CHEVELON LAKE – Fishing is fair. Try fishing at first or last light for the best results. This is a hike-in lake via a steep slope. There is not a lot of shore access. It is best fished from a float tube, inflatable or canoe. The lake is open to artificial lure and flies only, trout between 10 and 14 inches may not be possessed, and the bag limit is six 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.

Where:Chevelon Lake
When:08/30/08
Caught:18′ brown trout and 16′ rainbow
Technique:1/4-ounce gold KastMaster off the bottom.
Comments: From the dam I casted my bait as far as I could and let it hit the bottom then I pulled it back in slowly. I have an 8′6 rod that really helped me get my bait out there. I caught the rainbow at 11:30 and the brown at 1 or so. I will probably use a larger KastMaster next time to catch an even bigger fish! A fishing guide taught me the proper bait and casting technique. He came with a group of guys on quads and told me exactly what to do. 20 min. after he left I caught my first brown trout! Wanted to say thanks to whoever he is! Also a guy caught a 24′ brown in one of the pools on the other side of the damn. The guide also stated that browns like gold and black colors and that the dam part of Chevelon is the best place to catch browns because it is the deepest part of the lake and there is a rock shelf that they like to hide under.
Name: Nick Apodaca

BEAR CANYON LAKE – Fishing is fair. The best bite is at first and last light. This is a hike-in lack down short but steep and winding paths. There is pretty good shore access. This deep canyon lake is great for those with float tubes. Try worms, Power Bait, salmon eggs, lures such as spinners, Z-rays, Super Dupers, and Rapalas and flies such as wooly worms, wooly buggers, Yeager buggers, peacock ladies, prince nymphs, zug bugs, hares ear and pheasant tail nymphs.  The lake is open to electric trolling motors only.

BLACK CANYON LAKE – Fishing is fair. The lake is almost full and the boat ramp is accessible. Boat anglers have been ctaching trout on green and yellow Power Bait. Also try trolling cowbells with an attached worm, lure or fly. The best bite is at first and last light. Boat anglers have been catching trout on green and yellow Power Bait.

Try worms, salmon eggs, Power Bait, lures such as spinners, or flies such as peacock ladies, wooly worms and wooly buggers, and Yeager buggers.

Where:Black Canyon Lake
When:08/02/08
Caught:Rainbow trout
Technique:Rainbow powerbait
Comments:Me & me 10 yr old son caught 5 fish between noon & 4 oclock. They bit best when cloud cover came over
Name:
Travis Sierman

BLUE RIDGE — Road is open. Fishing is poor to fair.

Where: Blue Ridge Reservoir
When: 07/25/08
Caught: Rainbow Trout
Technique: Yellow/Black Rooster Tail Black/Red Panther Martin Neon Yellow Z-Ray
Comments: Spinners from a boat worked pretty well in the afternoon near the dam. Weather was mostly cloudy, light wind. Let spinners sink about 10-15ft before a moderate retrieve. Also tried next morning–full sun and no wind, and no luck either.
Name: Scott Townley

KNOLL LAKE — No recent reports from anglers, but this lake has been consistently good all season.

Where:Knoll Lake
When:07/26/08
Caught:Trout
Technique:Night crawlers on the bottom, Carolina rigged
Comments:Small bites and slow fishing the entire weekend. We saw 1 nice fish 14-15 inches the rest were small stockers and not very frequently
Name: Julie and Jay

WILLOW SPRINGS LAKE – Will be stocked this week. The lake is down about three feet. Fishing is fair to good. The best fishing is at first and last light, or just before rain showers hit.  Anglers have been catching trout using cowbells with attached worms, lures, and flies. Trout have been active at the surface down to 15 feet during early morning and evening hours.

Try worms, Power Bait, salmon eggs, lures such as Z-rays, spinners, and Rapalas, and flies such as peacock ladies, wooly worms, wooly buggers, Yeager 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.
This lake also has largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and small crappie. The best fishing for these warmer water species is in the early afternoons after the trout bite typically slows to nothing.

Where:WILLOW SPRINGS LAKE
When:07/31/08
Caught:40 + RAINBOW TROUT . 1 SMALLMOUTH
Technique:COW BELLS,WORMS
Comments:COULD NOT FIND A SPOT ON THE LAKE WE COULD NOT CATCH FISH. WE RELEASED THEM ALL & WATCHED THE HAWKS CATCH THE ONES THAT DID NOT MAKE IT. GREAT DAY FOR FISHING

WOODS CANYON – Fishing is fair to good. Stocked weekly. The lake is down about two feet. The boat ramp is accessible. The best fishing is at first and last light, or right before rainstorms.

Boat anglers are catching trout by trolling KastMasters and Panther Martins. Also try trolling cowbells with attached worms, lures, and flies. Trout have been active at the surface down to 10 feet early in the morning and late in the evening.

By the way, this lake has plentiful crayfish — bring along a bucket and get a passel of crayfish to augment your trout dinner and turn your camping adventure into a five-star dining experience.
For rainbows, 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, Yeager buggers, Peacock ladies, and nymphs in black, brown, or green colors.  The lake is open to electric trolling motors only.

There is a store and marina at this lake – you can rent a boat.

Angler reports:

A really nice time at the end of last week, 7/23-7/25, included daily samplings of Rim class thunderstorms which dropped the air temps in the 60s. Fishing with a variety of trout lures such as Panther Martins, Super Duper, etc yielded nothing morning, noon, or afternoon when shore fishing a variety of locations. The afternoon storms forced me off the lake; when they subsided in lightning I returned in light rain with the same results…no strikes. This all changed on the last day, Friday, at Woods Canyon. I rented a boat when the store opened at 7am and got some night crawlers. The bite started around 8:30am with a nice 12 incher taking the worm being fished a little off the bottom, tight line. I was about a hundred yards off shore near a bend in the shoreline. Several dead trees protruded from the water; were useful to tie off the boat and concentrate on fishing. Crawdads were competing for the bait off and on, often several of them hanging on the retrieved line. But luckily the trout stayed in the game enough to get my limit during the five hours I fished the spot. Most were below the first 12 incher, except one easy 15 incher that flailed his way free at the last minute. All seemed to inhale the No.8 hook so deeply that it was difficult to retrieve. This lucky morning was between the huge storm of the night before and the several that built rapidly by 1pm on Friday afternoon when I ran out of worms. So it seems they must be getting plenty of bugs blown into the water near the shoreline causing it to be very dull; deep water they are definitely hungry for crawlers. I would attach a photo but I’m not sure how — John Walters.

Where: Woods canyon, River Reservoir, Big Lake
When: 07/17/08
Caught: Rainbow trout, Apache trout
Technique: Fishing from shore at woods Canyon, caught one rainbow, using worms suspended from a float. No luck at River Reservoir but Big lake was great as usual, trolling with cow bells and worms hooked 7 and landed 4 nice rainbows within three hours; as usual weather is an issue up there, but it was not that bad.
Comments: Also saw bald eagles (two) frolicking over Crescent lake when leaving Big lake.
Name: Travis Aldrich

Where: Woods canyon
When: 07/21/08
Caught: only 5 trout in 5 days
Technique: We fished everything, from July 21-25, we tried worms, Power Bait, lures (all types)and threw every thing in the tackle box. I was the only one who caught fish with a slow sinking fly in the early mornings with a fly rod.
Comments: The weather was beautiful, rain and hail every evening, good mornings for fishing, the water was a little warm and murky because of that rain. Fishing was prob. some of the worst I’ve seen since coming to woods canyon every year for over 10 years. The only people catching fish were in a boat and even then it was slow. Every once in a while some one fishing from the bank would find a sweet spot and catch 3-4 in a row then….nothing. My 3 boys fished that lake for every day for 5 days and tried everything. we even walked around to Tuckers cove (the cove to the North East)and didn’t catch any with only a few nibbles. My fly rod didn’t fail me with slow sinking flys, but I do believe bank fishing was the worst this go around, plus the fish weren’t even jumping which I thought was weird…maybe it was a combination of things …there was just an over abundance of food, water warm causing lethargy, making the fish go deeper??
Name: Robert