Good Fishing Spot (Phoenix, Tucson, Sahuarita: shop, eat, best)

[TAGS70]

Hello all,

I have an 11 year old boy and I am trying to find a place to take him fishing. I've been to Lakeside Park and that wasn't much fun. He is new to fishing and I want to show him a great time. Also what kind of bait would I need to bring?

Thanks
Michael

[szupergipsy]

I go to Silverbell, nice shady trees, caught some 5 pounder cats. Use shrimp or stinky chicken thighs. I like the NE corner of the lake, so you won't get the sun in your face. You have to get there real early, because by 9 it goes dead. That is when some giant carps come out and do their rounds around the shore, some of them are gigantic.

[TAGS70]

Have you ever been to Rose Canyon Lake on Mt Lemmon?

[M.A.]

Lake Patagonia is nice. So is Lake Pleasant, up in Phoenix.

[Chorizo]

Take into consideration when reading my info below that it has been a long time since I've done any fishing near Tucson, so conditions may have changed.

In my experience, the urban lakes here are really hit or miss, really only good for catfish. Cheeseballs, or anything particularly disgusting you can find at the tackle shop will work.

Rose Canyon can be really good for trout, especially after they stock it. Powerbait is the way to go.

Patagonia is good for Blue Gill with worms. I've also been pretty successful using small spinner baits here for what I call rock bass (not sure if this is right name for them) - they look like small mouth bass but smaller. I've only ever caught them in areas where I could see them through the water, in the shallows usually feeding on the minnows/shad.

[TAGS70]

Originally Posted by Chorizo

Take into consideration when reading my info below that it has been a long time since I've done any fishing near Tucson, so conditions may have changed.

In my experience, the urban lakes here are really hit or miss, really only good for catfish. Cheeseballs, or anything particularly disgusting you can find at the tackle shop will work.

Rose Canyon can be really good for trout, especially after they stock it. Powerbait is the way to go.

Patagonia is good for Blue Gill with worms. I've also been pretty successful using small spinner baits here for what I call rock bass (not sure if this is right name for them) - they look like small mouth bass but smaller. I've only ever caught them in areas where I could see them through the water, in the shallows usually feeding on the minnows/shad.

Thanks for all the info, I love eating blue gill, one of the best fish in the ponds.

[Chorizo]

The bluegill love eating bluegill too. Chucks of raw bluegill meat makes great bait for more!

Edit to add: I found out that what I called rock bass are a type of sunfish, which is what a bluegill is as well. There is a third type of sunfish in that lake that I called just "sunfish". A lot more yellow colors and the lack of a blue gill.

I remember them all putting up a pretty good fight, in comparison to their size.

[szupergipsy]

Last weekend I went down to Sahuarita Lake, its actually very nice. I caught a piranha.

[Chorizo]

Is "Sahuarita Lake" one of those ponds in Rancho Sahuarita or whatever they call that development?

A piranha!? The Amazon river must feed those ponds!