All waters · Arizona · Saguaro Lake

Saguaro Lake, AZ

Reservoir in Maricopa County, Arizona. A roughly 1,300-acre reservoir on the Salt River below Stewart Mountain Dam, the closest of the Salt River chain lakes to Phoenix. Popular for largemouth and smallmouth bass, yellow bass, crappie, sunfish, channel and flathead catfish, and winter-stocked rainbow trout in the cold tailwater. The cold dam releases keep the upper lake cool. Low-elevation desert reservoir (about 1,500 ft) that fishes year-round.

44

Overall bite score

Scored 28 min ago · recomputed every 30 minutes

Water tempModeled12
Pressure trendNOAAsteady60
SolunarComputedmoon 65% lit51
Recent stockingState data50
Time of dayComputed100
WindNOAA30
Cloud coverNOAA35
PrecipitationNOAA50

Each instrument reads 0 to 100. The score is their weighted blend, tuned for lakes and reservoirs. No black box: every reading names its source.

What swims here

8 tracked species in Saguaro Lake, with the months each fishes best.

Bluegillabundant
Black Crappiecommon
Channel Catfishcommon
Largemouth Basscommon
Rainbow Troutcommon
Smallmouth Basscommon
Yellow Basscommon
Flathead Catfishrare

Water facts

TypeReservoir
CountyMaricopa
StateArizona
WaterFreshwater
USGS gauge09502000

Saguaro Lake Marina and the Saguaro del Norte and Butcher Jones recreation sites provide ramps and shore access. Water temperature is supported by the live USGS gauge on the Salt River below Stewart Mountain Dam (the lake's outflow), supplemented by a seasonal baseline. Tonto Pass required at developed sites plus an Arizona fishing license.

See the full forecast for Saguaro Lake in the app: best windows, 7-day outlook, what to bring, and offline regulations. The score and essentials are free.

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