Fishing for My Birthday,Looking for a Spot

my birthday is coming up next month, and I should have my RTT setup ready to go, so I want to take my kids fishing (they are 3and 6). Given their ages, looking for something at lower elevation, not to cold. I’m still new to the state, so I have no idea where to go. I read through the fishing thread, but didn’t get exactly what I was looking for.

Can anyone provide me with a recommendation? Prefer a place where we can have a campfire, possibly have frogs for some gigging, crawdads for my new trap, and some fish. Not looking for anyone’s secret spot, just somewhere nice to take the kids. Thanks for any help.

 

Call local state wildlife office for info??? Or, look them up online.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Also looking for a locals perspective. Perhaps the DGF is helpful here. My prior home state, they were not so I wasn’t considering that.

 

Probably has more to do with the individual than the agency. Spent 35+ years as a forester for the state of Ohio, and, not all of us were the same kind of person!! Most of our state wildlife guys (in my area) are very personable.

 

Canyon lake

 

We are transitioned into winter fishing, so you'll want to take them to places where the trout are being stocked. Crawdads are going to be in hybernation, so don't expect your traps to catch any until next summer. Hardly any of the reservoirs in the state will be stocking trout except for Canyon Lake, but I don't know of anywhere to overnight camp on that lake with an RTT, as all of the areas around it are day use only. Lake Pleasant does have a lot of good desert camping, but it's a striper/bass/catfish kind of lake which is best from Spring to Fall. Young kids usually need constant action to keep interested with fishing.

I always liked fishing along spots of the Verde River, but it's not always easy to find good overnight camping. Check the "North Central" section of the stocking report listed lower on this comment.

Here's the latest fishing report, which you should always check out: https://www.azgfd.com/fishing-report-nov-30-2017/

And here's the trout stocking schedule, telling you where they're putting them into this winter: https://s3.amazonaws.com/azgfd-port...INTER-Trout-Stocking-Schedule.-09_11_2017.pdf

 

Thanks. Lots of good info here, exactly what I am looking for.

 

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