FISH STOCKING UPDATES: All 20 of the Phoenix and Tucson area Urban Fishing Program lakes were stocked the week of April 13-18.  Water conditions and pH levels are good to excellent at all lakes and golden alga is currently under control.

URBAN FISHING REPORT
Fishing is excellent for both channel catfish and sunfish at Urban waters in the Phoenix and Tucson areas.  Top baits for catfish are worms, shrimp, and dough/stink baits fished off the bottom.  Evenings are best, but patient anglers are finding success throughout the day.  Some of the cats are in the 4-6 pound range.  The recently stocked bluegill and hybrid sunfish continue to provide good action for anglers using worms and meal worms 3-4 feet below a small bobber.  Most bass are in the post-spawn period now, so activity has slowed down for awhile.  At Green Valley lakes (Payson) fishing is excellent for trout and good for crappie, bluegill and bass.  Reports of two pound rainbows keep coming in from excited anglers.  Try Power Bait in orange color, worms, or streamer flies such as Wooly Buggers and Simi Seal leaches.

SHORELINE WORK TO BEGIN AT EVELYN HALLMAN AND PAPAGO PONDS
Plans are underway by the Urban Fishing Program to improve shoreline access and bank stability at two urban ponds.  The first project starts April 22 at Evelyn Hallman Pond and includes rehabilitating over 400 feet of shoreline with rock material along the eastern and northern shores.

Game and Fish will fund the purchase of rock materials and oversee the project, the City of Tempe will provide heavy equipment and operators, and the North Tempe Neighborhood Association will lend extra workers.  In May, a similar shoreline renovation project will happen at Papago Pond #1 and #2 in partnership with the City of Phoenix.  These improvements will benefit angler access from the bank, preserve existing trees along the edge and create additional fish habitat.

FISH LOSES TO BE REPLACED AT THREE LAKES
The cause of death of recently stocked catfish at three of 20 urban lakes looks like it is just a case of stress and malnourishment.  All catfish stocked into urban lakes come from Arkansas fish farms.  These Arkansas cats have experienced late winter/early spring stress due to a highly unusual sequence of major cold and ice storms.  Until water temperatures reach 60 degrees, fish farmers do not feed their catfish because the water is covered with ice and the fish aren’t that hungry—this did not occur until early April, a delay of 4-6 weeks over normal.  Consequently, catfish stocked into Urban lakes in March and April were five months without food and extra stressed after their 40 hour overland transport from Arkansas.  The combination of weakened and stressed fish placed into Arizona urban lakes with 15-20 degree warmer water made it tough for some of the catfish to adjust.  Park staffs have dutifully removed all dead and sick catfish from the lakes.  Die-off levels have ranged from 10-35 percent of the stocked catfish at Riverview Lake, Alvord Lake and Papago Pond #3.  Catfish stockings for the week of April 13-18 will include stronger, well-fed catfish that have recently enjoyed much warmer conditions.  Replacement catfish will be stocked into the three affected lakes.

Where:Desert West
When: 04/16/09
Caught:nothing
Technique:worms
Comments:I fished till the lake closed for about an hour
.Name: Andrew Althaus

TEMPE TOWN LAKE – No recent reports from anglers. A recent Tempe Town Lake survey indicate a substantial resurgence of largemouth bass, yellow bass and channel catfish, black crappie and a very large increase in our catch of threadfin shad compared to last year’s survey conducted after a golden algae outbreak and a couple days of high runoff which led to the lowering of couple of the downstream inflatable dams.

Where:Tempe Town Lake
When:04/10/09
Caught:1 bluegill, 1 redear sunfish, 1 channel cat
Technique:Night crawlers fished from the north shore under rural raod bridge.
Name: Chris, Ashley, Ralph and Mary Heath

LAKE PLEASANT – Water elevation is 1,693 ft, which is 89-percent full. Fish the coves at first light for both largemouth and striped bass chasing shad, then gradually ease out to the major lake points, islands and reefs for post-spawn largemouth bass and possibly striper action as well.

You can still expect to find spawning largemouth bass, but the fish will likely be in 10 to 15 feet of water in the coves, although you might still find a an occasional bass in the shallows. Even in deeper water, the bass will often be found adjacent to cover, often on the shady side.

The dark of the moon is this weekend, making it a perfect time to go for stripers at night using submersible lights and frozen anchovies. Try over the submerged creek or river channels in the northern coves, or off any long submerged point outside a major cove.

One angler fished from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and caught six stripers; two were 19-inch 2 pounders and the others were a bit smaller.  He caught several more that were too small to make a decent meal so they went back in.  This angler caught his fish using anchovies with a circle hook over 60 feet of water.  No mention of the depth the fish were at.

ROOSEVELT LAKE — Lake Elevation is 2,150 ft (99 percent full).  Tonto Creek runoff is at 42 cfs while inflow from the Salt River is at 780 cfs.

A couple of crappie anglers night fished with crappie lights around schoolhouse and the fish started biting around 9 p.m. and they fished till about 2:30 a.m.  They ended up catching about 50 crappies with 6-10 of them over 12 inches.

However, it is the dark of the moon this weekend, making it a perfect time to fish for crappie at night using submersible lights. Try small jigs or live minnows.

One fisherman fished the weekend and caught 6 bass using crankbait and another 2 on a split shot plastic worms off points in 12 feet of water in the main lake.  The next day crankbait continued to entice the bite along with t-rigged power worms in the Tonto end of the lake.

Where:All lakes
When:04/18/09
Caught:Bass and Crappie
Technique:Lures
Comments:Why do you insist on posting fishing information that is a month old? This is useless. If you can’t post current info it’s a waste of time, effort, and My taxpaying contributions. I’m sure you won’t post this. Pat Robbins Phx. Az.
Name:Pat Robbins

Editor’s Note: The reason we keep some older reports from anglers is we feel they can still be relevant (such as fishing in windy conditions as fronts move through), or in some cases, those are the only reports we have received from an angler at a particular lake. My philosophy is to give as much information as possible for folks when it comes to fishing. For those who don’t feel they are helpful, just ignore them and read on to something that helps you.

A shore angler caught 8 bass in the Cholla Bay area using shallow diving crankbait fishing between the submerged trees.  He lost another 8 bass using the same lure and his buddy, who was a bit stubborn and wanted to try out his new custom built rod, caught one with a roadrunner and had several bites but couldn’t connect.

A couple boat anglers fished all over -  topwater that didn’t work too well, spinners worked pretty good and drop shot did well in the trees.   The points are housing some nice bass as well as some smallmouth. In the coves the bass on beds are going after Naked Dippers, but they manage to let go before getting boated.  Jigs seem to stay connected to the fish.

Two anglers caught 12 largemouth bass using Texas rigged green Robos in 1-8 feet of water in the Tonto end.  Don’t forget these fishermen don’t go there knowing what the fish are going to get turned on to.  They spend a lot of time trying different techniques, areas and bait colors.  Fish are fickle so what works one day may not work the next.  You have to experiment.

Crappie fishermen are catching bass on jigs with BBC and on slip bobbers with minnows.  Bass also liked Senkos and Skinny Dippers in shallow water.

APACHE – Lake elevation is 1,912 ft (98-percent full).

Hey, people can catch some nice largemouth in Apache.  There was a televised show where “Johnny” Johnson caught several 1- to 1.5-pound largemouth then a couple smaller ones and ended up catching hefty 3 pounder using jerk baits.  Being televised, he fished in March, but the fish are still there and at the end of April Game and Fish will be conducting a fish survey and I will divulge some preliminary details for you.

CANYON – Lake elevation is 1658 feet, which is 96 percent full.
Game and Fish sampled Canyon Lake last week, and on the first night of electro-fishing, we pulled up a 9-pound largemouth bass along Big Foot Cliff and an 8-plus-pound largemouth bass was caught in the Boulder Recreation area.  One site had over 200 bluegills.

Most electro-fishing sites on the first night had quite a few bluegill and all the sites were mostly in the main basin.

On the second night of electro-fishing we caught another 8 pound bass and quite a few bass larger than 3 pounds; they were mostly in the riverine portion of the lake in different coves.

There were a whole bunch of 2- to 3-pound largemouth bass in the Boulder Recreation area.

On the first night we set gillnets in the riverine portion of the lake and most of the fish caught were closer to the dam.  It looks like the fish were not moving a whole lot, thus our first night gillnetting catch was mediocre.

Our second night of gillnetting produced quite a few more fish. The nets were mostly in the main basin area.  Teddy bear point was a good site along with several other points and coves.  At night the yellow bass and walleye cruise the points and we caught a whole lot of yellow bass along with a few walleye.  The yellow bass are spawning now.

Where:Canyon Lake
When:04/14/09
Caught:3 largemouth 2 yellow bass
Technique:Fish around the 1st bridge from shore from 8am-2pm…6 lb test and size 6 yellow panther martin spinners were working, good luck.
Comments:

Name:eric “yetti” b.

SAGUARO – Lake elevation 1,526 feet at 95-percent full.  Anglers are still having a good time on Saguaro using crankbaits and plastic worms in the coves and up river along the vegetation.

Expect to catch lots of yearling bass and plenty of yellow bass. This is a great place to take the youngsters for bluegill.

Don’t ignore the plentiful channel catfish. This is one of the top two contenders for early season catfish angling in the state (Alamo is the other).

Where:Saguaro Lake
When:04/16/09
Caught:7 Bass all under slot. 20 large Sunfish
Technique:Reapers, Canadians
Comments:With the wind blowing white caps on the lake we found a cove. There was a Bald Eagle flying around. Got great pics. Fish a bit all afternoon. It was an outstanding Pre-Spring fishing experience
Name:Denis Alvis

Where:Saguaro Lake
When:03/31/09
Caught:LM Bass, Sunfish
Technique:Reaper, canadian crawlers
Comments:Lots of fish caught, all under slot from 5 inches to a pound and a half. Lots of nice sized bluegill, sunfish the males were brightly colored. also we found a Gila monster I got pics of
Name:Dennis Alvis

BARTLETT – Lake elevation is 1,798 feet, which is 99-percent full.  Reservoir release is 110 cfs.

The crappie spawn is over, but there is a new moon this week, making it an excellent time to try for crappie at night under submersible lights. Try live minnows or mini jigs. For the youngsters, set them up with bobbers and four to six feet of line beneath the bobber (get a fluorescent one), which will act as a strike indicator for them.

Daytime crappies are taking minnows rigged with a slip bobber. This might be the time to go after post-spawn beauties.

For bass anglers, work the rock stringers using spinnerbaits, crankbaits or jigs for post-spawn bass. There will still be some spawning bass, but expect to find those a little deeper right now.

This is also a great time to target huge flathead catfish using live bluegills or small carp.

HORSESHOE – Lake elevation is at 2001 feet, 48-percent full.  They are releasing water at 75cfs.

Anglers are catching catfish at Horseshoe although the water is very turbid. Below Horseshoe Lake in the Verde River is a good place for flathead catfish — you might even find some bass.

VERDE RIVER – Verde River flow at Tangle is 195 cubic feet per second.  Release from Bartlett Lake is 110 cfs.

SALT RIVER – Salt River into Roosevelt is 780 cfs, and Salt River Canyon is 725 cfs.  They are releasing 1025 cfs out of Stewart Mountain dam from Saguaro.

LOWER SALT RIVER – Stewart Dam release is 1,075 cfs. We are still stocking trout below Saguaro at Water Users and Blue Point sites.  Flies are working as well as live worms. The fishing is best at first and last light. Largemouth are camping around the overhanging vegetation.

CREEKS –    All creeks on rim are fishing pretty well. Most have been stocked this week, making them a great place to fish for Easter weekend.  Fly anglers should try dry dropper rigs or larger leach patterns and fish near the bottom.  Spin anglers should use live night crawlers (except in the stretches where bait isn’t allowed), crickhoppers or small spinners.

Haigler Creek – has been stocked.

Canyon Creek – Has been stocked. Fishing is fair for rainbows, poor for browns.

Tonto Creek – Has been stocked. Accessible and try dry fly dropper rig with size 14 to 16 bead head nymph according to Desert Sportsman.

Christopher Creek – Has been stocked. Fishing is good for rainbow trout.

East Verde River – Has been stocked. Fishing should be fair to good.

Workman Creek – No reports. Scheduled to be stocked the week of May 4.

HORSETHIEF BASIN LAKE – No new reports. It’s a pretty little lake that is worth visiting as part of a Bradshaw Mountain experience, but it is pond sized water where the fish are small; great for kids on a camp out. Bring night crawlers or meal worms and fish them under bobbers.