High mountain lakes as well as streams are ice covered. Check ice thickness before venturing out on lakes. Forest roads are snow packed.

State Highway 261 is closed to vehicles accessing Big Lake and Crescent Lake. Snowmobile access is permitted. State Highway 273 on the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest is undergoing reconstruction and realignment and the following closures are in effect. State Highway 273 from the Forest and Fort Apache Indian Reservation boundary is closed to Crescent Lake, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and will remain closed until the road construction project is complete.

Most interior Forest Roads are closed and/or inaccessible to vehicles. Snowmobile access is permitted.

BECKER LAKE — Fishing is fair. The lake is ice-free. The lake is open to artificial lure and fly only, barbless hooks only, and a two-trout limit. Try small lures such as Super Dupers, spinners (Panther Martin, Rooster Tail, and Mepps), KastMasters (gold or silver), and Z-Rays.

Try small nymphs such as zebra midges, scuds, pheasant tails, hares ear, zug bugs, prince nymphs, wooly worms and wooly buggers, brown and gray semi-seal leeches. Also try dragon fly patterns, peacock ladies, and brown Montana stone nymphs.

Fish off the bottom along weed beds and retrieve your fly slowly. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and/or up to 10 hp. gas motors. There is a new fishing pier with a handicap walkway located at the northwestern part of the lake

BIG LAKE — May still have some ice cover, but is starting to melt (between occasional snow storms). Not accessible by vehicle yet, although it is possible to reach it via snowmobile. Ice fishing is fair to good. The lake is ice-covered but is starting to melt around the edges. Ice is probably unstable. State Highway 261 from Eager/Springerville is closed to vehicles but open to snowmobiles.  State Highway 273 from the Forest and Fort Apache Indian Reservation boundary to Crescent Lake is closed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and will remain closed until the road construction project is completed. Snowmobile access is permitted. The store is closed for the winter.

CARNERO LAKE –Fishing is fair. The lake is ice-free. Forest roads to the lake are inaccessible by vehicle, except for snowmobiles or ATV’s. The lake is open to artificial lure and fly only, barbless hooks, and a two-trout bag and possession limit. Try small lures such as Super Dupers, Z-Rays, and spinners (Mepps, Panther Martin and Rooster tail), and flies such as woolly worms, wooly buggers, scud patterns, prince nymphs, zug bugs, hares ear nymphs, and peacock ladies. Also try small nymphs in black, brown, green or gray colors. The lake is open to electric trolling motors only.
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CLEAR CREEK RESERVOIR — Fishing is poor. The lake is ice-free. Try fishing with a bobber, split shot and worms near rocky shoreline areas for sunfish and bass.  The old boat ramp has been re-opened. The new boat ramp near the dam is blocked off because of very low water levels and thick weeds near this ramp. Try worms, Power Bait, Salmon eggs, and lures such as spinners (Panther Martin, Rooster tail, and Mepps), Z-Rays, crank baits, spinner baits, and Rapalas, and flies such as woolly worms or woolly buggers, Yeager buggers, and peacock ladies. There are no motor restrictions on Clear Creek Reservoir. The gate on the north side of the lake is usually closed during the winter months, while the road on the south side of the lake is open.

CONCHO LAKE – Fishing is poor but the lake will be stocked for the first time this year on April 9 with catchable size rainbow trout. The lake is ice-free. The boat ramp is usable for small boats or float tubes. Try worms, salmon eggs, Power Bait, lures such as spinners, and flies such as peacock ladies, woolly worms, and small nymphs. The lake is open to electric trolling motors or up to 10 hp. gas motors.

CRESCETN LAKE – The lake may still have some ice cover, but is beginning to melt along the edges, creating unsafe ice conditions. State Highway 261 from Eager/Springerville to Crescent-Big Lakes is closed to vehicles. State Highway 273 from the Forest and Fort Apache Indian Reservation to Crescent Lake is closed 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The store is closed.

FOOL HOLLOW LAKE — Fishing is fair. The lake is ice-free, full and spilling. Boat ramps are usable. Anglers have been catching smallmouth bass and trout on lures and night crawlers. Try worms, Power Bait, lures such as spinners, spoons, rubber lead head jigs, and Rapalas, and flies such as wooly worms and wooly buggers. Try fishing off rocky areas and around fishing piers. Black crappies tend to congregate around the fishing piers in March, April, and May. Try small crappie jigs. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and/or up to 10 hp gas motors.

Where: Fools Hollow Lake
When: 03/14/09
Caught: Smallmouth Bass
Technique: casting rapalas
Comments: Caught a 5.5 lb 21 inch
Name: Steven Smiyhson

GREER LAKES — Fishing is poor to fair. The Greer lakes are ice-free and full. They are scheduld for stocking the week of April 13. Roads are open to the lakes. Try worms, Power Bait, lures such as spinners, Z-rays, spoons, and Rapalas, and flies such as wooly worms, wooly buggers, peacock ladies, and small nymphs. Bunch Reservoir is open to electric trolling motors only, Tunnel Reservoir is open to electric trolling motors only, and River Reservoir is open to electric trolling motors and/or up to 10 hp. gas motors.

HULSEY LAKE — Fishing is poor but will improve when the lake is stocked. The access road to the lake needs to be dry before the hatchery truck can stock trout. The lake is ice-free. The lake is full and spilling. Forest road 86 to the lake is open and accessible. Try worms, Power Bait, salmon eggs, small lures such as spinners (Mepps, Panther Martin, and Rooster tail), small spoons such as Super Dupers, KastMasters, and Z-Rays, and flies such as peacock ladies, prince nymphs, zug bugs, and wooly worms.

LEE VALLEY RESERVOIR —The roads to Lee Valley Lake are closed to vehicles but open to snowmobiles.  The lake is ice-covered. State Highway 261 from Eager/Springerville to Crescent-Big Lakes is closed to vehicles but open to snowmobiles. Highway 273 from the Forest and Fort Apache Indian Reservation to Crescent Lake is closed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, due to continuing road construction, but is open to snowmobiles

Our limnological surveys through the ice this winter show that Lee Valley Lake will likely NOT winterkill, but we still have at least a couple months of ice cover to go.  We will be checking Lee Valley, Crescent and Carnero lakes weekly as part of a winterkill study we are doing, hopefully to gather information that will help us reduce the occurrence of winterkill in the future.

There have not been many grayling in Lee Valley Lake because they are so difficult to come by, we have to drive a hatchery truck to Wyoming to pick them up. However, we did stock several thousand subcatchable size grayling in Lee Valley in May 2008. They should be doing okay and put on some size by the time the lake opens in the spring.

Normally I would recommend fishing near the creek inlet in late April and May because they will often congregate there in an attempt to spawn in the creek, but these fish will likely not be reproductively active yet, so they could be anywhere in the lake.

However, we have surveyed some very large Apache trout over the last few years during the road closure, up to 4.5 pounds. We caught them all in one net at the creek inlet one year, then right off the dam the next year. Go figure.

The road from Sunrise was officially open this last summer up to the junction with Forest Road 87 (back road to Greer), then closed from there to Crescent Lake. The Forest had set up a temporary trailhead at that junction that tied into the west baldy trail.  Some anglers would take this trail to the West Baldy Trail, then take the crossover trail towards the East Baldy Trail.

This crossover trail crosses Lee Valley Creek about 1/2 mile upstream of Lee Valley Lake.  Folks were not allowed to bike or hike along the closed road because of safety reasons, plus the Forest had an official closure on the road and the Sheep’s Crossing area (eliminating hiking access from Greer).  Technically folks could not set foot into this closure without permission from the National Highways folks.

Anglers/hikers could also reach the crossover trail from another temporary trailhead that accessed the East Baldy Trail from the Burro Mountain area, but I did not know the details of how to get there (I found it once on the Apache-Sitgreaves Forest web-site).

As of today, the road is still officially closed, mostly for winter conditions, as they are not doing construction on it right now.  It is open to snowmobiles though. The road will still be closed initially when things thaw out in the spring.

However, they tell us they are mostly complete, they just need to add a sealant. I don’t yet know when the Forest’s closure will be lifted. As long as that closure is in place, folks will not be able to step foot onto the closed road (the exception is for snowmobiles this winter).

As we get closer to spring, we will coordinate with the Forest and provide information to anglers as we get it.  Then the road should be open for good sometime in early summer.

Keep checking back with us and we’ll pass on that information when we get it.  Whatever happens though, you should be able to hike into the lake via the crossover trail from the West Baldy Trail.

Mike Lopez

LUNA LAKE — Fishing is fair to good. The lake is ice-free.  Anglers have been catching channel catfish on worms, hot dogs, and stink baits and bass on worms and lures. Try worms, Power Bait, catfish stink baits, and lures such as spinners (Panther Martin, Rooster Tail, and Mepps), crank baits, and Rapala’s. Try fishing lures along rocky areas for bass and walleye. The Lyman Lake recreation area is managed by Lyman Lake State Park and camping is available. There are also cabins for rent. There is fish consumption advisory here, so check with the State Parks Office at the lake for details. Also contact the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Region 1 Office at (928) 367-4281. There are no motor restrictions on Lyman Lake. The store is closed for the winter.

LYMAN LAKE — Fishing is  fair to good. The lake is ice-free. The lake has some ice-cover along the shoreline areas.  Try worms, Power Bait, catfish stink baits, and lures such as spinners (Panther Martin, Rooster Tail, and Mepps), crank baits, and Rapalas. Try fishing lures along rocky areas for bass and walleye.

There is fish consumption advisory here, so check with the State Parks Office at the lake for details. Also contact the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Region 1 Office at (928) 367-4281. There are no motor restrictions on Lyman Lake. The store is closed for the winter.

NELSON RESERVOIR — Fishing is fair. The lake is ice-free. The lake is full and spilling. Fishing bag limits changed back to the statewide bag and possession limit of six trout on April 1. The boat ramps at the eastern part of the lake and at the dam are usable. The mid boat ramp road is closed. Try worms, Power Bait, lures such as spinners (Panther Martin, Rooster Tail, Mepps), small spoons such as KastMasters and Super Dupers, jigs, and flies such as woolly worms, woolly buggers, peacock ladies, Prince nymphs, and Zug bugs. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and/or up to 10 hp gas motors.

RAINBOW LAKE — Fishing is poor to fair. Scheduled for the first stocking of the season during the week of April 6. The lake is ice-free and nearly full. The boat ramp is usable. Try worms, Power Bait, lures such as spinners (Panther Martin, Rooster Tail, and Mepps) spoons (Super Dupers, Daredevils), and Rapalas, and flies such as wooly worms, wooly buggers, and peacock ladies. The lake is open to electric trolling motors and/or up to 10 hp gas motors.

Recent netting revealed northern pike ranging from 7 to 28 inches, largemouth bass ranging from 8 to 19 inches, bluegill ranging from 3 to 12 inches, channel catfish ranging from 4 to 19 inches, and black bullheads ranging from 4 to 11 inches. The water temperature has been 50 degrees

SCOTTS RESERVOIR — Fishing is fair. Scheduled for the first stocking of the season during the week of April 6. The lake is ice-free, especially during warm weather days but on cold weather days expect thin, unsafe ice conditions. The lake is full and spilling..

SHOW LOW LAKE — Fishing is fair. The lake is ice-free, full and spilling. The fishing piers are not accessible from the shoreline because of rising water levels. The boat ramp is usable. Anglers are catching 12- to 14-inch rainbow trout on flies. This lake is scheduled for its first stocking during the week of April 20, but there are plenty of trout to catch right now.

Try worms, Power Bait, lures such as spinners (Panther Martin, Rooster tail, and Mepps), spoons such as Super Dupers, lead head jigs, Rapalas, and flies such as wooly worms, wooly buggers, prince nymphs, peacock ladies and brown Montana Stones.

The lake is open to electric trolling motors and/or up to 10 hp gas motors. The store is closed.

WOODLAND LAKE — A new regulation went into effect at Woodland Lake on January 1, 2009, reducing the daily bag and possession limit to 4 trout Fishing is fair. The boat ramp is not usable. The fishing pier is on the boat ramp for repairs. The lake is ice-free due to warm weather days, but on cold weather days expect thin, unsafe ice conditions. The lake is full and spilling.

Try worms. Power Bait, spinners (Panther Martin, Rooster tail, and Mepps), spoons such as Super Dupers, and flies such as wooly worms, wooly buggers, peacock ladies, prince nymphs, and zug bugs. The fishing pier is closed to public use because of safety concerns. The lake is open to electric trolling motors only.

White Mountain Streams:
Streams are ice-covered.  Forest Roads are snow packed and closed and/or inaccessible to vehicles except snowmobiles.

EAST and WEST FORKS of BLACK RIVER — Forest road 249/276 west of Alpine is open to the Black River.  Fishing is poor. Stream flows are high due to spring snowmelt. Try drifting worms through pools or casting small lures such as spinners (Mepps, Panther Martins, Rooster Tails), small spoons (KastMaster, Z-rays, and Super Dupers), Rapalas and flies such as wooly worms or wooly buggers and small weighted nymphs. The stocking season will begin in early May.

SHEEP’S CROSSING — Expect high flows due to spring snowmelt. Flows in the Little Colorado River at Greer are currently ranging from 20 cfs. in the morning to 40 cfs. In the afternoon. Try drifting worms or casting the above mentioned small lures or flies through deep pools.  The stocking season will begin in early May.

LITTLE COLORADO RIVER GREER — The stream has some ice, along the shoreline areas during morning hours, but may open up on warm weather days. The stocking season has ended and no trout are being stocked.

SILVER CREEK — Fishing is fair. The creek is clear. Nice sized Apache and rainbow trout were stocked in October at Silver Creek. Silver Creek on the Arizona Game and Fish Department property is currently open to artificial lure and fly only, barbless hooks, and catch-and-release only. The upper section is open to fishing.  The catch-and-release season is from Oct. 1 through March 31. Try small lures such as Mepps, Rooster tails, and Panther Martin spinners. Fly-fishers may want to try wooly worms, wooly buggers, peacock ladies, prince nymphs, Zug bugs, shrimp patterns, midge patterns, and small bead head nymphs. Try small dry flies such as Adams, parachute Adams, midge and caddis fly patterns.