The Arizona Game and Fish Division is reporting that Red Mountain received a double load of catfish June 4. Reports indicate that fishing at Red Mountain was unbelievably good with the extra fish they received.
Another lake that doesn’t seem to disappoint is Kiwanis. They say to be there early in the morning and look for structure. If you don’t have success in the place you are fishing move till you get some action. So often people camp out on one spot whether they are catching fish or not.
Catfish are taking worms, stinkbait, shrimp, liver and even hot dogs. Bluegill will take worms and meal worms fished under a bobber at 3 to 6 feet deep. It’s pretty hot out there so fish early morning or when the sun is setting and bring lots of water and some sunscreen.
At Green Valley in Payson, the bite for crappie, bass and bluegill is picking up for anglers using small jigs, plastic worms and night crawlers.
In Tempe Town Lake, fishing should be fair to good for bass, catfish and sunfish. This is a good time to fish at night for channel catfish using stink bait, hot dogs or corn (or all three).
Don’t forget the current bag limit for largemouth bass at Town Lake is four fish per day with a 13-inch minimum length restriction.
Tempe Town Lake permits are available at the City of Tempe Town Lake Operations Center, 620 N. Mill Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85281. Phone: (480) 350-8625.
In Lake Pleasant, the nighttime striper fishing should be heating up. They should have migrated out of the Aqua Fria or they are on their way out about now. In the past they liked hanging out around the tires outside Pleasant Harbor. But this isn’t the only place you can get them.
In The Arizona Game and Fish Department’s telemetry study where they tagged a few of them, they move around a lot and they tend to do a circuit from the Aqua Fria to the tires. Not all of them end up at the tires, they will disperse.
The lake is stratified (layers of water with different temperatures, creating what is called a thermocline) so the stripers will basically hang in the 25- to 30-foot range where the oxygen content and temperatures are more to their liking. They will, however, dive deep or follow shad schools into the shallows.
With the use of lights the shad showed up and the bite was kind of deep for the 2 to 2.5 pounders. Anchovies are good bait to use in this situation. Submersible lights should work even better this weekend with a half moon.
This is also a great time to fish from shore for channel catfish and carp using hot dogs and corn. Be sure to take along some corn to chum as well.
In Roosevelt Lake, the Lake Elevation is 2,150 ft (99-percent full). Tonto Creek runoff is 28 cfs while inflow from the Salt River is at 848 cfs. New Moon June 12, making this a perfect time to fish at night under submersible lights. There are mixed reports from anglers, with some easily catching-and-releasing limits, including some nice fish ranging up to six pounds, while others were having trout catching a fish.
Right now, just about any method can work at times. Be flexible. Try the larger coves at first light using topwater lures, then switch to the main lake points, islands and reefs using drop shots, Texas-rigged plastics, soft plastic jerkbaits, or shad-like swim baits.
In Lake Apache, the Game & Fish Department is reporting that the lake elevation is 1,910 feet (96 percent full).
Some anglers did well on yellow bass using light night crawlers or gold-colored KastMasters worked along the secondary points inside the coves. Some nice largemouth bass were caught as well. This should be a good time for fish for walleye at night, especially during twilight.
The Game and Fish Department finished sampling Apache this spring and at one site they caught nearly 2,000 shad in 25-foot section of their net.
The shad spawn is over now and predatory sport-fish will be ”slurping” the tiny shad, so down-size.
In Canyon Lake, the lake’s elevation is 1,658 feet, which is 96-percent full.
An angler was pretty surprised at all the catfish he caught while fishing for largemouth bass. Catfish were at every spot he tried but bass were a little more finicky. He also caught some good sized bluegill. No indication on what he was using or where he was fishing.
One fisherman fished from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and caught two largemouth bass under 13 inches and a 3 pound catfish on a drop shot. Spinnerbaits grabbed the attention of 2 smallmouth bass just under the slot.
A solo fisherman fished from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and caught 64 fish mostly up river off a main point in one of the bays. Most of the fish were bluegill caught in water about 6 feet deep using small shinny lures. They are still in their spawning colors. Six fish were yellow bass most were between 9 and 10 inches. They like KastMasters popped off the bottom as you reel it in. He caught two channel catfish with KastMasters off a main point. One was 19 inches and one was 22 inches. Largemouth bass liked purple and green tail worms via the dropshot method off a main point.
In Saguaro Lake, the lake elevation is 1,526 feet at 96-percent full. Two anglers fished from 4:30 to 10 a.m. and were pretty optimistic when they saw shad busting “everywhere” but the bass were happy going after the real thing (shad are super small right now, so downsize).
They switched to T-rigs and caught a nice 4-pound largemouth and had quite a few bites. Once the t-rig bite went away they tried jigs, cranks and Senkos with no luck so they tried T-rigs once again in other spots and caught a few. In total they caught 8 bass. Water temp was 75 when they arrived and 79 when they left.
If you want to catch a lot of yellow bass throw KastMasters and bounce them off the bottom. You will catch a few largemouth and some catfish this way as well. Throw T-rigged worms and other critters in the shallows and coves for bass. You can always employ the drop shot technique with 4 inch Robo Worms just off drop-offs and anywhere your fish finder leads you.
With a new moon June 12, this is a great time to fish at night using submersible lights (and avoid all the recreational boat traffic). Although Saguaro is a terrific bass lake, it is also one of our best producing channel catfish lakes. Try hot dogs, chicken livers or corn. Be sure to chum corn to attract the bottom feeders.
Saguaro also has plenty of fishing piers, so it is very shore-angler friendly. It’s a great place to a nightowl picnic with the family while catching some fish. Set the kids up with mealworms about three feet under a bobber.
In Lake Bartlett, the Game and Fish Department reports that the lake elevation is 1,796 feet, which is 97 percent full. Reservoir release is 1,000 cfs. This is a great time to fish at night under lights — there is a new moon June 12. Haven’t heard any crappie reports lately, but this would be a good time to try for them. Try the Yellow Cliffs area or off the mouths of deeper coves. Crappies will typically be suspended feeding on zooplankton, with the active feeders often 15 to 20 feet deep. Use live minnows and small jigs.
Keep in mind that bass and catfish will also feed on live minnows — they are an all-purpose nighttime bait. Take along some cans of corn and chum. Even if you are not using corn as bait, the chum will hopefully attract the small fish, which in turn attact the larger predatory fish. If you catch some bluegill, use them as bait for monster flatheads.
An angler fished with jigs all day and only caught one fish – a 30-pound flathead catfish.
One lone angler fished from 5 to 11:30 a.m. He started working the coves with Texas-rigged creatures and caught some small bass. He moved to a nice point with a shelf at the mouth of a cove and caught a 2.1-pound bass in the bushes with a creature. Big bluegills were going after crankbaits and he caught a 1-pound gill. He caught 9 largemouth bass, 1 bluegill and 1 channel cat. Water temp was 79 degrees.
At Horseshoe Lake, the Game and Fish Department is reporting that the lake is full and there is a bunch of submerged trees holding quite a few largemouth bass. Up river are the best sites, but there are a bunch of carp up there as well. They are fun to catch, use corn on a treble hook so you can’t see the hook. Dough bait works well too. For some reason carp seem to like homemade dough bait made with strawberry soda. The Department tagged a couple thousand over the last two years so it would be nice to cull the population…
The Department is reporting that on the Lower Salt River, the Stewart Mtn. Dam (below Saguaro Lake) release is 650 cfs, and the river is scheduled to be stocked with trout this week. Fishing should be good at first light, despite the rising air temperatures.
The water comes out the bottom of Saguaro Lake, so it is very cold, like most tailwater fisheries. The best trout fishing will likely be at the Water Users area where the tubers put in.
No new reports but anglers are picking up a few of the remaining trout in eddies and pools. Largemouth bass are what you want to go after now along the shores and in pools. There are a few roundtail chub in the pools as well. They will go after flies and small spinners.
There are big ones there and they are soft like trout and have no spines. You can keep one 13 inches or larger. They kind of look like trout without the spots and have a large mouth without the snub nose. They are dark on the dorsal side and light on the ventral portion.
Arizona’s Game and Fish Department recently reported that fishing for catfish continues to be good to excellent during any week where they have stocked channel cats in local impoundments, but it continues to be fair after that. The warmer air and lake temperatures have made the catfish action best during low light or nighttime conditions. Anglers are using stink baits, shrimp or worms fished on the bottom and doing well. The state is indicating that the next catfish stocking is taking place this week – from June 14-19 at all Phoenix and Tucson area Urban waters.
