Must Read Articles by Bob Hirsch
Salt River Trout Float
Professional bass anglers claim fishing is mostly mental; that you have to concentrate, stay focused and shut out all extraneous distractions. They've never floated the Salt River below Saguaro Lake, trying to catch rainbow trout amid a crowd of bikini-clad tubers. It's impossible to keep your mind on 'bows when you're confronted with a panorama of buns and boobs. Luckily, fishing is so easy you can see the sights and still limit-out on trout. There were anglers here and there along the shore and some wading out a ways when we fished the river late in July, but we saw no other fishermen floating. The water from Saguaro Lake is taken from deep in the lake, so it's cold enough for trout. By early June it's too warm for new tout - coming from a hatchery at 60 degrees or less to water that might be in the low to mid-70's is too much of a shock, so stocking has ended for this year. But the trout from previous plants have adapted gradually and they are doing fine. It takes about 90 minutes to make the float from the big parking lot where the bus drops off tubers (what is called Water Users or Stop #1) down to Blue Point Bridge. We used inflatable boats, parked a pickup at each end and ferried the boats back up to make a second float. In years past we've caught fish on wet flies like wooly buggers or wooly worms or various nymph patterns and on hardware (usually Z-Rays or Panther Martin type spinners) but the best bet is bumping bait or tiny plastic curly tail grubs along the bottom. Most of the trout on the most recent float came on night crawlers rigged on a #4 or #6 hook on four pound mono and with a split shot clamped about18" up the line. I shared a boat with my son Bill. He used one hand as an oar to keep the boat broadside in the current, the other to hold his ultra-light spinning outfit. The idea is let out enough line so you can feel the sinker bump along the bottom. The worm rides up behind it and the current is swift enough so the fish don't have a chance to look things over, they either hit or the worm is gone down stream. Bill's wife Diane was in a small boat by herself; as was grandson Austin. We all caught fish. Most were released and taking home a limit would have been no problem. We found long stretches where the water was too shallow. Those areas undoubtedly held fish but it was too easy to lose hooks, so we reeled in until deeper water was under us. In fact, the bottom grabs hooks almost as often as the trout, so take along plenty of extra tackle. Arizona Game and Fish stocked the river weekly all spring and early summer but water temperatures have begun to warm, so there've been no "new" fish since early July. Still lots of "leftovers" however and the trout grow quickly. Most of the trout we caught were in excellent shape, deep-bodied and pink inside. And while the average was probably 10" or so, the best was more like 13". I'd guess there'll be some 15-16" fish by early October, when the water level will drop, as releases are switched to the Verde River side. Stocking will resume in November (or so) but in the area below the confluence of the Salt and Verde. Meantime, you can catch rainbows in the shade of a saguaro, rather than a pine tree. And there are all those interesting distractions you don't see in the high country. SALT RIVER ACCESS: To get to Water Users/Stop #1 and Blue Point Bridge, take Highway 87 (Beeline Highway to Payson) from Fountain Hills to the Saguaro Lake turnoff. Turn right; go past the lake entrance and on down the hill to Water Users parking lot. Begin the float there, where the tubers enter the water. From the East Valley, take the Hwy 60 freeway to Power Road and go south. The road swings east as you hit the river at Granite Reef, continue to Blue Point Bridge, then on a mile or two to the put-in point. Both routes are paved. Good luck and try to keep your mind on your work!
TROUT ON BAIT
God must love those who fish for trout with bait - He made so many of us. I'm one of them. And, truth to tell. I'd guess more rainbows, browns, cutthroats, brookies and native trout are caught on bait each year in Arizona than on all the other techniques combined. So if you're gong to fish with bait, do it right. As with all fishing methods, there's no absolutely correct way. Here's what works for me. Do exactly as I suggest and you'll catch trout. First the line. It should be four pound test monofilament; either Trilene XL, Stren Clear or Excaliber Silver Thread. Yes, yes, I know. You have problems believing that filmy four-pound line will whip a big trout. Number one, you and I aren't going to catch any really outsized trout. Number two, I've used four pound to play and land rainbows to 8 1/2 pounds, so set the drag on your reel properly, take your time playing the biggie and quit worrying. Let me put it this way: there are no trout in Arizona that cannot be landed on four-pound line. It is so easy to cast, so sensitive to the bite and so much fun to use, there is no other alternative. If you persist in using 10 or 12-pound test, don't bother to read on - you're beyond help. Second, the rod and reel. I assume you're fishing for fun, rather than food, so use a tiny splinter of a rod; the so-called ultra light. I have two outfits I currently am in love with - a 5 1/2 foot Enders IM6 graphite, coupled with a Quantum Micro XLT spinning reel and a 5-foot Quantum Micro rod with a tiny Micro MS00 spinning reel. Both give me the ultimate thrill when a fish is attached - and that includes trout but also bass, carp, bluegills, catfish and. especially, crappies up to three pounds.I used the Enders to muscle a three-plus pound smallmouth bass out of some rocks on the Black River in May. Sure it took a long time and sure I held my breath a lot (or temporarily lost it altogether) and sure I shook when it was all over but that's why we all go fishing, isn't it?Finally, let's talk about weight; sinkers of one kind or another. We've all been fishing from the bank at Ashurst or Big Lake or Sunrise or Willow Springs and seen some guy haul off and whip his rod over head like the Hungarian Hammer Throw; seen the line whiz out - way out - then seen and heard the big chunk of lead go "chung" when it hit the water. Friends, the trout is mostly a picky eater. When it eats the worm or corn or salmon egg or Power Bait on that guy's hook and begins to move away, it will feel the weight; the unusual pull will tip off the trout and it will spit out the bait. Our hero will never know, his lead weight is so heavy he doesn't feel the delicate pick up and misses his chance to catch the fish. In fact, he's using line so heavy he must have that anchor size gob of lead in order to cast any distance at all. I have three messages for this angler. First, you're missing all the fun. Second, you don't need to cast that far, there are just as many trout closer to shore. Third, your best chance of getting a trout is to hit it in the head with your weight and stun it, then net it as it's blown to shore. What we need to do, fellow believers, is use the very lightest amount of weight possible. In fact, if you use a night crawler on four-pound mono, you can cast just fine without any weight at all. Now you're presenting the bait as naturally as possible. There's no trout ever born that can pass up a wriggling worm, wafting gently though the clear water. It will not reach the bottom!One more piece of the puzzle - a small hook. Occasionally, if I'm fishing live night crawlers, I'll use a hook as large as a #8. Usually, it's a 10 or 12. No trebles, please, that makes it too hard to unhook the trout and release it and trebles do nothing for your hooking percentage. So stick with a single hook. Don't ever, that is never, use a hook on a snell. We've dropped down to four-pound mono so it's more or less invisible to the picky trout - most of the snelled hooks are tied with 10 or 15 pound - a super turn-off to a line-shy trout.All right, we have our ultra-light outfit loaded with four-pound mono and with a #12 light wire hook tied to the end. Now pinch on a tiny split shot weight about 15" up from the hook. If you need more weight (you shouldn't) clamp on one more.Now for the bait. The most popular trout fooler is Berkley Power Bait. It comes in a small bottle, in a number of colors. I like pink, yellow, green and rainbow-sparkle. Yes, it is sort of strange that this romantic fish would fall for a bit of something that looks and acts like modeling clay but it's deadly stuff. Pinch off a bit and mold it on the hook, covering it completely, including the eye. The result should be the size of a small grape, not a walnut or a golf ball. Power Bait works three ways - it is colorful and trout often feed by sight; it has built-in scent that fish love and it "milks" in the water, spreading the good odor; and, most importantly, it floats. Now your bait is not down on the bottom in clump of weeds or rocks, it is floating above them. The split shot sinker goes to the bottom, the Power Bait floats up and is visible.Use the same sort of set up for night crawlers, corn (thread a couple of the kernels up the line, cover the hook, then slide them down to cover everything); a combination of worm and corn; salmon egg; cheese; or marshmallows. Whatever you choose, be sure the hook is covered completely.Leave just a little slack line twixt you and the bait and watch closely. When the mono begins to move, whip up the rod and yell Whoopee!All elements of this method are important, don't skip or fudge. It's worked for me and countless other folks for many years. One favor: as you catch and release trout all morning, please be kind to the non-successful anglers that share the bank with you - the ones who haven't heard that "light is right."
HIGH COUNTRY AUTUMN TROUT
Big Lake is one of the most popular trout lakes in the state. The White Mountain "mother of waters" puts out two or three hundred thousand trout every year. Have you ever fished it when you and your buddy were the only ones there? No other anglers, no campers, no rental boats, no store; nobody but the two of you and thousands of hungry fish. How is this possible? The truth is, it was just after Thanksgiving and nobody else was crazy enough to put up with the cold and the wind, just to catch some fish. Big Lake's brook trout spawn in the fall and we could see them cruising the shallows - the big males hook-jawed and arrayed in crimson and black spawning colors. They wouldn't hit anything but night crawlers and when, toward dusk, we dumped the worms out on the ground to save time, they froze solid into tiny railroad spikes. So we decided to give up. But my partner, fellow outdoor writer DeWayne Smith, did catch a new state record brookie before we left. Smith and I were all alone at Reservation Lake another November. Nobody measured wind chill in those days but it must have been way down in the minus digits. It was so cold it took your breath away to take a breath. So we hid from the wind below the crest of the dam, not far from the spillway. A gold Z-Ray, cast out in the whitecaps and allowed to sink, then retrieved slowly, got us brook trout, browns and rainbows, often on consecutive casts. It amazing what you can put up with when that happens.
Another time Gary Fanning joined DeWayne and me and we fished off the dam at Sunrise in a raging snowstorm. It was actually warmer than some of the other years and the snow banks were a good place to toss the big rainbows we kept. They thrashed around a bit, then froze. And when we picked them up later they looked like they were coated with powdered sugar. We quit fishing - reluctantly - when the snow was coming down so thickly we couldn't see each other.Perhaps all this is not something you'd like to try. It turns out the tag end of fall - just before the lakes freeze and the roads get closed by snow - is a favorite of mine. But you can enjoy the good fishing anytime from mid-October through November and not have the extreme conditions we put up with.
Professional bass anglers claim fishing is mostly mental; that you have to concentrate, stay focused and shut out all extraneous distractions. They've never floated the Salt River below Saguaro Lake, trying to catch rainbow trout amid a crowd of bikini-clad tubers. It's impossible to keep your mind on 'bows when you're confronted with a panorama of buns and boobs. Luckily, fishing is so easy you can see the sights and still limit-out on trout. There were anglers here and there along the shore and some wading out a ways when we fished the river late in July, but we saw no other fishermen floating. The water from Saguaro Lake is taken from deep in the lake, so it's cold enough for trout. By early June it's too warm for new tout - coming from a hatchery at 60 degrees or less to water that might be in the low to mid-70's is too much of a shock, so stocking has ended for this year. But the trout from previous plants have adapted gradually and they are doing fine. It takes about 90 minutes to make the float from the big parking lot where the bus drops off tubers (what is called Water Users or Stop #1) down to Blue Point Bridge. We used inflatable boats, parked a pickup at each end and ferried the boats back up to make a second float. In years past we've caught fish on wet flies like wooly buggers or wooly worms or various nymph patterns and on hardware (usually Z-Rays or Panther Martin type spinners) but the best bet is bumping bait or tiny plastic curly tail grubs along the bottom. Most of the trout on the most recent float came on night crawlers rigged on a #4 or #6 hook on four pound mono and with a split shot clamped about18" up the line. I shared a boat with my son Bill. He used one hand as an oar to keep the boat broadside in the current, the other to hold his ultra-light spinning outfit. The idea is let out enough line so you can feel the sinker bump along the bottom. The worm rides up behind it and the current is swift enough so the fish don't have a chance to look things over, they either hit or the worm is gone down stream. Bill's wife Diane was in a small boat by herself; as was grandson Austin. We all caught fish. Most were released and taking home a limit would have been no problem. We found long stretches where the water was too shallow. Those areas undoubtedly held fish but it was too easy to lose hooks, so we reeled in until deeper water was under us. In fact, the bottom grabs hooks almost as often as the trout, so take along plenty of extra tackle. Arizona Game and Fish stocked the river weekly all spring and early summer but water temperatures have begun to warm, so there've been no "new" fish since early July. Still lots of "leftovers" however and the trout grow quickly. Most of the trout we caught were in excellent shape, deep-bodied and pink inside. And while the average was probably 10" or so, the best was more like 13". I'd guess there'll be some 15-16" fish by early October, when the water level will drop, as releases are switched to the Verde River side. Stocking will resume in November (or so) but in the area below the confluence of the Salt and Verde. Meantime, you can catch rainbows in the shade of a saguaro, rather than a pine tree. And there are all those interesting distractions you don't see in the high country. SALT RIVER ACCESS: To get to Water Users/Stop #1 and Blue Point Bridge, take Highway 87 (Beeline Highway to Payson) from Fountain Hills to the Saguaro Lake turnoff. Turn right; go past the lake entrance and on down the hill to Water Users parking lot. Begin the float there, where the tubers enter the water. From the East Valley, take the Hwy 60 freeway to Power Road and go south. The road swings east as you hit the river at Granite Reef, continue to Blue Point Bridge, then on a mile or two to the put-in point. Both routes are paved. Good luck and try to keep your mind on your work!
TROUT ON BAIT
God must love those who fish for trout with bait - He made so many of us. I'm one of them. And, truth to tell. I'd guess more rainbows, browns, cutthroats, brookies and native trout are caught on bait each year in Arizona than on all the other techniques combined. So if you're gong to fish with bait, do it right. As with all fishing methods, there's no absolutely correct way. Here's what works for me. Do exactly as I suggest and you'll catch trout. First the line. It should be four pound test monofilament; either Trilene XL, Stren Clear or Excaliber Silver Thread. Yes, yes, I know. You have problems believing that filmy four-pound line will whip a big trout. Number one, you and I aren't going to catch any really outsized trout. Number two, I've used four pound to play and land rainbows to 8 1/2 pounds, so set the drag on your reel properly, take your time playing the biggie and quit worrying. Let me put it this way: there are no trout in Arizona that cannot be landed on four-pound line. It is so easy to cast, so sensitive to the bite and so much fun to use, there is no other alternative. If you persist in using 10 or 12-pound test, don't bother to read on - you're beyond help. Second, the rod and reel. I assume you're fishing for fun, rather than food, so use a tiny splinter of a rod; the so-called ultra light. I have two outfits I currently am in love with - a 5 1/2 foot Enders IM6 graphite, coupled with a Quantum Micro XLT spinning reel and a 5-foot Quantum Micro rod with a tiny Micro MS00 spinning reel. Both give me the ultimate thrill when a fish is attached - and that includes trout but also bass, carp, bluegills, catfish and. especially, crappies up to three pounds.I used the Enders to muscle a three-plus pound smallmouth bass out of some rocks on the Black River in May. Sure it took a long time and sure I held my breath a lot (or temporarily lost it altogether) and sure I shook when it was all over but that's why we all go fishing, isn't it?Finally, let's talk about weight; sinkers of one kind or another. We've all been fishing from the bank at Ashurst or Big Lake or Sunrise or Willow Springs and seen some guy haul off and whip his rod over head like the Hungarian Hammer Throw; seen the line whiz out - way out - then seen and heard the big chunk of lead go "chung" when it hit the water. Friends, the trout is mostly a picky eater. When it eats the worm or corn or salmon egg or Power Bait on that guy's hook and begins to move away, it will feel the weight; the unusual pull will tip off the trout and it will spit out the bait. Our hero will never know, his lead weight is so heavy he doesn't feel the delicate pick up and misses his chance to catch the fish. In fact, he's using line so heavy he must have that anchor size gob of lead in order to cast any distance at all. I have three messages for this angler. First, you're missing all the fun. Second, you don't need to cast that far, there are just as many trout closer to shore. Third, your best chance of getting a trout is to hit it in the head with your weight and stun it, then net it as it's blown to shore. What we need to do, fellow believers, is use the very lightest amount of weight possible. In fact, if you use a night crawler on four-pound mono, you can cast just fine without any weight at all. Now you're presenting the bait as naturally as possible. There's no trout ever born that can pass up a wriggling worm, wafting gently though the clear water. It will not reach the bottom!One more piece of the puzzle - a small hook. Occasionally, if I'm fishing live night crawlers, I'll use a hook as large as a #8. Usually, it's a 10 or 12. No trebles, please, that makes it too hard to unhook the trout and release it and trebles do nothing for your hooking percentage. So stick with a single hook. Don't ever, that is never, use a hook on a snell. We've dropped down to four-pound mono so it's more or less invisible to the picky trout - most of the snelled hooks are tied with 10 or 15 pound - a super turn-off to a line-shy trout.All right, we have our ultra-light outfit loaded with four-pound mono and with a #12 light wire hook tied to the end. Now pinch on a tiny split shot weight about 15" up from the hook. If you need more weight (you shouldn't) clamp on one more.Now for the bait. The most popular trout fooler is Berkley Power Bait. It comes in a small bottle, in a number of colors. I like pink, yellow, green and rainbow-sparkle. Yes, it is sort of strange that this romantic fish would fall for a bit of something that looks and acts like modeling clay but it's deadly stuff. Pinch off a bit and mold it on the hook, covering it completely, including the eye. The result should be the size of a small grape, not a walnut or a golf ball. Power Bait works three ways - it is colorful and trout often feed by sight; it has built-in scent that fish love and it "milks" in the water, spreading the good odor; and, most importantly, it floats. Now your bait is not down on the bottom in clump of weeds or rocks, it is floating above them. The split shot sinker goes to the bottom, the Power Bait floats up and is visible.Use the same sort of set up for night crawlers, corn (thread a couple of the kernels up the line, cover the hook, then slide them down to cover everything); a combination of worm and corn; salmon egg; cheese; or marshmallows. Whatever you choose, be sure the hook is covered completely.Leave just a little slack line twixt you and the bait and watch closely. When the mono begins to move, whip up the rod and yell Whoopee!All elements of this method are important, don't skip or fudge. It's worked for me and countless other folks for many years. One favor: as you catch and release trout all morning, please be kind to the non-successful anglers that share the bank with you - the ones who haven't heard that "light is right."
HIGH COUNTRY AUTUMN TROUT
Big Lake is one of the most popular trout lakes in the state. The White Mountain "mother of waters" puts out two or three hundred thousand trout every year. Have you ever fished it when you and your buddy were the only ones there? No other anglers, no campers, no rental boats, no store; nobody but the two of you and thousands of hungry fish. How is this possible? The truth is, it was just after Thanksgiving and nobody else was crazy enough to put up with the cold and the wind, just to catch some fish. Big Lake's brook trout spawn in the fall and we could see them cruising the shallows - the big males hook-jawed and arrayed in crimson and black spawning colors. They wouldn't hit anything but night crawlers and when, toward dusk, we dumped the worms out on the ground to save time, they froze solid into tiny railroad spikes. So we decided to give up. But my partner, fellow outdoor writer DeWayne Smith, did catch a new state record brookie before we left. Smith and I were all alone at Reservation Lake another November. Nobody measured wind chill in those days but it must have been way down in the minus digits. It was so cold it took your breath away to take a breath. So we hid from the wind below the crest of the dam, not far from the spillway. A gold Z-Ray, cast out in the whitecaps and allowed to sink, then retrieved slowly, got us brook trout, browns and rainbows, often on consecutive casts. It amazing what you can put up with when that happens.
Another time Gary Fanning joined DeWayne and me and we fished off the dam at Sunrise in a raging snowstorm. It was actually warmer than some of the other years and the snow banks were a good place to toss the big rainbows we kept. They thrashed around a bit, then froze. And when we picked them up later they looked like they were coated with powdered sugar. We quit fishing - reluctantly - when the snow was coming down so thickly we couldn't see each other.Perhaps all this is not something you'd like to try. It turns out the tag end of fall - just before the lakes freeze and the roads get closed by snow - is a favorite of mine. But you can enjoy the good fishing anytime from mid-October through November and not have the extreme conditions we put up with.
Browns, Brookies & Fat Rainbows
High country trout have been putting on weight all summer. Action improves dramatically in all trout lakes but the White Mountains offer the best chance for big fish. Browns and brooks spawn in the fall and they are up shallow and lose some of their wariness as they fall in love. You remember how that works. Everything works - from night crawlers to dainty flies. Rule of thumb - give them something of a decent size to eat. Use big wooly worms or wooly bugger flies. Throw gold Z-Rays in 1/4 ounce, or Panther Martin or Mepps in # 2 or #3 sizes. Gold Rapalas in # 7 to 11 sizes work very well for browns. Rebel crankbaits in crawdad colors are another winner. I like to fish the shorelines and shallows early and late; the brook trout, especially, seem more active late in the day. Troll the rest of the time, with any of the above lures or flies. Go prepared for cold - longies, down jackets, stocking caps, gloves. October weather is generally pleasant, chilly at night, glorious during the day. November can be O.K. too - just be prepared for the worst.
Hot Spots in the Cold
For browns: Reservation Lake (new state record 22-15 brown here in August, 1999), Hawley, Horseshoe Cienega, Little Bear - all on the White Mountain Apache reservation - plus Bunch and Tunnel lakes at Greer. Rainbows: Big Lake, Sunrise, Reservation, Crescent, Luna, River Reservoir at Greer. Cutthroat: Big LakeGrayling: Lee Valley Lake O.K. gang - go get 'em!
posted by Big Louie at 5:21 PM
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