Going fishing this weekend and not sure which lake I want to try out. I've never been to Canyon or Roosevelt, but I've fished Patagonia a couple times. Just wondering which spot has the best fishing.

I'm in Catalina so all three lakes are around 2 hours from me according to google, but if there's another lake around that same distance that's got great fishing I can try that too.

Any tips or tricks for whichever lake you guys recommend would be greatly appreciated too. No boat so I'll just be using a kayak.


Thanks dudes.

Canyon has big bass, Roosevelt is a tournament level bass fishing lake.  The underwater structure is completely different too.  Canyon.. is well in a canyon, and rocky and steep in spots.  Roosevelt has a lot of underwater trees.  Both best served by fishing from a boat or kayak.

I have not fished either in a long time but that is a simple synopsis.  

Canyon also has Walleye.

I mainly use senkos wacky, and roboworms carolina rigged on 3/0 offset shank ewg(God I love Gamakatsu hooks).  Also poppers and curly tail grubs on lead heads.

This is my limited bass fishing experience in AZ.. im sure others have way more info than I do, as well as newer/better lures and baits beta... and I am a trout guy.

@Taggart_lumpy

Yeah I grew up in Oregon fishing on the river for trout and salmon so this is somewhat new to me. Thanks for the info!

Canyon has a minor golden algae bloom going on so ymmv. Are you in a boat? If yes then go to Roosevelt!

Since you will be Kayak fishing, go to Patagonia.  You can explore the whole lake with a kayak if you wanted to.  Not so for Canyon and Roosevelt.  

Honestly, Patagonia is my favorite bass lake anyway.  Apache is nice too but the drive sucks for me coming from Tucson.  

Canyon is too close to Phoenix so expect lots of speed boats and jet skiers to ruin your fun.

Roosevelt, while a good lake for bass, is huge and you won't be able to adequately explore it with a kayak.  

For Patagonia I like to keep one pole with a Texas Rigged power worm and another with either a spinner or a plug.  

There are some weed beds at Patagonia where spinners work great, especially for trolling but that doesn't really apply to you.  You can still anchor over them and cast with a spinner though.  

I usually only use the plug for the middle of the day when the bass are deeper in the water column.

I keep a third lightweight pole rigged with a jig for crappie.  Sometimes bass go for it too.

Flipping is your friend at Patagonia.  There is so much reed and rock structure that the lake is practically purpose made for using plastic worms.

Top water usually works well in the evenings.  I like Zara Spooks for top water fishing.  

This is a 3.5 pounder from Patagonia.

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Another 3.5 pounder from Patagonia

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Also from Patagonia

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And just for the hell of it, this is a 6+ pound cat I caught at Canyon on 4lb test and an extra light weight rod using a crappie jig.  Talk about a fun fight!

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Canyon has a no engine area set up specifically for yaks and canoes.
It's a nice area with reeds and structure that allows for some good fishing, I've pulled lots of 3 pound+ Bass out of the area, and quite a few others.

I do sort of cheat, I run a Garmin fish finder on my yak.

Part of the no engine area at Canyon...



Don't forget Saguaro lake, I've pulled some nice ones out of there too, this one was 7.5 pounds...



Also pull some nice cats out of Saguaro...

Corporal_Chaos is right, there will be lots of boat traffic at Canyon and Saguaro lakes on the weekends. I work at Saguaro Lake and can verify this.

The wakeboard boats and jet skis make the lakes practically un-fishable during the day unless you like to "rock and roll" amongst the waves.

Best times for these lakes on the weekends is early morning or evening.

That's why I go during the week.

I've only been to Canyon during the week and it is still too crowded for my liking.  Noticeably more so compared to Apache.

Can you give us some details about your kayak?  That looks like a sweet setup.

Got it at Bass Pro shop a few years back.
It's an Ascend FS12T, nice fishing yak, very stable and lots of storage.
Added the fish finder on a Ram mount and it works well.
The only downside is you do sacrifice some speed for the additional stability.
One of is best features is the rigid seat, very comfortable.
I can fish/paddle all day with no fatigue.

My wife runs a Ocean Kayak with the traditional hull, it's a darn sight faster, but much more "tippy".



I will be upgrading to a Hobie with mirage drive this fall.

I just got back from Patagonia.  My buddy and I fished yesterday evening and this morning.  We landed seven bass between us and had a few more get away.  

I would say the fishing wasn't as good as usual.  We had to really work to catch what we did.

On the bright side, I caught another 3.5 pounder and we had three that were around two pounds each.

The heat was brutal whenever there was no cloud cover over the lake.

Nice! I went last Friday and didn't even get a bite.

It was pretty miserable in the kayak. What baits were you guys using?

I caught all of mine on a big green spinner with double willow blades.  My buddy caught at least most of his on various spinners.  Patagonia is usually great for soft baits but they just weren't working for us this time around.

Yeah I was tossing Texas rigs and Carolina rigs most of the day and nothing. Tried a spinner a little bit but it was pretty late in the day.

Got a lot going on this weekend, but next weekend I'm gonna head down and try again.