URBAN FISHING REPORT – Fishing is fair to good for channel catfish at urban waters. The best baits for catfish continue to be worms, shrimp, and dough/stink baits fished off the bottom.  An 8-pound albino catfish (white colored) was recently stocked.  Early evenings and night time periods have been the best fishing times.

Bluegill and sunfish are biting well at 4-7 foot depths on worms and mealworms fished along the bottom or under a bobber.

Bass fishing is picking up again during the pre-summer period.  Try small plastics presented with split shot or drop shot rigs in the evenings and early morning.

At Green Valley lakes (Payson) fishing is excellent for trout and good for crappie, bluegill and bass.  The final spring stocking of rainbow trout into Green Valley

Where:Chaparral Lake
When:05/07/09
Caught:Channel Catfish
Technique:Crappie rig, worm on both hooks.
Name:Jenna Fjeld
Where:Veterans Oasis
When:05/03/09
Caught:nothing
Technique:hotdog
Comments: Slow -  nobody was catching anything
Name:john
Where:Kiwanis
When:05/02/09
Caught:8 average sized catfish and one 8lb monster
Technique:Believe it or not, power bait. you know the stuff for trout, orange
CommentsOn the all American way road at the very far end about 20ft. out. someone illegally put in about 50 hand sized goldfish on Saturday so if you see them, take them out before they destroy the lake
Name:Andy
TEMPE TOWN LAKE – Fishing is fair for largemouth bass, yellow bass, bluegill, carp and catfish. Try fishing early in the morning and late in the afternoon, especially along the shade lines created by the bridges. Night crawlers fished along the bottom might just get you everything (except carp) this time of year. For carp, try corn.

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.

Angler reports:

Hello Rory,

I haven’t seen many reports about Tempe Town Lake lately, so I thought I would help with this. My parents and I have been going about three time a week lately in the evening and the cat-fishing has really picked up. We have progressively reeled in bigger fish with night crawlers fished on the bottom. This last time we went our worms had been overheated, dead, and smelly but the catfish my dad caught must have liked it. Attached is the picture of the 6 Pound cat, he was about 25 inches long, and was thick and strong.

Thanks for your tips Rory and hope this helps for the next report,

Christopher Heath

Where:Tempe Town Lake
When:05/03/09
Caught:2 Yellow Bass
Technique:Berkley Gulp Minnow, Rat-L-Trap, spinnerbait, Kast Master. Under Rural bridge on South side of the lake.
Comments:A beautiful day on the lake, not much was biting though. I caught a couple small (6″) yellow bass and not much else. Had a few bites here and there but nothing was really striking hard and you had to be quick to get them. On another note, why do the people from Tempe Parks feel the need to have the rowing people so close to shore? I am all about sharing the lake, but couldn’t they move out 50′ or so. Every time I would get my line in the water another rowing boat would come by and run right over my line and I was only fishing about 25′ from shore. Please guys; there is a whole lake there. Let those of us who don’t have a boat enjoy this wonderful resource.
Name:Barry

Where: Tempe Town Lake
When: 05/03/09
Caught:2 Yellow Bass
Technique: Berkley Gulp Minnow, Rat-L-Trap, spinnerbait, Kast Master. Under Rural bridge on South side of the lake.
Comments: A beautiful day on the lake, not much was biting though. I caught a couple small (6″) yellow bass and not much else. Had a few bites here and there but nothing was really striking hard and you had to be quick to get them. On another note, why do the people from Tempe Parks feel the need to have the rowing people so close to shore? I am all about sharing the lake, but couldn’t they move out 50′ or so. Every time I would get my line in the water another rowing boat would come by and run right over my line. And I was only fishing about 25′ from shore. Please guys; there is a whole lake there. Let those of us who don’t have a boat enjoy this wonderful resource.
Name: Barry

LAKE PLEASANT – Water elevation is 1,693 feet, which is 90-percent full.

Topater poppers are working for some, and not others. The best surface action will typically be at first and last light, but surface feeding can occur at any time of day (or night).

Striper fishing appears to be picking up, especially at night (new moon on Sunday).

A shore angler catfishing near the four-lane launch ramp in Castle Creek said he couldn’t keep the bait on his hook, and even caught a striper.

Another angler fished in Humbug and caught 10 stripers tipping the sacles over 2.5 pounds using anchovies fished 20 to 25 feet deep.

One angler caught 15 stripers between 5 and 6 a.m. fishing the points mid lake on the west side using Lucky Craft Pointers; all stripers were between 15 and 21 inches long.

Other anglers report doing okay at night for stripers drift fishing or slowly trolling pieces of anchovy with little or no weight, especially along the submerged creek channels in the northern coves.

Not hearing much about the largemouth bass fishing, but most should be in the post-spawn mode. Look for largemouth to be feeding toward the surface at first and last light. You’ll likely find them off the points in 10 to 15 feet of water during the day. Try drop shots, small plastic lizards, or even Carolina-rigged worms.

Lake Pleasant Regional Park will host the Tribal Sprint Triathlon the first weekend of June, and the event will close both the north entry into the park and the four-lane boat ramp at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 5. However, they will reopen to the public at noon on Saturday, June 6.

Where:Pleasant
When:05/02/09
Caught:bass, bluegill
Technique:plastic worm Texas rig
Comments:bass was 14 inches but the bluegill was just as big and weighed in at a little over a pound
Name:Michael Culbertson
Where: pleasant
When: 05/02/09
Caught: bass, bluegill
Technique: plastic worm Texas rig
Comments: bass was 14 inches but the bluegill was just as big and weighed in at a little over a pound
Name: Michael Culbertson
ROOSEVELT LAKE — Lake Elevation remains at 2,150 ft (99-percent full).  Tonto Creek runoff is at 17 cfs while inflow from the Salt River has slowed to 421 cfs.

The Tonto National Forest has instituted fire restrictions, and so has the Game and Fish Department in its wildlife areas (3-Bar and Roosevelt). So be careful out there – the habitat is dry and fire danger is high.

The prime runoff season has ended.  This remains one of the state’s bass, crappie and catfish hot spots.

Some anglers have been fishing  a good topwater bite at first light, others have found the morning bite to be slow. Try poppers, stick baits and soft plastic jerkbaits. Have a second pole rigged with a flutter-down bait such as a Senko if you get hit but no hook up.

A good technique to use at any time can be targeting individual pieces of submerged vegetation using flutter-down baits like Senkos and curly-tail grubs. Or try working four-inch lizards and curly-tail worms. There is certainly a lot of submerged cover that can be worked right now.

Crappie fishing should be best at night (there is a new moon on Sunday). Anglers have been catching crappies in the Salt En i nthemorning trolling blue-black-chartreuse (BBC)  and John Deer grubs tipped with minnows. There crappies were suspended 15 to 20 feet deep.

It sounds like the flathead catfish anglers are out in force, with some hauling in big monsters, but most are keeping the action pretty quiet.

We are not hearing much about the smallmouth action, but try the rocky areas near the dam using crayfish-like baits when the wind picks up.

The action is also pretty good for bluegills and yellow bass. Try using meal worms under bobbers in the backs of coves, or along those rocky secondary points inside the coves.

Channel catfish and carp are abundant – you can probably load up with lots of bottom feeders along any piece of shoreline, and you don’t need a boat. Although daylight fishing is viable for these bottom feeders, this is the time of year when they can also be pretty active at night as well.

Don Stich: 05/15/09 8-11 p.m. area-Schoolhouse
18 yellow bass-13-15oz
5 largemouth 1 over 1 slot 3 unders
12 bluegills & 5 crappies 4 small 1 keeper
05/16/09
Salt end. 3 flatheads 4lb 7lb 13lb
7 p.m.-5a.m.

A father-son duo slayed the fish during a morning of fishing.  Topwater lures worked best for the first two hours in 3 feet of water.   Once the topwater bite slowed the bass went after the large 10-inch worms on Carolina rigs at the main lake points in about 12 feet of water.  All bass caught by this duo were in the slot.  They reported the water temp at 73 F and about 10 feet visibility.

Another family fishing expedition fished on the 9th and 10th of May.  They caught a couple 3-pound largemouth bass along with some smaller ones using Texas-rigged plastic worms and green and white spinners.  They also caught 15 sunfish and had a hard time keeping them away from the lure as they were after some larger fish.  They fished in and around the submerged trees and near cliffs.  They also did some flathead fishing at night and had a hard time staying awake but still managed to catch a whopping 7-inch one!

APACHE – Lake elevation is still 1,911 feet (97-percent full).

Fishing continues to pick up at Apache.  One avid angler caught 30 fish in one day of fishing.  He caught largemouth bass, sunfish and yellow bass.  The largemouth bass are on beds right now and the best fishing is close to shore near overhanging vegetation.  Another tidbit is the fishing seems to be better towards the Horse Mesa Dam as opposed to the other direction.  Fish were biting on crankbait, a chartreuse spinners and purple plastic worms rigged on a drop shot.  People are also catching 6-9 pound catfish near the marina using worms.  A hearty thanks to David who works at Apache Lake for providing detailed reliable fishing reports.

Game and Fish biologists sampled Apache Lake and caught some nice largemouth bass, a whole lot of bluegills and a fair amount of catfish.  We electro-fished and set nets and every time we e-fished near reeds, we would get some nice largemouth. The rocky sites were not as fruitful, although we did catch quite a few smallmouth bass in those areas.

The smallmouth we stocked in 2007 are now in the slot and doing real well.  We caught quite a few green sunfish and every one of them looked like they just had a seven-course dinner.  A couple hot spots for bass and sunfish are the Crabtree area, plus we caught a slew of catfish at Pine Cove.  Another hot spot was the area around Burnt Corral.  We picked up a few of the small 3-4 inch trout we recently stocked as a house cleaning effort for one of our hatcheries.

Swim baits ought to work pretty well there.  Come to our Anglers Roundtable, scheduled for May 21 at Bass Pro in Mesa from 6 to 8 p.m. to see photos of the real nice largemouth and smallmouth bass as well as the 30+ pound flathead.  We will also report on the health of the Salt River Reservoir lakes.  Apache is recovering albeit a little slower than Saguaro and Canyon.

CANYON LAKE – Lake elevation is 1,657 feet, which is 95-percent full.

Many thanks for the UAAF anglers who helped stock largemouth bass in Saguaro, Canyon and Apache lakes last week.

An angler waiting for the Game and Fish stocking truck to deliver largemouth bass caught some nice largemouth bass using 4-inch worms.

Another angler caught a couple good sized 3-plus-pound largemouth bass.  He also caught about 15 small ones and two 3-inch feisty smallmouth bass took 4-inch worms.

A happy couple fished late afternoon till about midnight and caught two largemouth bass and a yellow bass on a crankbait near shore.  They also caught a small catfish, a bluegill, and a little smallmouth on a worm.
A couple anglers fished from about 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and caught five largemouth bass with the largest being a 3 pounder.  All were caught on watermelon/red Zoom worms on Texas-rigs or drop shots.

SAGUARO LAKE – Lake elevation 1,525 feet at 93 percent full. This is a hot spot for bluegill and yellow bass, which are hitting KastMasters worked in 5 to 15 feet of water.

For the plentiful bluegills, try areas next to emergent vegetation. Worms and meal worms will entice any self respecting bluegill.

Not hearing much from bass anglers right now, but they have been catching lots of yearling bass. This is a good time to fish at night using submersible lights for both largemouth bass and yellow bass using live minnows and small jigs.

Where: Saguaro
When: 05/15/09
Caught: Bluegill, largemouth, yellow bass
Technique: smallest jig I cold find with white 1″ grub cut down to 1/2″ cast into the shallows in the back of coves.
Comments: 2 of us fished for 5 hours from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and caught 81 fish most smaller than my hand but what a blast!
Name: Jim Lindquist

BARTLETT – Lake elevation is 1,790 ft, which has dropped slightly during the past week to 88-percent full.  Reservoir release is 1,100 cfs.

Fishermen are caqtching largemouth bass using spinnerbaits, crankbaits and plastics in the morning. The evening bite seems to be a little better; try using Carolina-rigged worms or lizards along with poppers and crankbaits. Try working the main-lake points, islands and reefs. The islands and reefs can be very productive at times.

Smaller bass and bluegills are suceptible to slow-trolling curly-tail grubs on small jigheads (1/16 to 1/8-ounce) up-lake from the Yellow Cliffs.

One angler caught 10 fish, with some nice ones (one weighed 4 pounds) mixed in.

Another angler used lipless Rapalas and Rat-L-Traps to catch 12 bass in the 8- to 12-inch range.

Some anglers are doing well for crappies using small jigs (and catching bass as well). This is an excellent time to fish at night using submersible lights. Try jigs or live minnows.

This is also a good time of year to target flathead catfish. The larger flatheads will often hold in the deep holes along the upper end of the lake, but it is possible to catch these voracious bottom feeders just about anywhere, night or day, but nighttime might be a little better right now. Try live bluegills or small carp.

Channel catfish and carp are also plentiful. Try corn and hot dogs on a small treble hook fished on a slip sinker. Remember, it is legal to chum in Arizona, so bring a can of corn and liberally toss some in the water where you are fishing to attract catfish and carp. These bottom feeders rely heavily on their olfactory senses, and can literally smell your plentiful chum.
Angler report:

Harvey Nelson: 2 of us fishing at Bartlett on 5/6, caught 7 nice bass using spinnerbaits, shad-colored crankbaits, and the go-to bait– Carolina rig with a Senko worm. Most fish caught 15 feet deep in the sandy bottom coves with 2 caught shallow off points where there was a lot of shad visible. All fish 2-3 lbs., no small fish were caught.

Rory,
I fish Bartlett a lot and will try to keep my reports coming in regularly. I read the reports all the time and they often help me find good patterns.
One pattern that I used a lot last year was after it gets up to 100 F outside I like to Carolina rig fish the lower lake islands bouncing Carolina rigs down the slope of islands to the 16- 20 foot depths. It usually works great but one part of the pattern is wind. It has to be windy or it just doesn’t work. The wind pushes shad schools up onto the island slopes and the fish follow. No wind– no shad schools- no bass.
We tried it this week but couldn’t get the wind and it just did not work–so we went into the points and rock piles in the coves and found nice quality fish there.

Maybe that info can help somebody else too.

Harvey

HORSESHOE – Lake elevation is at 1990 feet, which has dropped to 35-percent full.  They are releasing water at 400 cfs, so this lake will likely be slowly drained to keep up the lake level at Bartlett. This also means there the lake will be rimed by saturated soils, making shoreline access challenging in places. The best fishing will likely be just below the dam, especially in the deeper holes.

Tammy Wagoner: While fishing the Verde River just below Horseshoe Lake, fish were flipping out of the water frequently.  We caught quite a few channel cats, but let most go because they were small. We fished with chicken liver and fish would bite almost as soon as we got our line in the water.  I also caught a largemouth bass on a Carolina-rigged black lizard while fishing on the east bank from a kayak. I’ve been a few times last week and have had better luck there than at Bartlett and Pleasant both. Also caught a carp on chicken liver.

VERDE RIVER – Verde River flow at Tangle Creek has slowed to 113 cfs.  Release from Bartlett Lake is 1,100 cfs.

SALT RIVER – Salt River into Roosevelt is 421 cfs, and Salt River Canyon is 387 cfs.  They are releasing 375  cfs out of Stewart Mountain Dam from Saguaro.

A 47.9-pound flathead catfish was caught in the Upper Salt River real close to Roosevelt Lake two weeks ago.  A live sunfish caught at that location was used as bait.

LOWER SALT RIVER – They are releasing water out of Stewart Mountain Dam at 375 cfs. We are still stocking trout below Saguaro at Water Users and Blue Point sites.  Trout are scheduled to be stocked this week. Flies are working as well as live worms. The fishing is best at first and last light. Largemouth are holding around the overhanging vegetation.

Where:Lower Salt
When:05/06/09
Caught:big grass monster
Technique:fly rod
Comments:tough day. Plenty of strikes but just not hooking up. Water way down (about 500 cfs) Anglers advised me the river was VERY busy last week for fishing. Big grass monster (algae debris, etc.) is growing by the hour. Anglers beware… the recreators are out in force. See ya next time.

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. Early mornigns and evenings are best.

Nymphs are workingwell, as are drifting simi seals. Blue winged olvies are getting popular (size 18). In mid day, try a hopper dropper rig with a No. 16 bead head nymph under it. Dry flies — pay attentiong to the hatch and match.

Christopher Creek, Tonto Creek, Haigler Creek and the East Verde have all been stocked this spring. Spin anglers should try night crawlers, meal worms, Power Bait, corn, salmon eggs, small spinners, and grasshoppers.

Canyon Creek was stocked recently.

Dave Duhigg: Sunday afternoon, May 10 at Tonto Creek my girlfriend and I caught 6 or 7 trout between us in about two hours. Just followed the creek ’till we found a nice pool and dropped in a line with orange Power Bait nuggets. Let it churn around in the current and waited for the fish. Most were around 9 inches; one was a little under 11 inches. Our first attempt fishing Tonto and we weren’t disappointed at all!

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.