fishing in the summer in Arizona is fantastic. The Arizona Game and Fish website contains excellent info.
for Starters, you should try the Greer, Arizona area. any of the local bait shops can give you a reliable report. All the little lakes up there contain good trout populations that can be caught on power bait, corn, and small shiny stuff. if fly fishing is your thing, you will like Becker Lake.
the Black River is known for small mouth and trout and runs all the way across the area. there are two forks, the north and east. they merge just west of Sprucedale. If you can find a honey hole at the edge of the rapids, and drop almost anything upstream to fall into the hole as it floats downstream. power bait, live worms, plastic jigs, corn, all do well.
another good stream is the little Colorado, which runs north to south through the area.
if you're not against spending a little effort, Pacheta Lake is full of trout to be caught on the banks of the dam, with floating power bait about a foot off the bottom. for a little less effort, Big Lake is full of fish, as is Reservation Lake. Both are good with all the standard methods. slow trolling with small to medium silver Zrays, Rapalas or Mizuno's. from the banks, power bait and corn can be productive. a simple split shot rig to put the bait on the bottom is all it takes.
whether fly fishing or float/trolling, I also can highly recommend Marble canyon on the Colorado River upstream from Lees Ferry, in far north Arizona.
"When it comes down to world renowned tailwater trout fisheries, Lees Ferry has go to be one of the most beautifully unique out there. A section of the Colorado River situated tightly between towering red sandstone walls near the beginning of the Grand Canyon boasts a robust population of wild rainbow trout"
8. Silver Creek
Arizona manages another one of there stream systems as a trophy trout water to give anglers the opportunity to hook into a 5 plus pound rainbow trout. Silver Creek is located just northeast of the town of Show-Low. Here, Arizona Game and Fish manages both a hatchery and a trophy rainbow trout fishery just downstream.
the Salt river east of phoenix is great trout fishing as well. there are several good spots where corn, shiny small zrays, etc do well.
The lakes east of Phoenix (Roosevelt, Apache, Canyon, and Saguaro [pronounced sa-war'-oh] , north of Phoenix (Pleasant) and northeast of Phoenix (Bartlett) are also excellent for fishing if the boating crowd isn't too thick. they contain lots of bass which can be caught using numerous live baits (waterdogs, worms, minnows, crawdads-their favorite), as well as all kinds of crank baits, trolling and casting.
There is basically no fishing in southern Arizona (Tucson area), except for maybe Patagonia Lake, which is a long way to go for 50/50 fishing.
stay north in the Greer area if stream fishing is your main format. If you wand to fish from a good sized boat, the Colorado River and it's big lakes are also excellent, as is Lake Powell, especially the San Juan arm.
Snyder_Cade wrote:
Thank you!
My vote would be for Panquitch Lake. Good stream fishing, good fishing from the bank and they have small Pantoon boats to rent that offers good trolling and bait fishing. The lake is located at 8,200 ft with beautiful surroundings.
They have small cabins to rent or you could stay in Panquitch With a 15 minute drive to the lake.
If you are fishing small streams in Utah, dry flies will catch plenty of brook trout, cutthroat, and rainbows. If you find the small streams catching fish will not be a problem. They will be in the 8 to 12 inch range, but very good for dinner.
I failed to mention Oak Creek around Sedona, in northern Arizona. Excellent small stream trout fishing all along the beautiful cool area. Fly fishing is most popular but I’ve had great luck with small shiny Zrays, mepps, etc.
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