Arizona Lake Fishing

Worms, earthworms, night crawlers are the tried-and-true fish bait that you can’t go fishing without. If your an avid angler, you’re probably in need of worms constantly. Bellow we’ll describe how to locate and catch your own worms straight from your yard.

Harvesting Earthworms from Your Yard

There are several ways to collect worms from flooding your yard with the hose, waiting till after it rains to even using laundry detergent (this is not recommended, detergent can be harsh on grass and other plants). Bellow we list some popular techniques and tips used for gathering worms. Most you’ve probably heard of or even tried yourself but maybe there will be one or two new ones you might want to try as well.

• Water your lawn or wait till it rains After a good soaking, your lawn will be popping with worms. Look under leaves, rocks and other debris they might hide under.
• Enclose a small area of your yard off with a box. This only needs to be a few feet wide. Stick something flat in the ground on 4 sides to seal it off so the worms can’t escape. With the left half of the box soak it with water. Leave the right side dry. This is the side you will dig up to find your worms.
• Use old coffee grounds. Dump the grounds in one place in your yard and wet it down. Then at night go out and gather your worms.
• Use a 6 Volt battery With a metal rod, wire and a 6 volt battery you can give the worms a mild shock to get then to come up to the surface. With one end of the wire tie it to the top of the metal rod. With the other, tie it to the battery. Stick the bottom of the metal rod into the ground and wait for you worms to come up. This works best at night. This technique does have problems and has been known to damage the worm’s nervous system which eventually kills the worm.

Tips to Catching Worms

• Best time to hunt for worms is at night. Especially after it rains. Go out with a flashlight, be very quiet and pluck them from your yard.
• Use a red light Worms can’t see red light so you won’t scare them back into the ground when your hunting them at night.
• Pull them from the ground gently The worm will typically be half in and half out of the ground. To get them to release from the soil just give them a gentle pull and they should come out.

Once you have all the worms you want or need, it’s a good time to start a worm farm.

Using live bait in Arizona’s lakes is a very effective method for catching fish but you should keep in mind some important regulations when using live bait in Arizona. Bellow are some important points found in the Arizona Fishing Regulations.

Capturing Live Bait for Fishing

• Live bait may be taken by minnow trap, dip net, cast net, pole and line, handline, crayfish net or seine.
• Cast nets shall not exceed a 4 foot radius (8 foot diameter).
• Seine nets shall not exceed 10 feet in length and 4 feet in width.
• Landing nets or dip nets may be used for the capture of bait fish or crayfish or only to land a legally hooked fish.
• Any unattended traps or devices used to catch or hold aquatic wildlife or fish must have attached water resistant identification legibly bearing the name, address, and fishing license number of the person using the device.
• All aquatic wildlife taken incidentally while capturing live bait with nets
  or traps must be returned immediately and unharmed to the water after
  being caught.
• All legal bait fish and crayfish caught must be for personal use only and
  are not to be sold or used for commercial purposes.
• Use or possess live bait in areas or on waters
  where fishing is restricted to the use of artificial
  flies and lures only, or where the use of live bait
  fish is restricted.

Live Baitfishing Restricted Areas

• Navajo or Apache Counties
• Navajo or Coconino Counties
• Coconino County
• Pima or Cochise Counties

It Is Illegal to:

• Release live baitfish into any Arizona waters.
• Use or possess any restricted live baitfish while fishing waters prohibiting use of that baitfish.
• Keep or harm any game fish or aquatic wildlife incidentally taken while capturing bait with seines, dip nets, or cast nets.

Live Baitfishing and Regulations

• Live baitfish may be obtained and used only in the legal areas
• Legal baitfish can be obtained from bait dealers and from wild capture for personal
  use.
• Dispose of all unwanted baitfish by burying them on land far from the water.
• No live baitfish may be used or possessed while on any waters in Coconino, Navajo, Apache, Pima and Cochise counties. All other counties have specific baitfish regulations by body of water or area.
• Waterdogs are not considered baitfish,

Legal Live Baitfish and Areas They Can Be Fished

• Fathead minnows, threadfin shad, red shiner and mosquitofish are permitted on all waters of the counties of La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Pinal and Yuma. No waters of any other counties are open except: 1) the mainstream portions of the Gila and Salt rivers, and that portion of the Verde River below the Tuzigoot Bridge, including impounded reservoirs, 2) Tonto Creek from Gisela downstream, 3) those portions of Apache, Roosevelt, Pleasant and Horseshoe Lakes lying outside of these counties, and 4) that portion of the San Francisco River
  in Greenlee County.

  Notes: Live baitfish may not be transported to the Verde River upstream from Horseshoe Dam and the Salt River above the Roosevelt Diversion Dam in Gila County. Threadfin shad are permitted for use at Patagonia Lake in Santa Cruz County.

• Golden shiner and goldfish are permitted on all waters of the counties of La Paz and Yuma. No waters of any other counties are open except: 1) Lake Mead, and 2) the Colorado River downstream from Hoover Dam to the Southern International Boundary with Mexico, including impounded reservoirs, and 3) Alamo Lake.
• Carp are permitted on all waters of the counties of La Paz and Yuma. No waters of any other counties are open except: 1) Lake Mead, 2) the Colorado River downstream from Hoover Dam to the Southern International Boundary with Mexico, including impounded reservoirs, 3) the Gila, Salt, and Verde rivers, including impounded reservoirs, 4) urban waters in Maricopa County, 5) Lake Pleasant, and 6) Alamo Lake. Notes: Live baitfish may not be transported to the Verde River upstream from Horseshoe Dam and the Salt River above the Roosevelt Diversion Dam in Gila County. Live baitfish species (sunfish, carp and tilapia) may be collected on site only. Fish may not be transported to or from these waters.
• Sunfishes are permitted on all waters of the counties of La Paz and Yuma. No waters of any other counties are open except: 1) the Colorado River south of the Nevada-California boundary downstream to the Southern International Boundary with Mexico, including impounded reservoirs, 2) the Gila, Salt, and Verde rivers, including impounded reservoirs, 3) urban waters in Maricopa County, 4) Lake Pleasant, 5) Alamo Lake, and 6) Patagonia Lake. Notes: Live baitfish may not be transported to the Verde River upstream from Horseshoe Dam and the Salt River above the Roosevelt Diversion Dam in Gila County. Live baitfish species (sunfish, carp and tilapia) may be collected on site only. Fish may not be transported to or from these waters.
• Tilapia are permitted on all waters of Yuma County. No waters of any other counties are open except: 1) waters in La Paz County located west of Highway 95 and south of Interstate 10, and 2) the Colorado River from the Palo Verde Diversion Dam downstream to the Southern International Boundary with Mexico, including impounded reservoirs. Note: Live baitfish species (sunfish, carp and tilapia) may be collected on site only. Fish may not be transported to or from these waters.

The AZ game & fish has put out their 2009 Arizona fishing regulations which is a much more comprehenisve resource. I suggest reading it if you have more questions regarding this topic.

water dog – Any of several large salamanders (the larval or aquatic stage). They are popular as live bait.

earth worm – A common term for any of the many different fishing worms, including night crawlers (two words), garden worms, leaf worms, dillys, and red wigglers.

dobsonfly – A large aquatic insect, the larva of which is the popular hellgrammite bait.

dip net – A net with a handle used to capture baitfish.

dillys – A type of small earthworm popular for catching sunfish and trout.

die-off – Refers to having many fish die at the same time, quite often baitfish; also referred to as a fish kill.

damselfly – A small member of the dragonfly family.

crayfish or crawfish – A small crustacean found in freshwater. Crayfish are not native to Arizona. Also called crawdads.