March offers the best time of the year to fish your nearby park lakes for trout, sunfish, bass and catfish. Good fishing for trout will continue through March as all lakes receive their final winter stockings.

Most trout are biting on Power Bait fished on the bottom, but worms and small jigs have worked well at times. The cool morning hours are the best times to target the trout.

As waters warm up, try fishing for largemouth bass that are now moving closer to shore as they prepare to spawn and search for food. Regulations require that all bass under 13 inches must be released unharmed immediately.

Reports keep coming in of anglers’ catching catfish, even though it has been nearly four months since the last cats were stocked. Speaking of catfish, the catfish stocking season starts on Thursday, March 21 at all Phoenix and Tucson area Urban waters.

Bluegill stockings will be done by the end of March. Excellent trout fishing conditions can be found at Payson's Green Valley lakes. Best bets for these pine-country trout are Power Bait, marshmallows and worms. Some success has been found by trout anglers using spinners, small spoons and jigs.

Trout Season Wrap-up; Catfish Coming March 21

The final winter trout stockings in the Phoenix and Tucson area Urban lakes took place the week of March 4-9. Urban lake water temperatures are rising into the ‘60s, signaling the annual stocking changeover from winter trout to spring catfish.

Last week's trout delivery will be the ninth one of the season, concluding a very successful winter stocking season of 100 percent on-time deliveries. For the fourth year in a row, the trout were larger than normal and averaged about ½ pound each.

At Payson's Green Valley Lakes, trout stockings will continue every two weeks for another two months until the middle of May.

All Urban Program lakes and ponds in the Phoenix and Tucson areas will be stocked with 1.5-pound average channel catfish on Thursday, March 21. Catfish sizes this spring are expected to be average or a bit bigger according to our Arkansas-based contractor.

Catfish will run from 14-19 inches in length. Beginning with the spring season kick-off stocking, catfish will be stocked seven times through mid June at rates averaging from 40 to 60 fish per acre. More than 13,000 pounds of Arkansas farm-raised catfish will be delivered and stocked into 19 Urban Fishing Program lakes every two weeks throughout the spring.

Upcoming Free Fishing Events For The Family

• March 23-24Outdoor Expo — including Kids Fishing Tank, at the Game and Fish Ben Avery Shooting Facility, 5000 W. Carefree Hwy, Phoenix. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• April 6 Riparian Preserve Festival and Kids Fishing at Water Ranch Park — Gilbert. 8 a.m. to noon

Remember to visit the Web — http://www.azgfd.gov — for stocking schedules, the Fish&Boat Arizona Web map, outdoor events calendar, and other great fishing and outdoor information. Also check out the Web for Weekly Fishing Reports, to submit your fishing photos or to send us your latest fishing report. We are also on Facebook.

Note: Call 1-800-352-0700 to report fishing violations.