I am going to switch gears and give some tips on holiday gifts for anglers – especially beginners.

When buying for young anglers – keep it simple. Yes, colorful cartoon character kids’ poles can be okay – the younger tikes like them. Just make sure the outfits are produced by reputable brands. Records have been set with such rigs. Plus, they are typically small, so they fit the child, and are easy to use. Just realize most of these are not lifetime rods.

Think hook, line and bait, with just a little weight and maybe a bobber. Simple, simple, simple. There are package deals that include all the basic tackle. They make a lot of sense. Kids love to have their own stuff to use. In fact, now I often borrow my little boy’s mini-tackle box when going trout fishing, and I leave my larger expensive ones at home. He is proud that I use his tackle (after asking permission of course).

For a child that already has a fishing pole and reel, consider getting him or her a cane pole for stream fishing. Sometimes it seems amazing that a less than a 3-foot child can handle a 10-foot-long cane pole, but since there is no reel, they typically have no problem. The fly rod evolved out of such outfits. It’s a hoot when they catch a large trout.

Once they have the cane pole (or a cartoon character one), take them fishing to Wet Beaver Creek, Oak Creek, West Clear Creek or the Verde River for some fun trout fishing using live worms or any wiggling insects the kids can collect on the excursion (or in your yard). Christopher Creek, Tonto Creek, Canyon Creek and Haigler Creek can all be viable this time of year even though we haven’t stocked them since late summer.

My top pick this week is Saguaro Lake. Anglers have been catching trout, yellow bass, largemouth bass and bluegill, often from shore. Set the kids up with night crawlers fished on the bottom or mealworms fished under a bobber (two feet or so of leader). For adults, try using small silver or gold KastMasters (small spoons) and slowly retrieving them. Small spinners – with gold or silver blades – can also work well. The ultimate all-purpose bait for adults and kids is live minnows.

Apache Lake has been stocked with thousands of trout and is full of yellow bass and largemouth bass. It may take awhile for the smallmouth bass to come back (we stocked some in November). This lake is a fishing adventure.

If the fishing slows down, this is also the time of year to pick up the shotgun and get some waterfowl or quail, depending on the location. For most of central Arizona, the best quail reproduction has been in the highlands immediately adjacent to lakes. At places like Roosevelt and Bartlett, carry a quail call on your bass boat and a shotgun in the rod locker.

Fishing News:

Efforts underway to boost fishing at Salt River lakes
PHOENIX – For the first time this century, the Arizona Game and Fish Department has stocked largemouth bass in Saguaro and Apache lakes.

But that’s not all – at the end of October, biologists and volunteers stocked smallmouth bass in Apache and Canyon lakes.

Volunteers and biologists are building Pisces pyramids (artificial habitats) along the exposed lake bottom at Canyon Lake while the lake level was lowered for routine maintenance on the dam. In fact, more volunteers are needed.

It’s all part of a two-year, $2 million effort by the Game and Fish Department to boost the fisheries at Saguaro, Canyon and Apache lakes that were severely impacted by golden alga blooms the last several years. For more information on these efforts, click here. 

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