Arizona Fishing

Note: All lakes are now accessible. Some smaller secondary roads may still be muddy or contain snowdrifts, with trucks continuing to get stuck. CHEVELON LAKE - Fishing is fair to good. Anglers have been catching good numbers of moderate size trout near the dam. The lake is ice free, full, and spilling. Anglers are catching trout in the creek downstream of the dam, which is open to statewide fishing regulations. The lake is open to artificial lure and fly only, trout between 10 and 14 inches may not be possessed, and the bag limit is 6 trout. Try lures such as Z-rays, Super Dupers, spinners, and Rapalas, and flies such as wooly worms, wooly buggers, peacock ladies, prince nymphs, zug bugs, and other small nymphs. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and/or up to 10 hp. gas motors. Access to Chevelon Lake is open on Forest Road 169 from the north, via Hwy 99 from Winslow or via Forest Road 504 from Heber. BEAR CANYON LAKE - Is now accessible. The lake is mostly ice-free. Fishing should be decent for larger hold-over trout, plus this lake was stocked with catchable size trout last week. This is a hike-in lake down steep but short paths but there is plenty of shoreline access. Where:Bear Canyon When:04/23/08 Caught:Limit of trout Technique:Hit on yellow Rooster Tail, Berkley Gulp, and silver spoons. Took about 4 hours Comments: Still some snow on the trail and banks. Road in being graded Name: Jeff BLACK CANYON LAKE – The roads are now open and fishing is fair. The lake is ice free, full, and spilling. Recent netting revealed lots of illegally stocked largemouth bass and some nice sized rainbow trout (up to 2 pounds). Try worms, salmon eggs, Power Bait, lures such as spinners, Super Dupers, Z-rays, spoons, and flies such as peacock ladies, wooly worms and wooly buggers, and Yeager buggers. The lake is open to electric trolling motors only. The water temperature last week was 59 degrees. Where:Black Canyon Lake When:04/19/08 Caught:trout planters and hold over 12″ to 19″ 32 trout caught in 3 hours Technique: slow deep trolling copper KastMaster copper super duper yellow Crickhopper Comments: really windy but awesome fishing a lot of action caught a couple of 2.5 to 3 pound fat hold over trout Name: Neil Pitcher BLUE RIDGE – Open and accessible. The lake is spilling. Expect larger hold-over trout. This is a deep canyon lake that is tough for shore angling, but great for small boats and canoes, or float tubes. KNOLL LAKE – The Forest Service 300 (Rim Road) is open, but muddy in places with some snow drifts still along the shady edges. If the water is not too cold (no reports yet), it should be decent for larger hold-over trout. This lake is in prime elk and turkey country. WILLOW SPRINGS LAKE - Fishing is fair to good. The road is open to the lake and the adjacent campgrounds are open. The lake is ice-free and full. The boat ramp is accessible. The lake has been stocked with catchable size rainbow trout and is scheduled to be stocked again this week. Anglers are doing well when the wind isn’t a factor. Try worms, Power Bait, salmon eggs, lures such as Z-rays, spinners, and Rapalas, and flies such as peacock ladies, wooly worms, wooly buggers, and nymphs in black, brown, or green colors. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and/or up to 10 hp. gas motors. Recent netting revealed some small rainbow trout and a few largemouth bass. The water temperature last week was 50 degrees. I and my son were on the water at 10 a.m. fly fishing in float tubes. Noticed the lake was covered with floating ladybugs. Son used a peacock lady, I used a small grasshopper at first. There was nothing till around 2 p.m. as far as hits. Talked to several people who had caught a few from shore using worms and Power Bait. Then about 4 p.m., I caught four – one right after another. My son took three; all were in 12- to 14-inch range. Their stomachs were full of lady bugs. Lots of natural food for them but fishing was good after 4 p.m. and dropped off after six but was a good time. P.S only one fish was a stocky. Thanks for your tips too — Mike WOODS CANYON LAKE – Open, accessible and ice-free. The store is open. The boat ramp is accessible. Anglers are catching carryover trout to 1.5 pounds using corn or worms near the dam. Boat anglers are catching trout by trolling KastMasters and Panther Martins. The lake will be stocked with catchable size rainbow trout this week (first stocking of the season). Try worms, Power Bait, salmon eggs, lures such as spinners, small spoons (Super Dupers, and Z-rays), and Rapalas, and flies such as wooly worms and wooly buggers, peacock ladies, and nymphs in black, brown, or green colors. The lake is open to electric trolling motors only. Angler report: Where:Woods Canyon Lake When:04/22/08 Caught:Rainbow Trout Technique:Worms and grubs on the bottom from the shore. Comments: Arrived at 0630 and had our limit of larger trout by 10 a.m. There is still snow on the bank on the store side of the lake. Name: Steve Rasmussen Where:Woods Canyon When:04/26/08 Caught:Rainbow trout Technique:Power bait on the bottom, meal worms and night crawlers under a bobber, and fly-fishing Comments: I took my Aunt and my two young kids and we had a blast. The fish were biting all morning, and we caught them using pretty much anything we wanted. Combined we caught and released around 30 fish, after keeping a couple to take home. All the fish we caught were hold-over fish between 12 and 16 inches. Name: Brent Uffelman Where:Woods Canyon Lake When:04/19/08 Caught: 30 trout Technique: Drove boat straight across from the boat ramp. Used whole kernel corn on a No. 6 hook with a bobber about 3 ft down. Name: Mike Where:Woods Canyon lake When:04/19/08 Caught: Rainbow/Brown Trout (holdovers) Technique: Worms, and Rainbow Power Bait Comments: The boat store was open but they were not renting boats yet. The Northern section of the lake shore was snow covered. The water was cold but crystal clear. Fished just to the left of the boat dock and pulled out and released 12 rainbows, the largest being 18 inches. Also 3 browns, the largest 16 inches. We were using Power Bait about 1 foot from the bottom and worms on the bottom. Name: Gabriel Martinez