Gone Fishin'

The shutters will get painted next weekend, and the relatives can do without us on this visit. The sign on the shop window, barely legible front years of use, is posted again. For the siren song has crept into our lives and we're "gone fishin'"

The preceding night was spent selecting perfect lures for this expedition. Food and gear are now prepared and packed with loving attention those shutters will never know. A warmth of anticipation seeps into our conversation, cushioned by our expectations. Even newspaper headlines don't seem quite as frightening.

This morning didn't need a startling alarm to announce the day. Fadding around the familiar darkened house, attired more regally than a Brooks Brothers executive, in sweatshirt, lacky panis, and a hat and vest guaranteed to snag on every bush within ten miles of water. Our maifled voices agree that we've probably forgotten something, but we're ready.

Even the wet grey early morning can't penetrate us with its cold, as we drive virtually deserted sheetc. The few other cars about represent the required comings and goings of commerce, but we're playing hooky, steziing away from all the responsibilities we willingly shoulder every other day. Because today is different Our choices are as varied as the land we inhabit. Today we can try a desert lake, mountain stream, the Colorado River or even go down to the gulf. Wherever our destination, it will be our special secret spot.

As the sky lightens, we tip toe through the pebbles and bushes down to the water's edge. Sounds often mated, now envelop us in the quiet morning. A pink eastern tky shows some gold at the horizon, the curtain's going up. GA

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

JUNE 1980 VOL. 58, NO. 6 Marvin Beck. Director of Publications Gary Avey, Editor Wesley Holden, Managing Editor Richard G. Stahl, Copy Editor Gary Bennett, Art Editor Gayle Kitonel Kimat, Assistant Art Faftor Shiney Muminaw, Circulation Maneger

Bruce Babbitt, Governor of Arizona

Arizona Department of Iraniuertation William A. Ordway, Director Oscar T. Lyon, Jr., State Engineer Board Members Ralph A. Walkım: Jr., Chairman, Wickenburg E. J "Charlie" McCarthy, vice Chermen, Kingman Armand P. Cirtega, Member, Sanders Jolin W. MoLaughlin, Member, Матеног Robert S. Evaris, Member, Meas Lawrence M. lecker, Member, Tucnon Anne Chesley, Member, Globe Arizona Highways Publication: No. (ISSH 00:4 1521) is published monthly by the Arizona Depsitment of Transportation. РОЗТМАЗТЕР Send address changes to Arizona Highways, 2000 W Lewis Ave., Phoenix, AZ 35009. $10.00 per vear in U S. and possessions, $12.00 elsewhare, single copies $150 each Sacerid Class Postage para at Phoenix, Arizona, under Act of March 3, 1879. Copyright 1980 by the Arizona Department of Transportation. Arizone Highways is printed by W. A. Krueger Co. Phoenix, Arizora.

Prices subject to change without notice. Allow so weeks for a change of address Send in the old as well as the new aggress including ZIP code. Telephona (802) 258-5641. The editors wil not be responsible fer anso licited manuscripts, photographs, artwork, o olher materials sent for editorial consideration.

Serious Tackle for the Serious Angler

by Bob Whitaker It doesn't necessarily follow that the better equipped angler catches the most fish. The end result hinges more on skill than equipment. Nevertheless, serious bass fishermen generally have in their possession a sturdy baitcasting rod for plastic worms and spinnerbaits. They also likely will be carrying a medium spinning or baitcast rod for casting top-water lures and wobbling plugs, plus a bass-action flyrod for working popping bugs in brushy coves.My favorite bass lures for Arizona lakes include: Heddon Chugger Spook, Heddon Tiny Torpedo, Rapala, Rebel Humpback Rattler, Bomber Waterdog and Bomber Pinfish, Cordell Spot, Pedigo Spinrite, Pedigo Jig-N-Rind, plus the always reliable plastic worm in chartreuse, red, blue, purple, or black.

Despite the current boom in expensive bass boats, such craft aren't essential for taking bigmouths. In fact, the trend is swinging to smaller boats and motors that can run all day on a tank of gas. Electric depthfinders and water temperature devices are a distinct advantage. They help in finding underwater "structures" and locating the feeding zones of fish. These zones are largely determined by water temperature and oxygen content.Canoes have boomed into popularity during recent years, not only for floating large rivers, but also for fishing mountain trout lakes and smaller bass impoundments in southern Arizona. The ideal outfit is a 16-foot canoe and electric motor for trolling.

Arizona trout fishermen score well on streams and lakes using everything from cheese, corn, marshmallows, and angleworms to hand-tied artificial flies and midget spinning lures. The most effective spinning lures are: Mepps spinner, Z-Ray (locally made in Tucson), Martin Panther, Wob-L-Rite, Roostertail, Flatfish, and Super-Duper.

The Arizona flyfisherman can select no finer rod for all-around stream and lake fishing than an 8-footer that balances with a #6 or #7 line. Floating fly lines are best for streams, while sinking type lines are preferred in nymph-fishing mountain reservoirs.

I asked Ed Adams, who has spent a lifetime flyfishing Arizona waters and is a past-president of the 400-member Arizona Flycasters Club, to select his ten favorite fly patterns. His dry fly choices are: Adams, Grey Hackle, Royal Coachman, Irresistible, and Ginger Quill. In wet flies, Ed likes the Peacock Lady, Wooly worm, Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear, Grey Hackle, and Black Gnat.

The flyrod bass fisherman is better off with a sturdier 81/2or 9-foot rod that throws a #8 or #9 weight forward-taper floating line. Lures should include both a variation of cork poppers and clipped deer hair bugs.

text continued from page 3 When the Colorado River dams were built, cutting off the migration runs.

The Colorado River squawfish is now listed as endangered.

Some fish historians believe all species native to Arizona originally stemmed from prehistoric types that moved out of the ocean and up the Colorado River to spread through the river's many tributaries. For example, one belief holds that the cutthroat strain of trout continued on up the river, while the Gila and Apache varieties turned off into the Gila drainage.

In the mid-1800s, there probably were only two trout: the Gila and Apache species in Arizona. Both were subjected to serious depletion by settlers using both mass-kill and sporting methods.

In those days, people fished for food, but gradually communities became established and thoughts turned to recreational fishing. With fishing pressure mounting, the newly formed Game and Fish Commission turned to stocking and artificial propagation of fish.

Until the late 1930s, widespread and indiscriminate stocking of fish was considered a panacea to all fishing problems. The idea was to dump in fish the more the better with no regard to their effect on native species. The old Federal Bureau of Fisheries (now the Fish and Wildlife Service) even ran railroad fish tanker cars from one end of the country to the other dumping fish in creeks, rivers, and lakes. Sometimes the train would stop on a trestle over some unknown creek and crews would throw in a few hundred fish without even keeping a record of the plant.

Other fish transported in the tanker cars were delivered to state hatchery personnel who carried them by horseback to backcountry streams and lakes.

Carp was one of the more popular species to plant because it rated high as a food fish. Today, the state is still paying for the indiscriminate mistakes made by those roving railroad fish planters who helped establish carp populations, one of the most detrimental introductions ever made in Arizona waters.

Trout was the number one game fish in Arizona at the turn of the century. Gus Becker, whose grandfather helped found the town of Springerville, once showed me some family album photographs of fishermen standing beside a horse-drawn wagon holding a rope as long as the wagon that was loaded with native trout. There was no thought of conservation in those days. The "catchand-release" concept still was years away.

Eventually, Arizona streams were stocked with trout other than natives. Local folks referred to them as either "natives" or "mountain" trout. The latter label applied to the exotic brook, brown, and rainbow species.

There is no record of when the first largemouth bass came to the state, but they probably were mixed in with a load of carp and catfish and spilled off some railroad trestle. The first smallmouth bass were planted in the upper Verde River in 1941.

The first Arizona fish hatchery was constructed in 1922 on the South Fork of the Little Colorado River. Unfortunately, water quality was unreliable and many trout died following heavy runoffs that carried silt and clogged delicate gills. A second hatchery was built at Pinetop in 1932. This one utilized a spring that provided consistent water temperature and purity.

Other hatcheries followed. Today, the Arizona Game and Fish Department operates fish-rearing facilities at Page Springs, Sterling Springs, Tonto Creek, Canyon Creek, and the most recent addition a once-private hatchery on Silver Creek in the White Mountains.

Although records are incomplete, it is believed the first state fishing license was sold in 1905. Last year, a total of 265,000 resident fishing licenses were sold to Arizonans, with 52,000 more going to non-resident visitors.

New lakes continue to be built in desert and mountain regions of Arizona. The latest is an 800-acre reservoir on the San Carlos Indian Reservation called Talkalai Lake, which was planted for the first time last year with bass, bluegill, and catfish.

The future appears bright for Arizona anglers. Not only are more lakes in the offing, but other exotic fish species are constantly being studied for possible introduction. While anglers reap the greatest reward from such achievements, they are not alone. Many visitors load their cameras with color film and head for streams and lakes knowing that some of Arizona's most magnificent scenery is mirrored in these fishing waters.