year to fish your nearby park lakes for trout, sunfish, bass and catfish. Good fishing for trout will continue through March as all lakes receive their final stockings the week of March 8-13.
As waters warm up, try fishing for largemouth bass that are now moving closer to shore as they prepare to spawn and search for food. Regulations require that all bass under 13 inches must be released unharmed immediately.
RIGGS FLAT —The road up Mt. Graham is closed until April or May.
CLUFF RANCH — Check the stocking schedule on the departments Web site for the latest stocking information at 2009 - 10 Stocking Schedule. For lake information call (928) 485-9430.
ROPER LAKE — Roper Lake State Park is scheduled to close March 31 due to state budget problems. Water quality issues have been resolved and Roper Lake will once again be stocked. Check the stocking schedule on the departments Web site for the latest stocking information at 2009 - 10 Stocking Schedule. For lake information call (928) 428-6760.
DANKWORTH POND — Aquatic vegetation continues to be a problem for anglers and because of this the lake is not being stocked. For lake information call (928) 428-6760.
FRYE MESA RESERVIOR – Try a small fly in the early mornings and late evenings. Bait anglers should try Power Bait and worms. Although this small lake is not stocked on a regular basis it does provide some pretty good trout fishing.
KEARNY LAKES — This small lake remains fishless due to impacts of golden algae.
ARIVACA — The Lake is full and spilling. Anglers should have no problems launching boats. Water temps are still in the mid 50’s and bass are suspended in about 10 to 15 feet of water. Anglers are asked to please be aware of your wake so as not to disrupt other anglers fishing from other boats and the shore. Some anglers have reported catching 50 to 60 bass a trip. Remember that all bass must be immediately released back to the water.
PENA BLANCA – Pena Blanca Lake is full. The Department has stocked the lake with catchable sized rainbow trout. Anglers are reporting tough fishing conditions with very few fish being caught. Because trout is the only species of fish currently in the lake anglers need to have a trout stamp to fish. Currently there are facilities available for launching boats. Small boats that can be carried to the lake shore and float tubes are possible and those wanting to use such watercraft should use caution as there is a lot of debris floating in the lake. Shoreline anglers should have no trouble finding a place to fish.
Angler reports:
Fishing report Pena Blanca Lake March 4, 2010-AFTER 10 AM-no hits from 8:00 to 10:00 after 10 the story was very different. Rainbow Trout-6--Limit Velveeta Cheese fished on the bottom, did not get any hits on bobbers, spinners did not work. Very windy, water very cloudy, murky by some. wind helped clear the water. Fish were caught after wind picked up. Two of us went fishing, and both got our limits. Dave Wissert and myself. Walked down to lake side from Upper Thumb Rock day use area. Saw others catching a few trout. Water is getting better, still very cloudy in some spots...
Luis Villa
Where: Pena Blanca Lake
When: March 3
Caught: Trout
Technique: Power Bait & Salmon Eggs
Comments: Caught limit of six in 45 min.
Name: Dave Wissert in Rio Rico
PATAGONIA — Patagonia Lake is full and spilling. Check the stocking schedule on the departments Web site for the latest stocking information at 2009 - 10 Stocking Schedule. Anglers are reporting success with trout, try spinners early in the morning; remember a trout stamp is required to fish for trout. Fishing for bass has slowed with the constantly changing weather. A few anglers are reporting success flipping in the cattails.
PARKER CANYON — Limits of trout continue to be reported with most of the anglers using Power Bait or worms. Check the stocking schedule on the Departments website for the latest stocking information at 2009 - 10 Stocking Schedule. The store at the lake is open and information on the store and current conditions can be found at www.parkercanyonlake.com.
ROSE CANYON LAKE — The road to Rose Canyon is closed, however anglers may still walk in.
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