Outdoor News Daily

Arizona Game and Fish law enforcement officers from Region 5 recently met with the Pima County Attorney’s Office to encourage more consistency in the handling of fishing violation citations. Effective immediately, all Game and Fish citations for fishing without a (proper) license in the Tucson area, including Sahuarita, will result in a $150 fine from the Tucson Justice Court. Fines may vary on a case-by-case basis, and can be reduced if the violator purchases a valid license. In any case, the cost of the fine will far exceed the price of a valid license. The Urban Fishing Program operates on a user-pay, user-benefit model, and fishing without a license is taking from the resource and negatively effects legal users.

Game and Fish Officers have been regularly patrolling Lakeside, Kennedy, Silverbell and Sahuarita Lakes over the past year to ensure compliance with fishing license and bag limit regulations at these popular waters. Both uniform and undercover patrols have been conducted to ensure fairness and compliance with the laws. Many citations were issued for fishing without an Urban license or fishing with no license. Often, the courts were inadvertently dismissing the citations without any fines—essentially negating the efforts of officers and making compliance a bigger problem. Anglers are reminded to make sure they have a valid, $18.50 Urban Fishing License (Class U) or $53 resident ($63 nonresident) Super Conservation Fishing License if they are age 14 and older. Check the 2009-2010 Arizona Fishing Regulation booklet or the 2010 Urban Fishing Program Guidebook for specific licensing exceptions. Licenses may be purchased at one of many local license dealers (sporting goods stores, fishing or hunting shops, or Walmart), any Game and Fish office, or online at http://www.azgfd.gov.

WHITE AMURS VITAL TO KEEPING LAKES CLEAN
This is the busiest time of year for white amurs to graze on nuisance aquatic plants at urban waters. Plants are abundant and growing fast at some lakes. White amur, or grass carp, are like “aquatic cows” feeding on plant growth across the bottoms of our lakes. Vegetarians by nature, the white amur can feed on 1-2 pounds of weed material a day. They are a vital biological tool to browse on plant growth and help keep our lakes clean and fishable. Cities spend thousands of dollars a year to buy the sterile amur and put them out to “pasture” in the lakes. The white amur can live up to 10 years and reach weights over 40 pounds. In their lifetime they can consume over a ton of weeds. This biological weed control is a better environmental alternative than the use of expensive weed control chemicals, requiring certified applicators and repeated treatments every year. While the amur prefer plants, they will occasionally bite on worms, corn, bread and even lures. Legally, white amur must be at least 30 inches long to keep. Anglers are reminded that amur are in the lakes to help clean up your fishing waters. Please release them unharmed so they can go about their lawn mowing business.

URBAN FISHING REPORT
Fishing for catfish is slow at all Urban Fishing waters statewide through the summer (no stocking period). For holdover catfish, try the larger lakes over 5 acres in size. Some catfish and bass are being caught, but it takes persistence and some good timing in the early morning and evening hours. Fishing has been good all summer for the plentiful bluegills that frequent the shoreline areas in search of food. Mealworms fished on the bottom or a few feet under a bobber will catch sunfish throughout the day, especially if anglers use smaller bobbers and light line in the 2-4 pound range. At Green Valley lakes (Payson), anglers are having some success for crappie, bluegill and bass. Smaller nightcrawlers (Dillys) and mealworms are working 4-6 feet under the surface. At all lakes remember to release any of the weed eating white amur right away so they can go back out and munch on the weeds (see article above). Fish stockings will resume at all Phoenix and Tucson area Urban waters the week of September 20-25. Green Valley Lakes (Payson) stockings will resume in October.

STOCKING SCHEDULE:

* All UFP waters in Phoenix area and Tucson area – Last stocked catfish July 1 or July 7 (Note: this was the final spring stocking before the summer break.) No further stockings until fall catfish deliveries resume the week of September 20-25.
* Green Valley Lakes (Payson) – Last stocked trout May 7. No further stockings until October trout deliveries resume.

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