Thread: New in Chino, considering Watson lake

Hello. I'm happy to see there are crappie appreciators here. I've recently moved to Chino Valley, and I have been eyeballing the lakes. The dock at Watson is accessible to me. I am partly disabled, but can walk for a ways as well.

Any advice on accessible places? And especially, any advise on Watson lake, fishing from the dock?

I have considerable crappie experience, and I am a light line jig specialist by preference.

I would appreciate any tips or directions.

Hope to see some of you around.

I've never been to Watson.Seems like there would be a lot of trout there.Let us know if anything is biting.Will be waiting to hear.If so,let me know,I have some hand ties for you to try out there.

Welcome bud. I am relatively new to crappie fishing and am from Gilbert (SE of Phoenix). I have no experience with Watson lake so can't be of help. I am sure some of these other guys can point you in the right direction though. I look forward to hearing about your experiences!

We had cold, rain, wind and snow so far. And that was only yesterday.

So far, I've found two docks I can get at, Watson and Willow lakes.

As soon as I can thaw out and dry out, I'll be dragging a jig around them.

The water is high, way up around the trees (all three of them!).

Whenever these fish consider spring to be, they should find that interesting.

I am from the south (SC), and then from the valley (Surprise), so I don't know the timing on these cold lakes. But I will find out.

I will surely report.

Thank you for your replies, and the virtual flies too.

I just heard that there is largemouth in there. Haven't heard of crappie. Supposedly they are going to stock it with trout soon.

I find crappie mentioned at Watson several places on the web, but they could be quoting each other. I'll append the threads of hope by which I'm hanging. I don't know if they are in there, but I know how to find out. I hope it warms up some weekend; I'm starting to stress some.

The most hopeful reports comes from a bass site, but hey, we're all guilty of harvesting a trash fish now and then.

-----findings----------------------
WATSON - The fishing has slowed down as the water temperature has fallen. Large numbers of small crappie are in Watson, but I have not heard about people catching them.

Game and Fish Biologists surveyed Watson last fall and found the bass, sunfish, and bullhead to be plentiful. Crappies were also doing well. Look for the crappie fishing to pick up in a year or two. If you fish Watson and are having luck, please e-mail me at mchmiel@azgfd.gov so I can share your successes with others.

Northern Arizona Lakes

wikipedia speaks: Watson Lake (Arizona) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Are there Dogwoods out there? Here in Virginia (and other places that have them) Crappie and bass spawn seem to coincide with the blooming of the Dogwoods. If you don't have them, research for another plant that blooms about the same time of spring.

Some people say it Crappie time when the Palo Verde trees bloom. Or is it topwater time for bass when the Palo Verde trees bloom. Others mention when you can smell the orange trees, it's time.

So last weekend I thought about buying a water temp apparatus of some kind and trying the lake temps. But they don't have a lot of supplies here in Chino Valley.

But I did locate an old refrigerator thermometer, a ball of string, and a bank sinker from saltwater days. Affixing a and c to b, I approached the lakes and lowered the apparatus.

I got 45 near shore and 40 at the end of the dock, both Watson and Willow. Also I got cold, and nearly got my partially disabled self pitched off the dock by the wind and wave action.

So I will tend to my banjo pickin a little longer, wait for a warm-up, and try again. May buy a real thermometer thinger when I come downhill this weekend.

Re: blooming advice. I have decided that if I see anything blooming, I will take that as a Sign, and go. Why stop for botany when the fish may be comin ashore?

i'm not real sure about watson lake, but McClelland Lake
up by ashfork has crappie in it, and i've never seen a dock there, and Kaibab lake has crappie in it, but in these lakes, they are on the small side, not much growing time for them in the short summers