Arizona Lake Fishing

Topock Marsh water levels are going down for the winter, making fishing fair to good.

Catfish are your best bet this winter as the fishign has been fairly good for cats. Try hot dogs or stink baits. Bass fishing is fair. Try a drop shot with plastics.

Topock Marsh can be accessed by boat at Five-Mile Landing, the North Dike or Catfish Paradise. These area also provide plenty of shoreline fishing, as well.

Cation is recommended when launching your boats due to the low water conditions.

Arizona has a lot to offer in terms of freshwater fishing lakes. Here’s a run down a few of the most popular lakes in AZ and the most popular fish to be caught there.

Top Picks for Fall Fishing in Arizona

1. Alamo Lake – largemouth bass and channel catfish
2. Lake Havasu – striped bass and smallmouth bass
3. Martinez Lake – largemouth bass
4. Imperial Division – largemouth bass
5. Walter’s Camp – largemouth bass
6. Colorado river – largemouth bass – Palo Verde Diversion Dam

Lake Havasu is an excellent bass lake for Arizona anglers. With the cooler weather the bite has slowed but this just means you need to work your lures a little slower and deeper than normal. Use plastics, cranks, spinners and jigs. The fish are deep this time of year so topwaters and other floating baits you can put away until spring.

Sizes are ranging from 13 inches and up for largemouth bass. The skilled angler could hall in a 4 pounder. Smallmouth bass are also abundant in Lake Havasu, as well as striped bass. Stripers are in the size range of about 12-18 inches with an occasional 8 pounder waiting to be caught.

Bass aren’t the only species to be caught in Lake Havasu, channel cats are also a popular catch among Arizona anglers. Cats are ranging in the sizes or 3 – 10 pounds and are biting on anchovies, spam and mackerel.

At Lake Havasu the average day time water temp is between 86-92 degrees right now.

The striper bite is good to fair but they are only small to medium sizes. They will bite on anchovies, squid and mackerel at around 30 – 50 feet deep. Chumming is recommended because the striper schools are broken up due to the low number of shad this year.

Smallmouth bass have been hitting big time with a 1/4 – 3/8 ounce brown jigs, or hula grubs. Try around the rocky points in the main basin south to Standard Wash.

Catfish are also biting. They prefer anchovy this summer and they are most active at night. It’s recommended to go out to Topock Gorge where the sizes have been around 4 – 12 pounds.

For best results: Go for the smallmouth bass. Get out early in the morning and troll with chrome/blue Rat_L-Trap, pointers, or chug bugs. Spin casting is also working well if you don’t like the troll method.

Catfish and bass are biting but the crappie are done for the season.

For the catfish try night crawlers and anchovies.

For the bass use crank baits, spinners or plastics.

The water level is higher than usual so use caution when launching your boat off the boat launch. To access the marsh by boat at the North Dike, Catfish Paradise and Five-Mile Landing. There is also plenty of shore for shoreline fishing.

For more information on the marsh contact Havasu National Wildlife Refuge at (760) 326-3853 or you can go to the Havasu National Wildlifeweb site.

The striped bass boils are being spotted in the middle coves at Lake Havasu. Anglers have reported pods scattered in the basin of the lake and at the shorelines near Windsor Beach.

If fishing the boils, the R2S Rover 128 in Okie Shad, Chrome black or chartreuse shad are working well as is the bone-colored Vixen, and the Okie shad and bone-colored Zara Spooks. From the shore use Rat-L-Trap type baits like the R2S tungsten vibe in chartreuse shad, chrome/black or similar crankbaits in chrome/blue that can be ripped and retrieved quickly through the grass beds. If using bait, try using anchovies in the deeper water.

Smallmouth and largemouth bass are being caught throughout theday with the early morning bite being the best.

Use topwater baits like bone-colored Vixens, bone-colored Zara Spooks, or small Storm Chug Bugs in chrome blue and phantom chartreuse.

After the early morning use small plastics with a slip shot or drop shot in and on the outside edges of the weed beds or along rocky points in the main basin at 15 – 20 feet. The 4 inch straight tail Robo Worm in bold blue gill are working the best.

Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass are expected to be good to excellent with size ranging from 13 inches to the occasional 4 pounder plus.

Striped bass has been excellent this year and is expected to continue through the fall and winter. Size range from 12 – 18 inches to 8 pounds.

Channel catfish, bluegill, and redear sunfish are all expected to be good to fair.

Flathead catfish is fair and can be found at the lower end of the lake near the Bill Williams River Arm. Size can reach up to 40 pounds. For the best odds, select the interior points in the coves and the areas where artificial structure has been placed.

Recently the guagga mussles have been discovered in Lake Mead, Lake Havasu, and Mohave Lake.

Popper cleaning of all watercraft is critical to help prevent the spread of these invasive creatures.

1. drain and dry your livewell and bilge on land
2. drain all the water you can from your engine
3. inspect your vessel and trailer for visible mussels
4. remove any visible mussels
5. feel for and remove any rough or gritty spots on the hull (young mussels that can be hard to see)

For more information, visit 100th Meridian.org

alkalinity – Measure of the amount of acid neutralizing bases.