Arizona Lakes
Alamo Lake is located in wes-central Arizona. The Big Sandy Wash and the Santa Maria River join to form the Bill Williams River. Alamo Dam is located a few miles below the confluence and forms the lake. Alamo Lake is usually the first desert lake to offer late winter bass and crappie fishing. Central Arizona's lakes were created by placing one or more dams along four rivers:
Arizona lakes on the Salt River in central Arizona are convenient to most anglers in the Phoenix - Mesa area. These lakes are in the Tonto National Forest, east of Phoenix. The lakes are:
Roosevelt is the largest and most popular fishing lake on the Salt River. This lake yields large crappie, bass, and catfish.
Roosevelt Lake can be accessed from three directions:
Apache Lake sits below Roosevelt Lake and above Canyon Lake. This lake gets the least fishing pressure. To reach Apache Lake you must go past Canyon or Roosevelt Lake. People towing larger boats often reach Apache Lake by going past Roosevelt Lake and turning southwest onto State Route 88 at the dam. Canyon Lake sits between Apache and Saguaro Lakes. Canyon Lake is accessed by way of the Apache Trail. The lake yields large and small mouth bass, catfish, and a few trout. Saguaro Lake is accessed from two directions.
The Salt River above Roosevelt Lake provides some good cat fishing. The Salt River below Saguaro Lake can be a good trout water during the winter months. During hot weather "tubers" float this stretch of river. Among the Arizona Lakes near Phoenix, Lake Pleasant is probably the most popular fishing... and boating, lake in the area. Lake Pleasant is on the Agua Fria River, northwest of Phoenix, It can be a pretty good bass and crappie lake. Lake Pleasant is reached by going:
Bartlett and Horseshoe Lakes are on the Verde River northeast of Carefree, Arizona. Bartlett can offer good bass and catfishing. The Verde River above Horseshoe Lake and below Bartlett Lake produces small mouth bass and catfish. There's another lake... or (sometimes) two I should mention. San Carlos Lake is on the San Carlos Apache Indian reservation east of Globe. This lake is fed by the Gila River. When this lake has enough water, it can produce hot bass fishing.The Gila River is unique among Arizona's rivers. It flows east to west across the entire state. The Gila originates along the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico, and joins the Colorado River above Yuma. The sometimes lake is formed behind Painted Rock Dam in unusually wet years. Painted Rock is a flood control dam. It only allows a controlled amount of water to flow through. In flood years, water backs up behind the dam and forms a lake over fields that are usually farmed. While this lake has a sporadic and short life cycle, it can be very productive. Fishing the desert lakes in summer is usually done at night and first light. If you enjoy night fishing, here's an interesting article on glow in the dark fishing lures. Look out for rattlesnakes in the vicinity of water... especially on warm nights. Arizona lakes also include some cool high country trout lakes South of Flagstaff. Come on up. The map below shows the relative locations of the major (warm water) river lakes.
Arizona lakes on the Colorado River are outside the scope of this page. Try a Google search using the keyword phrase Lake Havasu fishing, Lake Mohave fishing, Lake Mead fishing, or Lake Powell fishing.
My favorite Arizona lakes happen to be in the high country... where cold water, juniper and pine forests, and trout are the rule.
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