Arizona's trout fishing runs on an inverted calendar. The best months on the state's tailwaters and desert streams are October through April, when the Salt, the Verde and Oak Creek are cool and the rest of the country is frozen, and the White Mountains take over in summer when the low desert is unfishable. The one water that fishes all year is Lees Ferry, where the Colorado comes out of the bottom of Glen Canyon Dam at a nearly constant cold temperature. Arizona is also the only state with Apache trout, a native species that exists nowhere else, and that alone makes it worth the trip for anyone collecting native trout.
Lees Ferry: the Colorado below Glen Canyon Dam
The Colorado River at Lees Ferry is a big, clear, cold tailwater in a red rock canyon, and its trout are rainbows that feed almost entirely on midges. The hatch chart is honest about this: midges peak every month of the year, Blue-Winged Olives come off from fall through spring, and a brief Trico window in midsummer is the only other mayfly. The fishing is Zebra Midges in #20 to #26, Mercury Blood Midges, Disco Midges and Midge Larvae in #22 to #26, fished on long leaders with light tippet along the gravel bars. Most anglers run upriver by boat from the launch ramp; the walk-in water at Cathedral Wash and the Spencer Trail is limited but real. Flows of 5,000 to 20,000 cfs are all fishable, though they change daily with power generation. Best months are October, November, March and April, when the crowds and the wind are both down.
Apache trout in the White Mountains
The Black River and the White River drain the White Mountains of eastern Arizona, and both hold Apache trout, the state fish and a species recovered from near-extinction largely on the Fort Apache Reservation. The East and North forks of the White, and the upper Black around Hon-Dah and the Black River Crossing, are the places to look for them. Much of this water is on White Mountain Apache tribal land and requires a tribal permit in addition to, or instead of, a state license; the off-reservation reaches in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest are on the state license. The fishing is summer fishing, June through September, with Royal Wulffs, Elk Hair Caddis and Yellow Stimulators in #10 to #16, and hoppers from July. Flows rarely exceed a few hundred cfs. The Little Colorado, gauged with temperature, heads in the same mountains and holds trout in its upper reaches without a guide page yet.
Oak Creek Canyon
Oak Creek runs through the red rock canyon north of Sedona, and it is the most scenic trout water in Arizona and the most crowded on a summer weekend. Rainbows and browns hold in the pools between Slide Rock State Park and Cave Springs Campground, and the West Fork trail leads to smaller, quieter water. It fishes best in April, May, October and November: Blue-Winged Olives and midges in the cool months, a modest caddis hatch in spring, and a few Pale Morning Duns in early summer. Flows of 20 to 400 cfs are the range. Small flies and light tippet, and go on a weekday.
Desert winter trout: the Salt and the Verde
The Salt River below Stewart Mountain Dam is a tailwater on the edge of metro Phoenix, and from October through April it holds stocked rainbows, a few browns and steady midge and Blue-Winged Olive activity from the dam down past Coon Bluff. In summer the same reach is a tubing river and the trout are gone. The Verde River through the Verde Valley near Camp Verde and Clarkdale is Arizona's free-flowing desert river, stocked with trout in the cool months and home to native fish and smallmouth the rest of the year. Both are best in March, April, October and November on Zebra Midges, WD-40s and Brassies in #18 to #24. The East Verde and Tonto Creek, gauged Rim-country streams, hold trout in their upper reaches and are unwritten here.
The Mogollon Rim lakes
The Rim country between Payson and Show Low holds a string of small, high, cold lakes that are Arizona's best stillwater fly fishing. Woods Canyon Lake, at over 7,000 feet in the Apache-Sitgreaves forest, is the representative one: float-tube water for rainbows on chironomids, Callibaetis and leeches from May through September, and a refuge from the desert heat. Its neighbors along the Rim follow the same season.
Before you go
Arizona's stocking schedule determines whether the Salt, Verde and Oak Creek are worth fishing on a given week, and the tribal permit rules on the Fort Apache and Navajo reservations are separate from the state's. Check the Arizona Game and Fish Department for the current stocking calendar and regulations. Rainbow and brown trout, brook trout and a handful of Arctic grayling and golden trout are all recorded in the state, along with a much longer warmwater list led by channel catfish, bluegill and largemouth. See the Arizona fishing hub for every gauged water and the Arizona trout page for trout detail.