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GONE FISHIN'!

Arizona's Black River and Big Lake

story and photos by Austin Richardson

Getting Started

userfiles/images//BLACKwebmap.jpgDIRECTIONS From Gallup, NM: Take I-40 West 42 miles to Sanders, AZ. Take Hwy. 191 South 80 miles to Eagar, AZ. Head west of town on Hwy. 260 for 5 miles to Hwy. 261. Take 261 south 20 miles to Big Lake. From Flagstaff, AZ: Take I-40 east 90 miles to Holbrook, AZ. Take Hwy. 77 south for 70 miles to Show Low, AZ. From Show Low, take Hwy 260 east approximately 40 miles to the turnoff for Hwy 273 and Big Lake. Take 273 south 15 miles to Big Lake. To West Fork Campground: At Big Lake, continue around on Hwy 261 to the south end of the lake. When the road comes to a T, turn right. In less than 1 mile, turn right at the sign that says “West Fork Campground.” Continue on this road for 9 miles. BETA An Arizona Gazetteer is necessary to navigate the White Mountains extensive web of dirt roads, should you decide to explore. Basic information can be found on maps titled “Show Low”, “Pinetop” and “White Mountains,” which can be purchased in most of the area's gas stations. LICENSES You can buy them at the general store at Big Lake. Arizona's non-resident five-day license is a pretty good deal at $26. If you would like to fish the lake with two fishing rods at once, you need to buy an extra $4 stamp.

For Arizona fishermen, the White Mountains are no secret. The lakes and streams are some of the best stocked in the state and the summer there is like heaven compared to Phoenix and Tucson.

If you're a stream fisherman, however, you can easily avoid the hordes of snowbirds and their RVs. The west fork of the Black River is a good place to start. The West Fork Campground, which sits alongside some of the river's good fishing and before any of the road's difficult stream crossings, is one of the last free campgrounds in the area.

The stream is narrow, and runs through tall pine forests and some gorgeous meadows. The foliage along the stream isn't dense, but there's enough cover to make for some nice, cool holes to fish. However, as daytime temperatures rise during the summers, try to fish early and late in the day. The fishing should be best in the fall.

When speaking about the Black River's west fork, "River" may be a misnomer. Even at its highest, the west fork is a small stream. If you fish it far enough to the west, the river opens up, but that means crossing into the White Mountain and San Carlos Apache Reservations - and buying another license.

The river is well stocked, and rainbow, brown, cutthroat and Apache trout inhabit the waters. Smallmouth bass can be found toward the reservation.

The Apache trout is native to Arizona, and the Black is still one of the few places they can be found, even though Arizona's Game and Fish Department is trying to increase the population. A beautiful fish, their bodies are colored a golden yellow and their heads and backs a dark olive green.

For flies, nymphs and dry flies like Royal Wulffs, Adams, Humpies and Light Cahills should be good bets. Don't expect to catch anything huge, but there are plenty of 6- to 8-inch trout that will fit nicely on the camp stove.

A small stretch of the west fork is catch and release only, but it is well-posted, and sits right near the border with the Apache reservation.

The river ran high through summer. Traditionally, the best fishing in the White Mountains starts during late summer and lasts through late fall, and this year should be no different.

Once you've had enough of the relative solitude on the west fork of the Black, you can head back to Big Lake. The Forest Service has four campgrounds at the lake, the Rainbow Campground being the largest. Spaces for tent campers and for RVs are available and cost between $10 and $14 per night. The amenities are extraordinary for Forest Service campgrounds (showers: $3).

At the south end of the lake is a grocery store, where you can rent boats and motors, and buy licenses groceries, gas and tackle. Whatever you need once you're at the lake, you can probably find it there. If not, the towns of Eagar and Springerville aren't more than 45 minutes away.

Whatever the fish are biting on, the store's owners will probably know.

If you have a boat or an inner tube, take it. While you can have success fishing from the shore, you'll have more once you leave it. Even before sunrise, the best fishing spots are crowded, and if you fly-fish, then you know it's pretty hard to cast when you're rubbing shoulders with other fishermen.

As much as it pains me to say it, if you're fishing from the shore, you'd better bring your spin gear and some power bait. As for flies, Wooly Worms, Wooly Buggers (brown, green and black) and Peacock Ladies are probably your best bets throughout the day.

If you come prepared, and you're patient, Big Lake is excellent fishing. The lake is stocked every year with over 300,000 fish, and often times, the Arizona Game and Fish Department takes some of the prize "show fish" from its hatcheries and placed them in Big Lake as incentives. Much of the stocking occurs in fall, which only adds to the good fishing that time of year.

The lake is filled exclusively with trout (brook, rainbow and cutthroat), and you shouldn't pull in many fish under 10 inches. The usual catch is from 10 to 16 inches, with a limit of 6 trout a day.

Whatever type of fishing you prefer, you can find it in the White Mountains, along with hunting, hiking and wildlife watching. Avoid Big Lake around major holidays, the place is absolutely mobbed and, unless you reserved a camping spot well in advance, you probably won't be able to find one.