100,000 rainbows swimming toward urban lakes
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PHOENIX – Get ready for lots of angling action because one hundred thousand rainbow trout will grace the Urban Fishing Program waters in the Valley of the Sun and Tucson areas this winter season, with the first installment coming Thursday, Nov. 13.
“In these challenging economic times, it’s terrific to have enjoyable fishing close to home that also provides healthy low calorie meals – rainbow trout,” said Eric Swanson, Urban Fisheries Program manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
Starting Nov. 13 and continuing to mid March, around 12,000 trout from Colorado will be stocked every two weeks in the department’s designated 21 Urban Fishing Program lakes.
The urban lakes have also been recently stocked with channel catfish, feisty hybrid sunfish and largemouth bass. “This is the time of year when you can catch almost anything; trout, catfish, sunfish and bass, possibly all on the same day in the urban program waters,” Swanson said.
Youth under age 14 can fish for free, but those 14 and older must have an urban fishing license. But if you don’t already have an urban fishing license, you can get a great deal right now – the 2008 urban licenses are half price ($9.25) during November and December for both residents and nonresidents alike.
“The urban fishing license is an especially good deal for winter visitors – they get the same price as resident anglers,” Swanson noted.
Media Note: If you would like to video, photograph or observe an urban trout stocking on Nov. 13, contact Rory Aikens at (623) 236-7214 or Joann Hill at (623) 236-7268.
what has happened to the fisheries in the phoenix area i grew up here as a kid fishing all the urban and souronding lakes i used to always catch large lunker bass but since i,ve moved back here from kingman it seems like all the areas i fished beforew with fantastic results are only producing little and small sizes the bass that are here just don’t seem to be the same small big bellied. was there a fish kill off i missed what happened to the days when you went out to saguro or canyon and just killed them all day stringers of 3 to 6# bass all day long what happened to places like papago park where as a kid i pulled lots of 1 to 6# bass was as easy as throwing a spinnerbait out and wham mr bass would be on the line what am i missing i take my kids out bragging to my wife about how good the fishing is here vs fishing lake mead. hell i take the 100 to 300 small strippers that we used to catch at mead and mohave vs the hours of sun burnning no fish catching days around here.