Bass Fishing: Phoenix Arizona's Lunker Bass

On September 25, 1992, a veteran group of anglers entered the Phoenix Zoo to catch some of the huge bass in its five different ponds. They were invited by Arizona Game and Fish to participate in a rather radical experiment, one that would blossom into one of the nation's premier urban largemouth bass fisheries.

In the next few days the lunkers caught were stocked by biologists into all three of Papago Park's ponds. The 11-pound, 10.4-ounce largemouth bass caught here in 2000, within the city limits of Phoenix, proves how effective the effort truly was. In case you want to try your luck at the same spot, you might want to know the big fish was caught on a two-inch, pearl-colored grub.

As if that's not enough for you to consider fishing Arizona's urban waterways, consider the February 1992 catch of a 36-pound, 8-ounce flathead catfish at the same park. The battle lasted nearly 45 minutes and, of all things, the angler was using a plastic worm, which is usually reserved in the tackle box for bass.

It didn't take eight years for the experiment to start producing, either. Long before 2000, in fact as early as June of 1993, a 6-pound largemouth bass surrendered to a chartreuse spinnerbait. A pair of five pounders were caught later that same year when a fishermen was tossing a Zara Puppy.

Even during the desert's colder months catches are notable. In March of 2000 an 11-pound and a 10.4-pound largemouth were landed here. Both were released back into the lake, and if that's the kind of brooding stock in these waters, it's little wonder the ponds remain one of the state's favorite fishing destinations.

You can't fish within the Phoenix Zoo's property, but the transplant by anglers invited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department has become an annual event. The park is located east of Galvin Parkway and north of Van Buren in Phoenix--head toward the Phoenix Zoo and you'll find the park and fishable ponds on its outskirts. What a great day trip! Head to the park early, land a few lunkers, visit the zoo, and end the day with some tackle-testing action.

There were eight ponds in the area when the Works Project Administration finished construction in 1932 of what would become Papago Park and the Phoenix Zoo. In 1961, when the city of Phoenix took it over though, the new zoo's property encompassed five of the ponds. Public fishing was banned on those ponds, yet the three remaining reservoirs continue to attract thousands of anglers each year.

Although the largemouth bass action has pretty much become stuff of legend in the state, the ponds are not that large. The biggest only covers three surface acres and at its deepest plummets to a maximum depth of 11 feet. Another is one acre in size and the last covers only two acres.

Sure Phoenix is smack in the heart of the Sonora Desert and summertime temperatures routinely climb to more than 100 degrees. But consider this, shortly after the transplant--December, 1992--when ambient temperatures might rocket into the 50s and 60s, one angler landed a 6.8-pound largemouth by casting a crawdad-colored Rat-L-Trap. By the next March, when temperatures were soaring into the 70s and 80s, a rubber worm produced 4-, 6- and 7-pound bass--all caught by the same fisherman, on the same day!

Bear in mind though, this lake is managed as a Blue Ribbon Fishery by the state and not only do regulations change, but they are stricly enforced. Expect current regulations to dictate this as a catch-and-release fishery--after all, there no reason not let the next person land their own once-in-a-lifetime bucketmouth?

But if cabin fever has you looking for a place to escape the cold, Phoenix and Papago Ponds are something very different from your average travel brochure. For more information visit www.azgfd.com.