Western Arizona's fishing follows the lower Colorado River, which forms the state line with California. Unlike the trout lakes of the high country, this is a warmwater system built around bass, sunfish, catfish and striped bass, and Arizona State Parks promotes it as fishable any time of year.
Lake Havasu is the centerpiece. Arizona State Parks describes it as an impoundment of more than 19,000 acres on the Colorado River, and AZGFD manages it first for high-quality largemouth and smallmouth bass, second for redear sunfish as a featured species, and third as a general fishery for striped bass. Below Parker Dam, the Parker Strip runs 18 miles to Headgate Dam between mountains on both banks, and farther south the river feeds Yuma-area backwaters such as Mittry and Martinez lakes.
Region notes updated October 6, 2026Havasu is a reservoir with little natural woody cover, so since 1992 the Lake Havasu Fisheries Improvement Program has built habitat on the lakebed. The partnership, led by the Bureau of Land Management, includes AZGFD, Arizona State Parks and Trails and California's wildlife agency, and it has placed PVC reefs, concrete reef balls and brush bundles in 124 coves on both shorelines. The payoff shows in the record book: AZGFD's Colorado River records for smallmouth bass and redear sunfish both come from Lake Havasu.
A valid Arizona fishing or combination license covers boat fishing on any water forming Arizona's boundary with California or Nevada, as well as fishing from the California and Nevada shorelines; the old Colorado River stamps are no longer required. From the California-Nevada line south to Mexico, including Lake Havasu, the daily limit is six bass with a 13-inch minimum, 25 sunfish or crappie combined and ten trout. Cibola Lake is closed from Labor Day through March 15, and posted parts of Martinez Lake close from October 1 through March 1.
Buckskin Mountain State Park overlooks the Parker Strip with 68 campsites, waterfront camping, a beach and a boat ramp, and its operators note that winter is the season for touring and fishing.
No. An Arizona fishing or combination license lets you fish from a boat anywhere on the boundary waters with California or Nevada, and from those states' shorelines.
In many places, yes. AZGFD allows fathead minnows on all waters of La Paz and Yuma counties, and golden shiners and goldfish on La Paz and Yuma county waters and the Colorado River below Hoover Dam. Baitfish bought from a licensed dealer may be transported only to these legal areas.
Yes. West Wetlands Pond and Pacific Avenue Athletic Complex Pond in Yuma, and Council Avenue Pond in Somerton, are community ponds with reduced limits of two trout, two catfish, one bass of at least 13 inches and five sunfish.
Dates are AZGFD stocking weeks, not guaranteed plant days. How this data is sourced