There’s no Better Time than Now to “Get Out for Trout” in Arizona
Arizona Game and Fish Department 12.02.12
With the great fall-winter weather we are having in the state’s lower elevations, this is an ideal time to get outside and do some trout fishing.
“This is the time of year we really kick in our winter trout stockings in the lower elevation lakes and the Lower Salt River – all popular places to fish, and readily accessible,” said fisheries biologist Eric Swanson.
Tempe Town Lake was stocked last week on Nov. 20 as part of the annual Welcome Back the Trout event. The lake will be stocked monthly, from November to March, with 3,000 trout each delivery.
Saguaro Lake, Canyon Lake and Apache Lake all get trout stockings now. This is good news for trout anglers, but the bass anglers really get stoked about using large trout swim baits for monster bass.
The Lower Salt River gets stocked at the lower end at Phon D Sutton recreation site (confluence of Salt and Verde Rivers), and the Granite Reef day use area. The upper portion coming out of Saguaro Lake is not flowing, so we do not stock the Water Users or the Blue Point Bridge locations until flows resume sometime in March or April.
Yuma area ponds are getting trout now, which is great news for residents and winter visitors.
Safford area ponds and the “Triple P” lakes (Patagonia, Pena Blanca and Parker Canyon) are all getting trout now and fishing should be good.
In the Verde Valley, Dead Horse Ranch ponds and the Verde River offer great trout fishing.
The trout stocking schedule for state waters can be found at www.azgfd.gov/pdfs/h_f/fishing/stocking/TroutStockingSchedule.pdf. The Urban Fishing Program stocking schedule for October through December can be found at
www.azgfd.gov/h_f/documents/12Oct-DecwithHyperlinks_000.pdf.
