The 5 best lakes for fishing near metro Phoenix and what you can catch

Arizona's lakesoffer anglers a variety of fishing opportunities, and you don't even have to drive too far from metro Phoenix to find the perfect lake for you.

From trophy bass and stocked trout to sunfish and catfish, each lake has its own unique features and fish populations, ensuring that everyone is sure to find a lake that fits their angling style.

As an added bonus, these lakes are located just a short drive from metro Phoenix.

Here’s a look at some of the top fishing lakes near Phoenix and what you can expect to catch when you cast your line.

Bartlett Lake

Located in the Tonto National Forest, Bartlett Lake spans 2,815 acres and is known for its consistent largemouth bass fishing. The lake also hosts channel and flathead catfish, black crappie, sunfish, and common carp.

Trophy flathead catfish are often caught using live sunfish or small carp, while largemouth bass can be targeted with rubber worms using a technique called "drop shotting" or with shad imitation crankbaits. Black crappie respond well to minnows or jigs.

Night fishing is popular at Bartlett, with baitfish-attracting lights increasing the chances of a good catch.

A Tonto Forest Recreational Pass is required for access.

Canyon Lake

Canyon Lake is managed as a trophy largemouth bass fishery and is stocked with rainbow trout during the winter months. The lake also contains smallmouth and yellow bass, catfish, crappie, sunfish, walleye, buffalo, carp, and tilapia.

Thelargest largemouth bass ever caught in Arizona, weighing 16 pounds, 7.68 ounces, came from Canyon Lake.

Drop-shotting rubber worms and using shad imitation crankbaits are effective techniques, especially in the early morning and evening. Large rainbow trout swimbaits can be used to target trophy bass when trout are stocked.

A Tonto Forest Recreational Pass is required, and boating capacity may be limited during peak times.

Lake Pleasant

Located northwest of Phoenix, Lake Pleasant is a popular spot for largemouth bass, flathead catfish, and striped bass. The lake also has white bass, crappie, sunfish, carp, and tilapia.

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Flathead catfish are best caught with live sunfish or small carp, while striped bass can be targeted with shad imitation swimbaits or crankbaits. Spoons like castmasters are effective for both striped and white bass.

Using night crawlers under a bobber or on the bottom can help catch a variety of species. Largemouth bass respond well to drop-shotting rubber worms and shad imitation crankbaits.

Park entrance fees and campground reservations can be found on the Lake Pleasant Regional Park website.

Roosevelt Lake

Roosevelt Lake is a reservoir of more than 20,000 acres known for its excellent largemouth bass and crappie fishing. The lake has been stocked with Florida-strain largemouth bass, which can grow up to 20 pounds.

The lake also contains smallmouth and yellow bass, catfish, black crappie, sunfish, buffalo, and carp.

Drop-shotting rubber worms and using shad imitation crankbaits are effective for largemouth bass, while crawfish imitation lures work well for smallmouth bass. Yellow bass can be caught with minnows, castmasters, or small spoons.

A Tonto Forest Recreational Pass is required for access.

Saguaro Lake

Saguaro Lake is a warmwater fishery with over 2,200 fish habitat structures. The lake is stocked with rainbow trout twice a month in the winter and is known for its largemouth bass fishing.

Other species include smallmouth and yellow bass, catfish, crappie, sunfish, walleye, buffalo, carp, and tilapia.

Drop-shotting rubber worms and using shad imitation crankbaits are effective, especially during trout stocking months when large swimbaits can be used to target trophy bass. Night crawlers are effective for catfish and sunfish.

A Tonto Forest Recreational Pass is required, and boating capacity may be limited during peak times.

This story was created by editor Shelby Slade, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more:https://cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct/.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic:Top 5 lakes for fishing near metro Phoenix

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The 5 best lakes for fishing near metro Phoenix and what you can catch

Arizona's lakesoffer anglers a variety of fishing opportunities, and you don't even have to drive too far from metro Phoenix to...

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Cantore has two goals in the Spirits' 402 victory over the Orlando Pride

Sofia Cantore scored two goals, Trinity Rodman added a goal and two assists, and the Washington Spirit won their fourth straight with a 4-2 victory over the Orlando Pride on Saturday.

In other National Women's Soccer League matches, the Utah Royals beat Angel City FC 1-0 on the road and the Kansas City Current edged the host North Carolina Courage 2-1.

After a 90-minute weather delay, Washington wasted no time. Rodman picked out Cantore who struck from outside the box in the second minute for a 1-0 lead.

In the seventh, Rodman passed to Cantore, who dribbled past Anna Moorhouse and slotted it home to double the lead.

The two goals (5:27) were the fastest ever in the league’s history with Cantore eclipsing the previous record set by Uchenna Kanu in 2024 by 13 seconds.

Golden boot leader Barbra Banda drew a foul in the box on defender Esme Morgan, but Spirit goalkeeper Sandy MacIver denied the penalty kick from Ally Lemos. On the ensuing corner kick, Banda scored for her sixth goal of the season to narrow the margin.

Banda completed a first-half brace with the equalizer and seventh goal in the 39th to tie it.

Paraguay international Claudia Martínez earned her first NWSL start and tallied her second goal of the season in the 55th minute, giving the Spirit (4-1-3) back the lead.

Rodman scored the game’s final goal in the 70th minute, marking her third consecutive game with a score.

Despite Banda’s second consecutive game with two goals, the Pride (2-3-2) have dropped both results.

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Royals win fourth straight

Captain Paige Cronin delivered a pinpoint cross onto Cloé Lacasse’s head for the game’s only goal in the 32nd minute, giving Utah (4-2-1) a fourth straight win.

In first half stoppage time, Maiara Niehues received a direct red card for violent conduct towards Lacasse. It was the first in club history for Angel City FC, who would also play down a player the entirety of the second half.

Royals Goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn started her first match of the 2026 season and earned the clean sheet with four saves.

After starting the season with three consecutive wins, Angel City FC (3-3-0) have now lost three straight.

Current hold on for road win

Croix Bethune and Michelle Cooper scored first-half goals for the Current (3-4-0), who hung on for the win on the road.

Bethune opened up the scoring with a volleyed goal in the eighth minute. In the 23rd, Cooper dribbled past goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan and finished from a tight angle to make it 2-0.

Manaka Matsukubo trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the 85th for North Carolina (2-2-3) with a goal off a rebound.

Courage defender Felicitas Rauch was handed a straight red card in second half stoppage time for violent conduct on Haley Hopkins.

AP soccer:https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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Cantore has two goals in the Spirits' 402 victory over the Orlando Pride

Sofia Cantore scored two goals, Trinity Rodman added a goal and two assists, and the Washington Spirit won their fourth straight with a...

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Trump advisers step up their calls on China to help open Strait of Hormuz ahead of Beijing summit

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House officials are pressing China to use its influence with Iran to open theStrait of Hormuzjust days before PresidentDonald Trumpand Chinese PresidentXi Jinping'shighly anticipated summit in Beijing.

APTOPIX Trump

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Chinese officials to use Iranian Foreign MinisterAbbas Araghchi's scheduled visit to China on Wednesdayto urge Tehran to release its chokehold on the critical waterway.

“I hope the Chinese tell him what he needs to be told,” Rubio said during a White House briefing Tuesday. “And that is that what you are doing in the strait is causing you to be globally isolated. You’re the bad guy in this.”

The secretary went on to argue that China has been hit harder than the U.S. by Iran’s effective shuttering of the strait during the two-month old war. Beijing's export-driven economy depends on shipments going through the strait. China also imports about half of its crude oil and almost one-third of its liquefied natural gas from the Middle East, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.

“It is in China’s interest that Iran stop closing the strait,” Rubio said.

A diplomat familiar with the matter also told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the U.S. has been engaging in serious efforts to persuade China to abstain from vetoing the most recent U.S.-backed resolution at the U.N. Security Council aimed at opening up the strait and condemning Iran’s actions. The diplomat spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations.

China and Russia — Tehran’s two allies on the council — last month vetoed an earlier Hormuz resolution, saying it went too far and did not condemn the U.S. and Israel for strikes that started the war.

Trump's Treasury secretary has also urged China to do more

Rubio's push on China to get more involved came after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that Iran would be high on the agenda when Trump meets with Xi for the first visit by a U.S. president to Chinasince Trump visited in 2017.

The effective shuttering of the strait is having anenormous impact on Asiabroadly, a factor that seems to have informed the Chinese government’s efforts to consult with Pakistan to help mediate a two-week ceasefire.

To be certain, Trump has said he believesChina played a partin encouraging Iran to agree toa fragile ceasefirethat was forged last month. Three diplomats who were familiar with China’s behind-the-scenes efforts also confirmed that Beijing, the biggestpurchaser of Iranian oil, used its leverage to get the Iranians back to the negotiating table as talks wobbled.

But the Republican administration believes China can still do more to get involved in reopening the critical waterway.

“The threat of attacks from Iran has closed the strait — we are reopening it,” Bessent said in a Fox News interview. “So I would urge the Chinese to join us in supporting this international operation.”

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Trump himself spoke in more measured tones about China’s involvement with Iran, telling reporters in the Oval Office earlier Tuesday that China hasn’t “challenged” him even as he continues to press Iran to give up its nuclear weapons program and open the strait. China, however, has been critical of the U.S. military action against its long-isolated economic partner in the Middle East.

“You know, in all fairness, he gets, like, 60% of his oil from Hormuz,” said Trump, slightly exaggerating Xi and China's dependence on Middle East oil.

China has faced suspicions of assisting Tehran

China has long supported Iran’s ballistic missile program and backed it with dual-use industrial components that can be used for missile production, according to the U.S. government.

But Trump said last month that Xi had agreed to not provide weapons to Iran as reports circulated that Beijing had considered transferring arms.

Days after Trump said he received a letter of assurance from Xi, he claimed in an interview with CNBC that the U.S. forces had intercepted a boat containing a “gift” from China bound for Iran. Trump did not offer further details.

The administration has also sought tostep up economic pressure on China, Tehran's biggest trade partner, for its ties to the Islamic Republic.

The Treasury Department announced on April 24 it waslevying sanctions on a major China-based oil refineryand roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil. The sanctions cut off the companies from the U.S. financial system and penalize anyone who does business with them.

Rubio says Taiwan will be on Trump-Xi agenda

Meanwhile, the Chinese have signaled they will look to press the U.S. to dial back weapons sales to the self-ruled island of Taiwan that Chinaviews as its own breakaway province.

Rubio confirmed Taiwan would likely be part of the conversation between the leaders. “I think both countries understand that it is neither one of our interests to see anything destabilizing happen in that part of the world,” Rubio said. “We don’t need any destabilizing events to occur with regards to Taiwan or anywhere in the Indo-Pacific. And I think that’s to the mutual benefit of both the United States and the Chinese.”

Trump in December announced arecord-setting $11.1 billion arms saleto Taiwan. Trump later suggested he woulddiscuss the arms sales with Xi— a move that has alarmed officials in Taipei.

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a call with Rubio urged the United States to “make the right choices” on Taiwan in order to safeguard “stability” between the two nations, according to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Amiri reported from New York.

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Trump advisers step up their calls on China to help open Strait of Hormuz ahead of Beijing summit

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House officials are pressing China to use its influence with Iran to open theStrait of Hormuzjust days before P...

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FDA authorizes first fruit-flavored e-cigarettes in US amid political pressure

May 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday allowed the marketing of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes ‌in a first authorization of non-tobacco-flavored vaping products, amid ‌mounting political pressure on the agency.

A man uses an e-cigarette on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York

The authorized pods from Los Angeles-based Glas ​Inc, a small vape maker that uses technology to age-gate its devices, include flavors such as Classic Menthol, Fresh Menthol, Gold and Sapphire, the FDA said.

"The FDA's rigorous, scientific review ‌of these products found ⁠that the applicant sufficiently demonstrated that Glas's device access restriction technology, combined with FDA-required marketing ⁠restrictions, is expected to effectively mitigate the ability of youth to use the product," the regulator said.

Earlier in the day, the Wall ​Street ​Journal reported that President Donald ​Trump over the weekend rebuked ‌FDA Commissioner Marty Makary for not moving quickly enough to approve flavored vapes and nicotine products.

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U.S. regulators have avoided granting licenses to flavored vapes, and the FDA has said it would continue to require a heavy burden of evidence ‌of benefits to smokers for vape ​flavors that also have strong appeal ​to youth, such ​as fruit or candy flavors.

However, earlier this year, ‌the agency tweaked its strict ​approach to flavored ​vapes, a shift that follows intensifying tobacco industry lobbying and political pressure to allow more products to market.

With ​the latest decision, ‌the FDA has now authorized 45 e-cigarette products for ​sale in the U.S.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in ​Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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FDA authorizes first fruit-flavored e-cigarettes in US amid political pressure

May 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday allowed the marketing of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes ‌in a first aut...

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Trump says ‘Project Freedom’ will guide ‘innocent bystander’ ships through Strait of Hormuz

President DonaldTrumphas promised the U.S. will guide ships through the blockedStrait of Hormuzfrom Monday as part of a “humanitarian gesture” dubbed Project Freedom.

In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump warned ships from “innocent bystander” countries not involved inthe war he started with Iran in Februarywere running low on food and other supplies.

“Countries from all over the World, almost all of which are not involved in the Middle Eastern dispute going on so visibly, and violently, for all to see, have asked the United States if we could help free up their Ships,which are locked up in the Strait of Hormuz, on something which they have absolutely nothing to do with,” the president wrote late Sunday.

“They are merely neutral and innocent bystanders! For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business.”

U.S. Central Command (Centcom) – the division of the Pentagon responsible for the Middle East – announced that 15,000 troops, more than 100 aircraft, and a number of guided-missile destroyers would be involved in the effort.

“The Ship movement is merely meant to free up people, companies, and Countries that have done absolutely nothing wrong — They are victims of circumstance,” Trump continued.

“I think it would go a long way in showing Goodwill on behalf of all of those who have been fighting so strenuously over the last number of months.

“If, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully.”

However, Iran has responded to the president’s latest post with further threats against the U.S.

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Major General Ali Abdollahi of the Iranian military’s central command said: “We warn that any foreign armed force — especially the aggressive US military — if they intend to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz, will be targeted and attacked.

“We have repeatedly said the security of the Strait of Hormuz is in our hands and that the safe passage of vessels needs to be co-ordinated with the armed forces.”

On Monday, the Joint Maritime Information Center said that the U.S. had set up an “enhanced security area” south of typical shipping routes and advised vessels to coordinate closely with Omani authorities “due to anticipated high traffic volume.”

“Our support for this defensive mission is essential to regional security and the global economy as we also maintain the naval blockade,” Centcom commander Admiral Brad Cooper said.

Mariners have been stranded in the Gulf since as early as 28 February, when the U.S. and Israel began a bombing campaign against Iran, who shortly afterwards closed the Strait of Hormuz to free maritime traffic and implement a toll-system.

The move comes as tentative peace talks involving the U.S. and Iran have stalled, and the economic impact of the ongoing conflict continue to grow.

“I am fully aware that my representatives are having very positive discussions with the country of Iran, and that these discussions could lead to something very positive for all,” Trump said in his Sunday post.

However, Ibrahim Azizi, a senior Iranian lawmaker, warned that U.S. involvement in managing shipping through the Strait of would amount to a violation of the ceasefire.

Azizi said that the Strait and the Persian Gulf “would not be managed by Trump’s delusional posts".

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Trump says ‘Project Freedom’ will guide ‘innocent bystander’ ships through Strait of Hormuz

President DonaldTrumphas promised the U.S. will guide ships through the blockedStrait of Hormuzfrom Monday as part of a “humanitarian g...

Read More