Bartlett LakeĪlso known as Horseshoe Reservoir, this Verde River impoundment is far enough north of the city to be one of the more remote places to fish in the greater Phoenix area. You can easily motor into less-crowded areas up or down the reservoir if you have a boat. Many anglers will begin their trip at the Apache Lake Marina & Resort on the south side near mid-lake. In some years, the Arizona Game and Fish Department has stocked Apache Lake with catchable rainbow trout, but don’t expect trout unless recent reports indicate they have been planted. Crappie and other types of game fish also can’t resist small fish.Īpache Lake sometimes is stocked with walleye fry and is one of Arizona’s best places to catch walleye and also can be productive for channel and flathead catfish.Īdditional fish species in the lake include sunfish, common carp, tilapia, and bigmouth, black and smallmouth buffalo. Yellow bass also are available and often strike minnows and small spoons that look like minnows. This Salt River reservoir below the larger Roosevelt Lake feels somewhat secluded in the Tonto National Forest’s Superstition Wilderness, which provides a wide range of fishing opportunities.Īpache Lake is a well-known bass fishing lake with largemouth and smallmouth bass that will attack all types of bass lures.

Whether you use the table of contents or scroll through it, you’ll easily be able to find a place to fish near you. I’ve divided the article into sections for Maricopa and Pinal counties and then grouped each area by city. Things to see in Pinal County include Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Goldfield Ghost Town, and other outdoor activities.īut you came to this article for the fishing, so we’re about to reveal many of the better places near Phoenix to catch everything from lunker largemouth bass and mammoth stripers and catfish to wintertime trout and feisty panfish. The area is renowned for its mild winters and is a magnet for golfers and off-season baseball. “Valley of The Sun”) is home to the Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix Zoo, and Camelback Mountain. Though a 10th the population of Maricopa County, Pinal County sits between Phoenix and Tucson and is home to well more than 400,000 people. I’ve also included neighboring Pinal County in this roundup since it’s considered part of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, or locally “the Valley.”Ĭities and communities in Pinal County include Maricopa, Casa Grande, Apache Junction, Florence, and a large population in the unincorporated San Tan Valley just outside of Maricopa County. The lakes and rivers in this article will be nearby if you live or are visiting the Phoenix area, including Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale, Glendale, Gilbert, and Tempe.

The reservoirs built along the Salt River and tributaries like the Agua Fria and Verde rivers are among the best collection of fishing lakes anywhere in the state and are often within an hour or two from home.įor anglers who don’t want to drive for more than a few minutes, we’ll show you the parks in Phoenix and surrounding communities with small lakes stocked with trout and catfish. Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and most of the state’s other largest cities, is actually quite loaded with excellent angling. You might think such a place with well over 4 million people and so little rainfall wouldn’t have much fishing, but you would be wrong. The Phoenix area is by far Arizona’s most populous county and is famously hot and arid.

Az game and fish locations