Streams and Lakes
Green Valley Lakes – Payson
The three lakes in Payson’s Green Valley Park are stocked with trout from October to May and also have populations of Bluegill, Black Crappie, Bass, Catfish and Grass Carp (White Amur).
Along with the general public using the lakes for fishing, the lakes are used for adult and youth fly fishing classes.
PFC periodically hosts veterans groups and other organizations from the valley at the lakes for fly fishing events. Before these events, we regularly conduct cleanup around the lakes.
Rim Country Lakes
Once a year our club members make the drive to Woods Canyon Lake and Willow Springs Lake to pick up trash that has accumulated over the season. The treasures typically found include baby diapers, cans, bottles, cigarette butts, paper and foam cups, bait jars, bobbers, hundreds upon hundreds of yards of fishing line and other miscellaneous items.
East Verde
PFC members have worked hand-in-hand with Arizona Game and Fish Department and the US Forest Service on a habitat restoration project on the East Verde River, north of Payson.
Upper East Verde
The Upper East Verde River is a spring-fed, wild rainbow trout, catch and release stream. Plunge pools, undercut banks, boulders and wood debris provide cover in much of this stream, but some sections were scoured down to sheer bedrock resulting in barriers to trout passage and production.
Dude Creek
Dude Creek, part of the Verde River watershed, has been designated by AZGFD as a recovery stream for threatened native Arizona (and New Mexico) Gila Trout. Several years ago, members of PFC helped in the re-establishment of the threatened trout species by hiking down to Dude Creek with packs full of young Gila Trout. This effort helped establish the “recovery population” of this threatened native trout species.
Check AZGFD fishing regulations prior to fishing Dude Creek. Restrictions may be in place regarding the spawning “window” as well as locations where barbless hooks may be required for Gila trout on Dude Creek.
The stream requires some additional improvement to help maintain cover and provide added depth to allow for adequate movement of trout throughout the stream.
Silver Creek
Silver Creek, just north of Show Low, is a two hour drive from Payson. This spring-fed creek that maintains 60 degree temperatures all year, is stocked with Apache trout and very large rainbow trout during the Catch and Release season from October 1 – March 31. The rest of the year, the creek is under the normal regulations that allow for keeping fish per daily bag limits.
The stream is generally a slow moving current that is fished from the banks where openings in the reed growth allow access to the stream. Recently, flash flood damage severely impacted the stream and reduced the depth in several sections, and exponentially increased the reed growth along the banks.
A few years ago, volunteers, including PFC members, worked to increase the creeks depth by removing debris and creating a small rock dam. While more, substantial and expensive, stream improvement work is considered by AZGFD for Silver Creek, PFC members do volunteer work, each year in the spring and fall, to help with improving access to a 1/4 mile or more of the stream by cutting and removing reeds…an arduous task!
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