Arizona Fishing

The streams and lakes have settled down since the tremendous inflows a few weeks ago, so fishing is generally picking up again.

Speaking of inflows, if you want to start licking your chops in anticipation of this great fishing season ahead of us, go to the USGS stream flow site at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/az/nwis/current?type=flow and look at the flows for the last week of November and the first two weeks of December. Pay close attention to the Verde River (Bartlett and Horseshoe), Salt River (Roosevelt et al), Agua Fria (Pleasant), and the Santa Maria/Burro Creek (Alamo).

Also, the Little Colorado River and the Paria River both turned the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon to looking like coffee with liberal doses of cream. Good news for Mead.

We are turning the corner of the New Year in good shape. There is also a nice green grass buzz in our mid-elevation upper Sonoran Desert areas. Arizona’s outdoor world is looking good, so far. A few more good storms in the watersheds over the next few months and we could have a banner year on many fronts from crappie and bass to quail and dove. Hopefully, they’ll be lots of fresh browse for deer as well.

Not bad for a La Nina year, at least so far.

Okay, back to the here-and-now. My bet is on Rosey for crappie for this weekend. The crappies have congregated into larger schools at Roosevelt. Hopefully, the good crappie anglers like Art Chamberlin and Kurt Rambo will dial them in, then the rest of us can just join the increasingly large flotilla in the Salt or Tonto ends of the lake and help reap the speckled-beauty harvest.

This is also a good time to start figuring out Bartlett Lake. It should be a dandy this year, thanks to the recent runoff. Try fishing the rock stringers using crankbaits and slow-rolled spinnerbaits. Then in the afternoon, work the shade pockets with drop shots or some small, soft shad imitation like Little Fishies or Senkos.

I got a lot of nice reports from trout anglers at Saguaro. It certainly is tough to beat the scenery there.

My last report from Lees Ferry (should have a new one soon), indicated the trout have entered the spawn. Go now, go later, but go. This is the first time in three years we have had a spawn during the normal prime time. Take along a shotgun for the goldeneyes.

Hopefully, the turbidity has calmed down at Tempe Town Lake, so that is another pick right now for trout and bass. Try along the shade lines under the various bridges.

The urban lakes are being stocked with trout this week, so they are certainly worth a try.

It ought to be a beautiful weekend to get out fishing somewhere. Good luck. Maybe I’ll see you out there.