Arizona Lakes Receive Sunfish Stockings – Bass Coming Soon
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Urban waters were stocked with 5-6 inch bluegill sunfish on October 28-29. Bluegills are stocked twice a year (fall and spring) to provide fishing fun for kids and families. Fish sizes ran on the smaller side this last delivery, but our productive lakes should support rapid growth. A truckload of over 22,000 fish were delivered from Arkansas, with each lake receiving 110-160 fish per surface acre. Some of the bluegills are expected to last until the spring when they will reproduce in the lakes and provide more fish for the future. Sunfish will bite all day long for anglers using small pieces of worms or mealworms on small hooks fished under a thin bobber and 2-4 lb. leaders. Daily bag limits for bluegill/sunfish are 10 fish per person at Urban Lakes and 5 fish per day at Urban Ponds.
The annual stocking of largemouth bass is scheduled to occur in November with over 8,000 fish on order. Bass will be from 6-9 inches in length—below the 13-inch minimum legal size. Younger bass are stocked to help rebuild the resident bass populations in our lakes. They are not stocked for anglers to catch and keep like catfish, bluegill or trout. Regulations require that anglers carefully release these juvenile bass unharmed back into the water so they can grow to catchable size in the future.