New to az, wondering about good lakes to fish
My name is Larry and actually haven't moved yet. We are currently selling our home in illinois. We were just out to az in early march and decided to focus on the gold canyon (close to apache junction) area to find a house. While we were here, I checked out lake pleasant, lake suguaro, and canyon lake. I imagine suguaro and canyon will be my primary fishing spots once we get there. I'm not sure about hauling my 18' Lund up that mountain road to canyon, so I guess that leaves suguaro. It looks like canyon is accessible through suguaro. Is this doable? I'm an avid smallmouth fisherman on lakes in wisconsin, but I also have downriggers on my boat and have been known to troll for lakers. I fish lake geneva a lot, and because of its depth, 150+, and steep drop offs, it seems like it might be a similar style of fishing. I spend a lot of time dragging live bait rigs on the bottom at 40'. Does anyone do that type of fishing here? If not, what style of fishing seems to work best out here? I'm just trying to get a feel for the area. What times of year are best fishing found? What types of fish are most prevalent? Are there any fishing clubs locally that I could join? Any info would be helpful. We probably won't be out there until fall at the earliest, depending on how fast our house sells. Can't wait to get out there.
Well i'm glad i found a house short sale in AZ and got to move in last month, saving up for a new boat now that i'm not paying the ridiculous taxes and home prices they had on long island.
First off, let me welcome you to Fish'n Arizona! I meant to reply much earlier, but have been real busy lately. Things are really slow right now since I haven't had the time to put into the site, but I hope you will stick around.
Now, let me welcome you to Arizona! You will love it here... nothing like being able to fish year round in beautiful weather! Im not familiar with Gold Canyon, but Apache Junction is awesome... my wife and I considered moving there when we first moved out here. Saguaro and canyon lake are great place to fish from what Ive heard... I haven't been to either yet, but will probably be going out there this summer a few times once I move back down to Tucson. You might keep an eye on fishing reports for the lakes you are interested in. This is a great site to bookmark: http://www.azgfd.net/artman/publish/FishingReport/
We do have small mouths here, but most of the lakes average only about 75-90ft. Large mouths and catfish are the primary sport fish out here and that is completely different kind of fishing then your probably used to... just remember if all else fails, you can always go back to the good ol worm! lol Some of the larger, deeper lakes, like Havasu and Roosevelt have good striper fishing, which might be more along the lines of what your used to. Also, crappie are a fun fish to catch..
I hope that answers some of your questions. If you want, Id be happy to help you find some resource to answer your questions.
Thanks again for join and I hope your move goes good.
Sam
Sam Simmons
Fish'n Arizona Administrator
Click to vote: