CENTRAL ARIZONA

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.
Where:Alvord Lake – City of Phoenix
When:04/21/09
Caught:Nothing
Technique:Hot Dogs
Comments:Caught nothing. Dead fish floating in lake.
Name:Earl Wood
Where:Chaparral
When:04/06/09
Caught:cat fish
Technique:stick bait
Comments:Does anyone know why there are so many dead catfish, a grounds person they collected over 50 fish floating in the lake.
Name:gratien kruczek

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 1,694 ft, which is 90-percent full.

Striper fishing seems to be a bit slow.  Anglers are catching a couple here and there using anchovies during the day and night.  As a general rule, when the water gets warmer the stripers will leave the Aqua Fria and other northern coves and head for the cooler water in the main lake…not to say they all pack up and leave the same day or week.

One angler used a money minnow swim bait and caught a huge striper, must have been around 15-18 pounds or so.  Anglers are waiting for the shad boils but they haven’t started yet.  I hear May is a good month for that.

ROOSEVELT LAKE — Lake Elevation is 2150 ft (99percent full).  Tonto Creek runoff is at 31 cfs while inflow from the Salt River is at 841 cfs.  This still remains a hot spot for bass fishing in the West. This is the time to target active post-spawn bass. Hit the coves at first light, then try the major points, islands and reefs for action.

Drop shots can work well at times, but you can also have a lot of fun working spinnerbaits through the thick submerged brush and trees, or try some flippin’ n’ pithcin’ as well.
Where:Roosevelt Lake
When:04/22/09
Caught:14 bass
TechniqueNight Crawlers dragged across bottom in 7-9 ft water
Comments:Most were in or under slot, but had one Large Mouth at 16″ and two big smallies 19.75 inches 3.75 lbs and 20.25 inches 4.25 lbs
Name:Dick Azzi

An angler fished the Tonto end and worked toward the main lake from safelight to noon.  A frog looking lure enticed 3 largemouth bass when working it around some floating logs.  T-rigged worms worked real well near Cholla and once that bite was over crankbait was the ticket and he nailed 15 bass using a Norman crankbait and a Tennessee shad.  The temp was 67oF and all fish were healthy and returned to their homes.

Another group of anglers did real well with poppers in the morning hours and again in the evening.  They caught 15 bass with 4 overs.

Another couple fisherman fished over the weekend for a few hours and caught 5 bass.  Two on topwater lures and 3 on skinny dippers.
While some anglers came off the lake during the high wind others hunkered down in the trees.  There was some good fishing for a bunch of anglers fishing the trees with
Senkos.

An angler fished using 4” rubber worms on a T-rig and caught bass all day.  He also had luck using a Zara Spook.  Once night hit he switched to minnows under a green light and caught a bunch of yellow bass.
APACHE – Lake elevation is 1912 ft (98% full).

Hey, people can catch some nice largemouth in Apache.  There was a televised show where “Johnny” 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 1657 ft, which is 95% full. Anglers are catching some nice bass at Canyon using crankbait and t-rigged rubber worms.  The bass seem to like the flecked kind of worms, color preference varies.

Game and Fish sampled Canyon Lake last week, and on the first night of electrofishing, we pulled up a 9 pound largemouth bass along Big Foot Cliff and an 8+ pound largemouth bass was caught in the Boulder Recreation area.  One site had over 200 bluegill.  Most electrofishing 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 electrofishing 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.
SAGUARO – Lake elevation 1524 feet at 91-percent full.  This should be a great place for yearling bass, plentiful yellow bass, a stringers of fesity bluegill.

Angler report: We took a group of kids and their “bigs” from Big Brothers and Big Sisters and had an awesome time catching bluegill using mealworms and earthworms.  The trick was to fish under a bobber about 5 feet deep near the sedges around Bagley Flat.  All the kids caught lots of bluegill.  They also caught a yellow bass with a worm and bass with jigs.  All in all it was a great time for everyone.
BARTLETT – Lake elevation is 1797 ft, which is 98-percent full.  Reservoir release is 750 cfs.
The crappie spawn is over, but try for crappie at night under submersible lights. Try live minnows or mini jigs.  You might also catch for largemouth bass, or maybe a marauding flathead.

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.

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 – 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.

Where:Lower Salt River
When:04/22/09
Caught:Rainbow Trout
Technique:Fly Rod and spinning rig
Comments:Time again? Fished midday. Started slow. Picked up nicely and tapered off around 4 p.m. Spin anglers having a tough time with the big grass monster ( algae ) a bit tough with the spinners. Small jigs produced some fish. See ya next week.

CREEKS – All creeks along the Mogollon Rim are fishing pretty well.

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.

Where:Tonto Creek
When:04/24/09
Caught:16 Rainbow trout and 1 Brook Trout
Technique:My friend and I easily caught 20 to 24 fish using Bead head hares ear and black wooly bugger flies on spinning rod in the afternoon. Most were nice chunky 10 to 12 inch in size.
Comments:I managed to catch my first Brook Trout in Arizona in 17 years using the hares ear nymph.
Name:Don Balach
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.