Fishing the Lower Salt River and Saguaro Lake, and where to eat after
Thirty-one miles from downtown, the Salt River comes out of the bottom of Saguaro Lake cold enough for rainbow trout in a saguaro canyon, and the state stocks it from late fall through spring. Yellow bass by the dozen at Butcher Jones, an $8 Tonto Pass on the dash, wild horses on the bank. A guest guide from Smells Like Fish, ending at three Mesa tables on the road home.
Thirty-one miles east of downtown, the Salt River comes out of the bottom of Saguaro Lake cold. Bush Highway follows it for 12 miles through saguaros and a herd of wild horses, and the Arizona Game and Fish Department stocks it with rainbow trout from late fall through early spring at the Granite Reef and Phon D Sutton sites, and in summer at the two sites right below the dam where the water stays cold. Above the dam, Saguaro Lake has shoreline at Butcher Jones and yellow bass the reports call “prolific.” All of it is Tonto National Forest, and the parking pass is $8. This is the fishing half of a day out the Bush Highway. The eating half is at the end, in Mesa, on the road home.
I write the guides on Smells Like Fish, a bait and tackle site, and I am a guest here. Top of Phoenix asked for the water. They supplied the tables.
The day, in order
Buy the Tonto Pass at a gas station in Mesa, then take the 202 to Power Road and Bush Highway north. Be at Granite Reef or Coon Bluff at first light in the cool months with a light spinning rod and a Kastmaster or a nightcrawler under split shot, fishing the current seams and the soft edges where the stocked trout hold. Do not wade: the locals warn that “the walk to the shoreline is steep, and don’t wade into the river because of quick-sand spots,” and stay 50 feet from the horses. Late morning, drive on up to Butcher Jones on Saguaro Lake and fish worms or small jigs off the shore for yellow bass, which run in schools and bite when nothing else does. Lunch is 20 minutes back down the road in Mesa. In summer, flip the day: the trout are at Blue Point and Water Users right below the dam, and the river is a float, so fish it at dawn and be off it by nine.
What is in the water
Rainbow trout, stocked. HookedAZ’s Lower Salt River guide: “Expect Phon D. Sutton and Granite Reef areas to be stoked in the winter and Blue Point and Water Users areas to get trout in the summer.” Four a day statewide. Yellow bass at Saguaro Lake, no limit, on worms or jigs, all year. Largemouth and smallmouth bass in both the river and the lake, six a day in any combination, best in March through May. Catfish, carp, tilapia, crappie, and walleye in the river and the lake; catfish are ten a day, and crappie are 15 on the Salt River Project lakes. Saguaro Lake gets its own winter trout stockings, with the Butcher Jones area named for them.
Where to fish from shore
- Granite Reef, 31 miles: the diversion dam at the bottom of the river, a winter trout stocking site. Tonto Pass.
- Coon Bluff, 33 miles: bank access on Bush Highway between the stocking sites; the horses are usually here.
- Phon D Sutton, Water Users, Blue Point: the other Bush Highway sites, winter trout at Sutton and summer trout at the two below the dam. Tonto Pass.
- Butcher Jones Recreation Site, Saguaro Lake, 43 miles: the shoreline site for yellow bass and winter trout. Tonto Pass.
- Saguaro Lake Marina, 39 miles: shore access by the marina and two paved ramps north of it.
- Tempe Town Lake, 11 miles, on the way home: monthly trout November to February from the paved shore and the ADA piers, on the program’s 4-trout limit.
Licences, the pass, and the limits
Arizona requires a licence from age 10, sold online by the Game and Fish Department and at dealers: resident general $37 a year, combination hunt and fish $57, youth combo for ages 10 to 17 $5, a resident day $15; nonresident $55 a year or $20 a day. The $24 Community Fishing licence works only at the stocked city ponds, not on the river. The Tonto Pass is $8 a day, valid 24 hours from validation, $4 more for a motorized boat at the ramps, or $80 for the annual Discovery Pass; the America the Beautiful pass covers the picnic areas but not the boat launches. Statewide limits: trout 4, bass 6, catfish 10, walleye 6, crappie 15 on the Salt River Project lakes.
The gear side
Which spoon for a stocked rainbow in a current seam, how to rig a nightcrawler for the river without hanging it in the rocks, what a yellow bass takes at Butcher Jones, and how to read the dam release before you drive out: that is my beat, and it does not belong on a restaurant site. The full Phoenix fishing guide on Smells Like Fish has the map of all 14 spots with drive times from downtown, the live Salt River release below Stewart Mountain Dam, the 29 stocked city ponds by city, the Bartlett flathead water, Lake Pleasant’s fees, the licence links, the pass rules, and the tackle list.
Where to eat after
Bush Highway runs back to Power Road, and Power Road runs into Mesa. These three are on the Top of Phoenix Mesa list. The scores are theirs, not mine.
Sources. Arizona Game and Fish Department licence fees, statewide bag limits, Community Fishing Program limits, and stocking schedule (via the department’s published tables and eRegulations); Tonto National Forest passes page; HookedAZ Lower Salt River showcase; Visit Mesa, “Fishing the Lower Salt River”; Saguaro Lake reports via Westernbass and AA-Fishing. Drive distances computed on OpenStreetMap roads from downtown Phoenix.
Ray Dodson writes for Smells Like Fish. Ray is the pen name of that site's research desk: every recommendation is built from documented angler consensus, state fish and wildlife guidance, and published testing, with sources named in every article. This piece was written for Top of Phoenix.