Carp are quickly becoming a popular sport fish in Phoenix. Fly fishing for carp in particular has become a hot topic in the valley. There are several popular fly fishing locations in Arizona to catch carp. Some are in the Phoenix metropolitan area and some you may need to take a little drive to get to but all are great carp fishing bodies of water.
A reader of Arizona Lake Fishing, Johnny, from Mesa, emailed in with a question:
“Where can I go to fly fish carp in the Phoenix area?”
Well, Johnny, thanks for writing in to Arizona Lake Fishing and if any of you have questions on fishing in Arizona’s freshwater lakes, ponds and other bodies of water gives us a shout at arizonalakefishing {at} gmail dot com we’ll be happy to answer.
So, Johnny, to get to your question, we put our guys out into the local fishing community and have come up with a few top fishing holes for fishing carp around the Phoenix area.
Carp in the Valley
- Salt River Canal – The lower stretch is the most popular fly fishing hole in the valley. But the canals, owned and maintained by the Salt River Project, SRP has introduced a few hybrid carp called White Amur or Grass Carp into their system to help with vegetation over growth. SRP maintains a strict catch-and-release policy for all fish caught in the their canals. Rumors abound of 50 pound carp swimming in these canals but the biggest carp caught has only been in the 20 to 30 pound range with the norm around 4 to 12 pounds. A “bread fly” seems to be working the best.
- Tempe Town Lake – Your best option is on the south side of the lake. Try a “bread fly” here as well.
- Canyon Lake – If a trip to the Superstition Wilderness isn’t too far for you, Canyon Lake is a great lake for fly fishing. Most fly fishing at Canyon Lake is during the winter when fly anglers are going for the nice sized winter trout. But in the spring and summer months it’s great for carp as well as small mouth bass.
Carp in Arizona
If taking a little trip to fly fish for carp is on your list, here are a few popular lakes for catching carp.
- Alamo Lake – The carp population is growing in numbers at Alamo Lake and are expected to be good fishing this season.
- Apache Lake – This is a good lake for carp. Look for them in the murky waters in the coves around the marina.
- Roosevelt Lake – An annual Carp Camp is held at Roosevelt Lake every May and is one of the best lakes in Arizona for fishing carp.
- Silverbell Lake – There are nice sized carp in this Arizona Lake some in the range of over 20 pounds.
