Note:  Northern Pike have been illegally stocked in Francis Short.  If you catch a Northern Pike at Francis Short Pond please REMOVE IT FROM THE POND.

WILLIAMS LAKES:

KAIBAB LAKE — Campground area is open.  Main parking lot and boat launch open for day use only. Fishing was excellent over the weekend.  Stocked last week. With 2,700 trout plus incentive-size fish. The water temperature was 73 degrees. Expect the best fishing at first and last light. During the day, try going deeper using slip sinkers and Power Bait or bouncing small KastMasters off the bottom.

Where:Kaibab Lake
When:07/04/08
Caught:22 Trout,4 largemouth bass,3 crappie
Technique:worms,powerbait
Comments:caught 22 trout july 4th and 5th.leave pole sitting and have patience
Name: Eric Garcia

Where: Kaibab Lake
When: 05/03/08
Caught: Rainbow Trout
Technique: Multi Colored Power Bait with glitter 24 inches up from the bottom.
Comments: My wife and I caught the 7 trout in four and a half hours. My wife had not been fishing since she was a child.
Name: Wesley Peacock

CATARACT LAKE — Campground is open.  Lake is open for walk in fishing.  Fishing for trout and catfish was good. Stocked with catfish.

CITY RESERVOIR — Lake is full.   Stocked with catfish.  Stocked last week with rainbows.

DOGTOWN LAKE — Campground area is open. No Report   Some browns are being caught on lures.  Stocked last week with rainbow trout.

Where: Dogtown
When: 05/23/08
Caught: 10 trout
Technique: worms
Comments: Caught more fish when snowing than when sunny.
Name: Shiela
JD DAM — Road is open.  No reports from anglers.

RUSSEL TANK – Recently stocked.

Where: Russel Tank
When: 05/03/08
Caught: Rainbow Trout
Technique: Power Bait and spinners.
Comments: Average 10 inch, limit out within an hour. Locals were doing just as good. I will be headed back up there for the second opening day for spring turkey; if I can’t seal the deal with Mr. Tom I’ll just catch some trout.
Name: Gilbert

SANTA FE — Lake is full.  Anglers are catching trout and yellow perch. Stocked with channel catfish.

Where: Sante Fe Dam in Williams AZ
When: 06/01/08
Caught: Rainbow Trout
Technique: Worms
Comments: When I was a kid I fished this lake every day, but last Sunday pulled the largest trout I’ve ever seen in Arizona. Wife as my witness. Most fish were small normal trout size. Fished west side off Dam.
Name: Ron Bykerk

WHITEHORSE LAKE — Stocked this week with 2,700 rainbows, plus incentives. The water temperature was 73F. Campground area is open.  Lake is full.

FLAGSTAFF LAKES:

LOWER LAKE MARY — There has been a fish kill – there might not be any fish left.

UPPER LAKE MARY — The lake is full.  Some nice northern pike are being caught on anchovies.  This lake also has walleye and catfish. Remember, there are no boat motor restrictions on this lake, so it is a good one to take your bass boat to escape the heat.

Where:Upper Lake Mary
When:07/02/08
Caught:One Walleye
Technique:Trolling a Rapalla
Comments:One other bite but that was all. Fished from daylight until about 1 PM when the lighting moved in and we moved out!!! Bill D. and Eddie G., Strawberry, Az
Name:Bill Daily

Where:Upper Lake Mary
When:06/26/08
Caught:A small bass & a sunburn
Technique:Flylining anchovies, worms, waterdogs, trolling Rapalas, spinners, throwing the tackleboxes overboard
Comments: What an absolutely beautiful lake. Fishing was very slow. Was told the bite was on yesterday and shut down today. Still better than working!
Name: Jeremy Hoelting
One of our anglers, Dave Nielson, provided the following report on Lake Mary, Ashurst and Marshall: Upper Lake Mary – (It’s all about the narrows)
Walleye – We were on the water on Thursday 06/19/08 from 6:30 a.m. until the wind picked up and landed six walleye; all were good sized too (18-22”). The best thing we found that worked for us were worms back-trolled very slowly using a worm harness in 5-8 feet of water. The bite was really good from about 8 a.m. to just after 10 a.m. If you do not have a boat worms off the bottom were also working for many anglers from the shore. You didn’t need to be out there that far to get a bite. The walleye are shallow in the morning and resting on the bottom.

Crappie- We tracked a lot of suspended fish in the middle of the channel of the narrows. The fish were anywhere from 14 feet to 8 feet down and we’re told they are mostly crappie. A few anglers reported catching them with white tubes and grubs in the evening. We did not attempt to fish for crappie while we were out there.

Northern Pike – We found our best success for pike were (like you said) near the east end of the lake in the evening just after dusk. We fly lined frozen anchovies off steel leaders. The bite seems to be best just after sunset until about 9 p.m. During the day time you’re going to need a lot of patience and time if you’re looking for that northern bite; many folks were coming back empty handed during the day time. The cove closest to the dam seems to be the best area for northerns. We landed two nice fish just after sunset back-to-back; both fish were just under 26 inches in length and put up a fun fight!

Ashurst Lake – I wish I could say more about this lake, we were up there for just a few hours on Friday the 20th and decided not to launch the boat because it was just too windy. We fished from shore with worms but didn’t have much luck and were snagged in the rocks almost every time… What a great view though! But you’re not a kiddin’ it’s windy as all hell up there.

Marshall Lake- This was my first visit to this lake and I fell in love with it! What a great view and what a nice place to pitch a tent or pull in a trailer. I only wish I had more time to photograph a sunset while I was up there. Our fishing at this lake was short lived but still pretty fun! The fiancé managed to land a few small trout off a brown/green fly drifted into cover. I did not catch anything but I still enjoyed being on the water for a couple hours!

Thanks again for the tip on Marshall and the info on Mary. We had a great time and hopefully we can get back up there sometime this summer. Hopefully my information can provide some useful tips on what’s working for these lakes.
Take Care,
Dave

Where: Upper Lake Mary
When: 06/20/08
Caught: Northern Pike (just a little one)
Technique: daredevil lure, with red & white stripe.
Comments: When this 24-inch pike took my line at the far upper end of Lake Mary, I handed the pole to my 6-year-old son to reel him in. What an experience we had! It took a few minutes to get him to shore, as the drag on my reel wouldn’t stop spinning. What a fight! And he tasted good too! Now if only we could get people to stop leaving broken glass beer bottles around the lake, this place would be perfect!
Name: Steve Wilson

Where: Lake Mary
When: 06/20/08
Caught: Walleye
Technique: Crankbait w/steel leader
Comments: 5-pound 3-ounce Walleye, fished for four days and only caught this guy, bring your sun screen and watch out for jet skis
Name: Donny Nelson

ASHURST LAKE — Stocked with 3,601 trout last week. The water temperature was 62 F. The lake is full. Some larger hold-over trout are being caught. Some trout anglers are catching northern pike.
Steve at the Ashurst Store reports good size fish ranging from1 1/2 to 2 pounds are being caught on worms at the west and east end of the lake and early morning on the north and south size.  Power Bait was not working this past week.

Where:Ashurst Lake
When:07/04/08
Caught:Trout
Technique:gold/red super-duper, worms about 3′ below bobbers on shore
Comments: early morning worms about 2′-3′ below bobbers at day use area 1 did well.
Name: Scott Townley

FRANCIS SHORT POND – A fish kill has occurred caused by a dieoff of an algal bloom which reduced oxygen levels in the water.  Some fish survived the kill, but fishing will be tough until the lake gets stocked after water quality improves.

KINNIKINICK LAKE — Scheduled to be stocked this week with 2,700 rainbow trout.

Where:Kinnikinick lake
When:07/07/08
Caught:trout, catfish
Technique:gold/red super-duper, black and yellow/gold mepps and panther martin spinners
Comments:
Action picks up when wind dies down. Black and yellow spinners were deadly about 150′ in from the boat ramp, from along the reed line to maybe 100′ out (towards the dam). Lake is FULL!
Name: Scott Townley
FRANCIS SHORT POND – A fish kill has occurred caused by a die-off of an algal bloom which reduced oxygen levels in the water.  Some fish survived the kill, but fishing will be tough until the lake gets stocked after water quality improves.

MARSHALL LAKE — No recent reports. Had been good for small rainbow and brook trout, along with grayling.

OAK CREEK — Stocked last week and the water temperatures raged from 59 to 73 F. Scheduled to be stocked this week with rainbow trout. Fishing is generally slow for browns although some large ones have been caught recently, but is okay for rainbows. At the lower end of the creek below Sedona, it is also possible to catch bass and catfish in the deeper pools.

Where:Oak Creek- Catch and Release Area
When:06/29/08
Caught:Stocker Rainbows and Small Browns
Technique:Fly-fishing w/ Mosquito, Adams Wulff, Elk Hair Caddis, BWO
Comments: Nothing until mid-day, a few big browns and rainbows around but not interested in anything. Spent the entire day educating bait fisher people they could not fish in this area being a single barbless hook, no bait, catch and release area!!! Would love to see this get posted in the hotspots just down from parking lots and pullouts and included on this website. Thanks to the one G & F officer that came through late morning to check on people. Too bad he could not be there all day, I am sure all of the fish I saw in this special area will be gone within the week.
Name: CP
Editor’s note: There are lots of signs informing people about the special regulation area along the upper end of Oak Creek between Junipine Crossing (starting art the resort) and Call-of-the-Canyon Crossing, where it is artificial lure and fly only and trout must be immediately released unharmed. Unfortunately, people don’t always read the signs and some may just ignore them. Most of the creek, however, is open to bait fishing.

LONG LAKE — Stocked recently with rainbow trout. Some nice fish are being caught near the ditch.

SOLDIERS & SOLDIERS ANNEX — Lakes are open. No report.

BEAVER CREEK — Trout fishing is generally slow, but some anglers are doing okay if they hike a ways. This area also has some fun smallmouth bass, but don’t expect fish of any size. Ultra lights and small Crickhoppers work well.

Where:Wet Beaver Creek
When:07/24/08
Caught:Brown Trout
Technique:Blue Fox minnows, Panther Martins, Mepps Agila
Comments: My friend Jim and I hiked the upper part of Beaver Creek from Waldroup Canyon at the beginning to the head waters and down to the Bell Trailhead. A total of about 15 miles. We did this in two days. It meant a lot crawling over boulders and traversing dried waterfalls. There were many spots were we had to drop our packs down with ropes then climb down.

At one point Jim almost fell. He would have if he did not bail out of his pack. He got out of his pack and it landed in at tree, breaking both of his rods. Luckily I had two so we made out pretty well.

We caught a lot of brown trout, which was our mission. We had never been to upper extremely remote part of the canyon where the browns live. It is extremely difficult to get in there and it requires a lot bush whacking. We are both extremely sore, stiff, scraped, have festering cactus needles in our hands and legs. There were about 20 places where we had to swim through some deep holes. We finished the hike at about 12:30 on Saturday morning. It was very difficult to negotiate over boulders in the flowing creek at night. It was one of the most rigorous and most physically demanding hikes I have ever made. But it was also one of the most spectacular. We will do it again soon but over 3 or 4 days not 2.

The second half of the first day we got rained on for about 5 hours. The storm was not predicted but it was welcome relief from the heat. It did however make for a cold night. It is typically about 70 in the evenings so we decided to sleep in only hammocks. They are light to carry, comfortable and keep you of the ground so you don’t wake up with scorpions, or worse, rattlers in your sleeping in bag. The evaporating rain that was on the ground and in the trees made for an incredible cooling effect that dropped the night time temp to about 56 degrees according to my thermometer. It was a great lesson in survival which will add to our experience as outdoors men!

We had a blast. In a few days we should be feeling back to normal. I would rate this trip as a 5 out of 5. Anybody want to come along next time?
Name: Jim Zint and Mike Wallis
WEST CLEAR CREEK — No report.

STONEMAN LAKE — Low water. NO FISH.

MINGUS LAKE – The seasonal gate across the access road is open. Rainbow trout are being stocked twice a month. Mingus was stocked on June 16, which was the last scheduled stocking until September.  The best bait has been white Power Bait, fished on the bottom with a treble hook and an egg sinker. Several 6-fish limits of trout were caught this way. Fishermen using night crawlers under a bobber are also having some success.

Someone illegally stocked yellow bullhead into Mingus several years ago.  These fish compete directly with the trout and keep growth rates very low.  If you witness anyone, anywhere, moving fish like bass, bluegill, catfish and stocking them, please report it to our Operation Game Thief Hotline.  Illegal stockings cost YOU money!

DEAD HORSE STATE PARK –Largemouth bass fishing is fair. Try using small plastic jigs, plastic worms, or small spinnerbaits near deeper cover. Catfish stocked June 9.  The catfish bite has been pretty good on night crawlers. The time of day that they are biting varies, so you may need to be patient.

Bluegills are very abundant, but most are small.  This is a great opportunity to teach kids how to fish.  Try using a No. 8 hook with a small piece of worm under a bobber and you should have success.  While the crappie numbers are up a little, most are small.  Look for the crappie fishing to be good late this year or next year.  Catfish are scheduled to be stocked the week of June 9.

VERDE RIVER (throughout Verde Valley) –Channel catfish action is starting to pick up in the Verde Valley. Most success on catfish is by using night crawlers and chicken liver after dusk.  Look for the bass to be biting early morning and in the evening.
LYNX LAKE — Catfish were stocked June 9 and again on June 25.  Trout are were stocked  the week of June 16.  This was the last scheduled stocking until the fall.  While fishing has been slow, these two stockings should help.  Try using night crawlers or hot dogs  for the catfish.  The hot ticket for the trout is salmon egg scented power bait.

Game and Fish Biologists installed PVC fish structures on Jan. 3.  These structures should protect small fishes from predation.  Some 7-inch brook trout were in February and 5-inchers in September.   Game and Fish stocked catfish the week of June 4. There were 200 pounds of bluegill stocked on March 29. Game and Fish biologists surveyed Lynx in May and found that the brook trout stocked in September 2006 were still present.

FAIN LAKE — Catfish  and sunfish were stocked the week of June 23.  Try using night crawlers for the catfish.  The sunfish will bite on meal worms or small worms.  Fain lake was last stocked with rainbow trout the week of June 16th.  This is the last trout stocking scheduled until September.    For trout try using spinners or bright colored power bait.  Fain lake was stocked with brook trout on Feb. 25.

GOLDWATER LAKE — Trout are scheduled to be stocked this week, the week of July 7.  Fishing success should be good following the stocking. Recently one angler reported catching a 13- and 14-inch trout in two hours of fishing.  While there is no shortage of fish, most people report catching only one or two fish.  Try using KastMasters. If that does not work you may try worms or Power Bait.  Early in the morning and in the evening the bite may be a little better. Some days the fishing seems to be better than other days as well.   The next trout stocking is scheduled for the week of July 21.  The water temperature is 71?F.  If the temperature continues to increase we will postpone scheduled stockings until the spring when the water cools.  Bluegills were stocked Feb 25.  Game and Fish biologists weighed a 22-pound channel catfish that was caught at Goldwater in March.

Game and Fish Biologists surveyed Goldwater during the middle of May 2007 and found the trout and sunfish plentiful. While the number of catfish and bass was low, the quality was exceptional. One 16-pound catfish was sampled and released. The bass averaged about 3.5 pounds. On March 29, 2007, there were 400 pounds of bluegill stocked. These fish were hand-sized and should be easily caught.  Try using worms or mealworms on a bobber.  Small spinners may work as well. If you fish Goldwater and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.