Fishing

Recently moved back down to Goodyear after living in Utah for 5 years and being active on the Utah boards (already missing ice fishing season). Is anyone around on these boards?

There isn't too much action on these boards. I also moved down here from Utah about a year ago. It's nothing like the Utah boards. There are a few folks on here but posts are few and far between. I was posting for a while bit I haven't been able to get out lately. Hopefully after hunting season I can free up some time.

Yeah very big difference on here from the Utah boards. Surprising considering how much fishing can be done in the state.

Hey I'm from show low and love ice fishing. I'm hoping the lakes will freeze soon so I can start the ice season. If you miss it enough head up to the high country and we can hit the ice.

Hey guys, you're not missing much this year. Water levels are low and it has been warm. No ice yet except in the high country.

Don't know why but the Arizona board has always been tough to get jump started. I know. I was the one who started it a few years ago, when I lived there.

This state has amazing fishing but I guess nobody likes I talk about it. I'm glad I found the site and will tell my friends to sign up also. I love talking fishing and I hope I can find a few local people in here who do too.

Good luck. Back when I first started the forum I made the rounds of all the tackle and bait shops and put up flyers wherever they would allow me. I always carried cards and handed them out as I drove around the lakes and saw people fishing.

I came to the conclusion that there were either a lot of fishermen that did not spend much time online...or there were not many computer literate folks in Arizona that liked to fish. It was amazing how many people I talked to on the water simply said..."I don't use a computer".

On the other hand, Utah has an unusually large percentage of the population that are both fishermen and internet savvy. That has made BFT Utah one of the most active state fishing websites in the country.

There are quite a few states that are like Arizona. Good fishing but not many forum-oriented anglers.

But, if you think that's bad, take a look at California. It was somewhat active for a while, in the early years, but there is very little going on there now. The reason? There are millions of computer geek fishermen in California, but there are also lots of localized websites...that are specialzed by type of fishing and areas fished, etc. California is a big state but it is broken down into a whole lot of little states in terms of fishing.

Do you have any idea if Hawley lake has any winter access and does it get enough of a hard deck to support fishing (4"+)?

Hawley lake can easily have 18 to 24 inches of ice if not more at its best in winter. The problem is that they close the roads to the lake. It has already been closed for the winter even though we haven't had snow. There is a back road but I don't know if they close that off too. It would probably too bad to drive anyway if there was any snow on the ground. Your best bet for ice fishing is sunrise lake. It's not hard to catch large fish through the ice there. There is a secret to ice fishing that lake though. The lake has oxygen depletion issues. Early in the winter you can fish off of the bottom and do well but as time goes on the oxygen starts to deplete starting in deep water so the fish will move higher toward the surface. You can also fish A1 on the ice. The fish aren't nearly as big but on one trip last year I caught 55 before noon. I hope this helps and I hope to see you on the ice if we ever get any this year.