Western Outdoor Times - Times Spent Outdoors: Priceless!

Tip Of The Week

Greer Derby

The Business Council of Greer is sponsoring a $10,000 Fishing Derby until Oct. 31.

Catch one of 50 tagged fish in the three Greer Lakes and bring one into the Lazy Trout Market to exchange for a hat.

On Nov. 1 at 10 a.m. at The Lazy Trout Market, a tag will be drawn and it must match the winning number sent by OddsOnPromotions to win the $10,000.

Registration is not necessary before catching the tagged fish.

If there is no $10,000 winner, a $250 first and $100 second place winner will be drawn.

Complete rules are available at The Lazy Trout Market.

The Reel Deal

Perhaps you did this for Dad on Father's Day. If not, there's still plenty of time (the season has just begun!) to take him fishing in the northern lakes of Arizona. The memories created around clear, blue mountain lakes remain lifetime gems. Don't miss one.

And, by the way, other family and friends will welcome the break from the Valley heat as well.

Here's where to go, or things to consider before heading out:

White Mountains And Mogollon Rim Lakes

Fishing is good-to-excellent for trout at Carnero Lake, Woods Canyon Lake, Show Low Creek, and Silver Creek.

Catching is good at Bear Canyon Lake and Nelson Reservoir. Large (13-inch length) rainbow trout are being stocked this year into Rainbow Lake, Fool Hollow Lake, and Show Low Lake, and Willow Springs Lake will be stocked this week with moderately large (11-inch length) rainbow trout.

Fishing is also good at most of the stocked streams, including East Fork Black River, LCR in Greer, and Sheeps Crossing. Also recommended are fishing for stocked bluegill at Woodland Lake and Fool Hollow Lake, and for stocked channel catfish at Rainbow Lake, Fool Hollow Lake, and Scott Reservoir.

Great Fishing Trips

Jim Goughnour of Rim Country Custom Rods said the Rim lakes and streams continue to produce some great fishing trips. Stocked trout are plentiful. PowerBait, salmon eggs, Super Dupers, Z-Rays, crankbaits and dry flies were all reported successful this past week, he said.

Flagstaff/Williams Area

At Lower Lake Mary, fishing slowed in early June for anglers using bait, but fly anglers continue to catch large numbers of fish in the early mornings and the evenings.

Ashurst Lake's water level has dropped to the point that launching boats is not allowed. In addition, the water quality has deteriorated to the point that trout stocking is no longer possible. There are still large numbers of trout in the lake so fishing should be okay. There are always monster pike.

We have a new northern pike, statewide fish-of-the-year keeper from Ashurst, pictured in this story. Fishing for trout with PowerBait on June 7, Lester R. of Glendale pulled in the 43.5-inch bruiser. Congrats, Lester!

Stocking in the upper reaches of Oak Creek have been canceled as a result of the Slide Fire. Stocking locations from Sedona downstream are still being stocked.

Lake Powell And Lees Ferry

Wayne Gustaveson wrote in his latest fishing report on http://www.wayneswords.com that "Lake Powell is still coming up and will break the 3600 MSL barrier today, but stripers are the big news now. Striper slurping boils are seen lake wide." See the full Wayne Gustaveson June 11 report at http://www.wayneswords.com [or on page 7 of this issue].

At Lees Ferry, we read in the Lees Ferry Anglers June 5 fishing report that for fly fishing up river, "Summer weather and the corresponding higher water flows have arrived right on schedule. It took a few days – really maybe 72 hours – for fish to settle into their high water mode, but once they did it was business as usual."