Arizona Fishing Report: The Reel Deal

This is a great weekend to hit the high country to catch some fall colors, net some trout, and with the exception of some fairly windy conditions, enjoy what looks to be some nice high country weather.

We received a good report from Willow Springs Lake of rainbow and tiger trout hitting trolled mini craws. Late October and early November, before winter conditions prevail, can be a good time to target tiger trout. The tigers this time of year seem to hang around rocky shorelines and prefer dry flies.  Those wanting to just catch trout to eat can head to Willow Springs or Woods Canyon Lake and fish PowerBait off the bottom. Catch-and-release anglers can try Silver Creek for bigger trout (see the  fishing regulations — it’s catch-and-release only with artificial lure and flies only, and single-pointed barbless hooks).

At Tonto Creek (above) anglers have been catching some of the “supercatchable” trout we’ve been stocking. There should still be some hanging around. One fly angler found success with zebra midges under a strike indicator and unweighted purple woolly buggers.

In the Flagstaff and Williams region, good spots remain Kinnikinick Lake for brown trout, and Lower Lake Mary and Kaibab Lake for big rainbows.

Desert dwellings

AZGFD Yuma-region Aquatic Wildlife Program Manager Ryan Follmuth caught this largemouth bass Wednesday at Alamo Lake on a dropshot-rigged plastic worm around 10 a.m.

Down in the desert, we stocked Community Fishing Program waters this week with channel catfish.

Fall/winter trout stockings are  underway. Two prime winter waters this week received their first rainbow trout loads of the season: Lower Salt River, and Goldwater Lake (yeah, not the desert). One angler at the Lower Salt had good luck fishing for largemouth bass using weightless, whacky rigged worms. Releases out of Stewart Mountain Dam on Friday, Oct. 18 was 8 cfs.  As a guideline, trout are primarily stocked at Phon D. Sutton and Granite Reef recreation sites during the winter.  Anglers can also catch catfish, carp and sunfish.

At Bartlett Lake, Bass Pro Gary Senft reported that fish are moving into 4-6 feet of water during the early morning hours and can be caught on swim baits, white spinner baits, and small Ricos. After the sun moves up, the fish move a bit deeper, and can be hooked with plastics on Texas rigs and dropshots. Water temperatures have peaked in the low-to-mid 70s at most desert impoundments. Crappie fishing should also be good at Roosevelt Lake.

At Alamo Lake, largemouth bass fishing has been decent. Water temperature has been in the low-70s. Note that Arizona State Parks will be closing the main launch ramp Nov. 1-25. Dates are subject to change. Cholla Ramp will be open and is fully functional. 

It seems that with increased water levels this year, there was a superb shad spawn, and largemouth bass have been caught with bellies full of food. A downside is this temporarily could make bass a bit more reluctant to chase down artificial baits. Crappie fishing should be good as this week there were smaller flotillas of boats apparently searching for schools of crappie mid-lake.

Our Fall Fishing Forecast is still the most comprehensive source of fishing report information for major water bodies statewide.

Grab a license online (that helps conserve all species of wildlife, not to mention provides funding that goes back into fishing opportunities) and go “Fish AZ”.