Mogollon Rim
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CHEVELON LAKE — Fishing is good. Anglers are catching trout on lures. The lake is ice-free. The lake is full and spilling. Forest roads (Rim Road especially) from the south are still closed. Forest road 169 north is open to Forest road 169B and Forest road 169B is also open. You can access via the FS 504 road from Heber. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and /or up to 10 hp. gas motors.
This is hike-in, steep sided canyon lake with limited shoreline access that is best fished from a float tube or other floating device.
BEAR CANYON LAKE — Forest Roads 300 and 89 to the lake are closed due to snow drifts.
BLACK CANYON LAKE — The lake is ice-free. Forest Road 86 is open to the lake. Try worms, Power Bait, lures such as Z-Rays, Super Dupers, and spinners (Mepps, Rooster tail, and Panther Martin), and flies such as woolly worms, woolly buggers, Peacock ladies, and small nymphs. The lake is open to electric trolling motors only and/or up to 10 hp. gas motors.
BLUE RIDGE – Road is open. Full and overflowing. It may be possible to catch some nice holdovers here, but the lake is not very shore-angler friendly. This lake is best fished from a small boat, kayak, canoe or float tube.
KNOLL LAKE – Still not accessible. There are still large drifts over the Forest Service 300 Road (aka Rim Road).
WILLOW SPRINGS LAKE — This is a trout fishing hot spot. Fishing is good for larger hold-over trout. The gate and FS Road 149 are open. The lake is ice-free. The boat launch is accessible (no word on the dock). Try worms, Power Bait, lures such as Z-Rays, spinners (Mepps, Rooster tail, and Panther Martin), and flies such as wooly worms, wooly buggers, and peacock ladies.
The launch ramp is accessible.
WOODS CANYON LAKE — The lake is ice-covered. Check ice thickness before venturing out on the lake. The lake is inaccessible. Forest Road 300 is full of snow drifts and still closed. The store is still closed for winter.
Fished Black Cayon Lake, fishing was solid caught 12 Ranibows between three people. All in the 14″ to 10″ range.
My brother Gary and I fished Woods Canyon April 15th from our boat trolling small plugs, we boated 31 nice carryover rainbows between 12″ & 14″. The quality of the fish was definitly better than Willow springs. Another great day on the Mogollon Rim Lakes !!!!!!
Thanks AZ. Game and Fish !!!!
Fished Chevelon from a float tube between noon and about 3pm. I trolled a bead head brown wooly bugger sparkle with a #16 bead head red copper john dropper about 5 to 10 yards from the shoreline. I caught 10 trout. About half and half between the wooly bugger and the copper john. Mostly rainbows with a couple of browns mixed in. They were all around 13 or 14 inches. Wish I could have stayed for the late afternoon bite.
My brother Gary and I fished Woods Canyon Lake May 2nd, the fishing was very good !!! We trolled small Rebel plugs and boated 27 Rainbows. The eaglets are getting close to hatching, and the Mom and Pop are very beautiful Eagles. People need to obey the rules of the eagle nesting area, alot of people not caring about the signs. All they have to do is watch these beautiful Bald Eagles fly across the lake and come down and grab a trout, and understand that without the efforts of the Game and Fish closing these nesting areas, they probabaly would not get to see those amazing sites. Thanks again Game and Fish for a great job done !!!!!!!!
My 11 year old son and I fished Woods Canyon Lake on May 9th 2009 from 7:30am to 1:00pm. We fished from the dam with worms on bobbers and caught 22 trout. We also caught a couple of fish on Power Bait.
The Bald Eagle was flying around and we were lucky enough to see him swoop down and grab a trout not 30 feet in front of us.
We had a great time on a beautiful day!!!!!
I was fishing solo this trip to willow springs on May 13th, and what a great trip it was. I boated 46 trout, 12 smallies, and 2 crappies. I arrived at first light and it was non stop action !!!!
I was trolling small Rebel plugs/crankbaits very slow. I met some really nice people on the lake !!!! You have to love the Rim lakes!!!!!! Thanks again Game & fish.
Fished Willow Springs Lake solo again on May 19th. I wanted to get one last trip in before Memorial day weekend. As the previous trip, I slow trolled the shorelines in approx. 10 to 15 feet of water using small Rebel plugs/crank baits ( Dark Colors ) and the action was on. Boated 43 rainbows, and released 37, also caught 8 smallies, this lake is loaded with smallies , that can’t be good for the trout. Anyway, another great day at Willow on the Rim !!!!!
I took my nephew Derek to Willow Springs lake on May 28th. We had a really good day !!! We slow trolled small Rebel plugs/crank baits (Dark Colors) and boated 35 rainbows and 10 smallies. This was Derek’s first trip to Willow and he loved it. Take a teenager fishing on one of the Rim lakes, they will love it also !!!!!!