09-25-2002, 11:08 AM
Yes to "all of the above". First of all, here are two links for you to checkout: [url "http://www.pr.state.az.us/parkhtml/patagonia.html"][#800080]http://www.pr.state.az.us/parkhtml/patagonia.html[/#800080][/url] (Patagonia Lake) [url "http://www.gf.state.az.us/frames/whatsnew/bod_frep.htm#top"][#800080]http://www.gf.state.az.us/frames/whatsnew/bod_frep.htm#top[/#800080][/url] (Arizona Fishing Report)
The southern part of Arizona received almost average rainfall during the monsoon, so it is not as dry as Phoenix north. Patagonia Lake (my favorite) is about an hour and a half drive from Tucson. It is around 250 acres of classic bassin' water. It has rocks, weeds, sunken trees, channels, flats, and lots of shoreline reeds and small coves. It is fed with a year round spring creek, so it maintains a fairly constant level. And yes, there is a real boat ramp. It is a state park.
October and November are two of the best months. The recreational boating drops off and the serious fishermen get busy. Lots of good wormin and spinner baitin'. Shad imitating cranks and jerkbaits work well around the edges and flipping the reeds is always good.
The real excitement begins when they start planting rainbows...usually sometime in November. That's when the hog bass cruise the shoreline looking for an easy big meal. Big rainbow finish plastics and hardbaits can get you into a ten pounder. They can also get you bent to a 50 pound flathead. Those big predatory cats sometimes blast rainbows on the top, near shore. I've had my laundry bill go up a couple of times when they did it near my kick boat...especially after dark.
Did I mention crappies? Find a treetop in 15 - 20 feet of water and you can pull big slabs out of Patagonia. My biggest was just over 3 1/2 and I couldn't count all the ones over 2.
Check those websites and give me an eshout if you need more stuff.
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The southern part of Arizona received almost average rainfall during the monsoon, so it is not as dry as Phoenix north. Patagonia Lake (my favorite) is about an hour and a half drive from Tucson. It is around 250 acres of classic bassin' water. It has rocks, weeds, sunken trees, channels, flats, and lots of shoreline reeds and small coves. It is fed with a year round spring creek, so it maintains a fairly constant level. And yes, there is a real boat ramp. It is a state park.
October and November are two of the best months. The recreational boating drops off and the serious fishermen get busy. Lots of good wormin and spinner baitin'. Shad imitating cranks and jerkbaits work well around the edges and flipping the reeds is always good.
The real excitement begins when they start planting rainbows...usually sometime in November. That's when the hog bass cruise the shoreline looking for an easy big meal. Big rainbow finish plastics and hardbaits can get you into a ten pounder. They can also get you bent to a 50 pound flathead. Those big predatory cats sometimes blast rainbows on the top, near shore. I've had my laundry bill go up a couple of times when they did it near my kick boat...especially after dark.
Did I mention crappies? Find a treetop in 15 - 20 feet of water and you can pull big slabs out of Patagonia. My biggest was just over 3 1/2 and I couldn't count all the ones over 2.
Check those websites and give me an eshout if you need more stuff.
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