Hey y’all,

I was wondering what small ponds you know of in the Phoenix area that aren’t as pressured or have really good bass in them. seems like a lot of the more popular ones get slammed these days and it’s hard to really find good spots! 

Thanks!!!

I hate to sound bitter and I’m sorry I’m not adding much value. I might PM you with a couple suggestions. When I moved here from Colorado about 5 years ago, there were a ton of hidden gems. You could just Google Earth places with water and find bass fairly easily. 
 

Nowadays, you have urban bass fishing tournaments and Instagram and YouTube local celebrity wannabes hot spotting ponds left and right that there are no honey holes anymore. It’s so sad. 
 

To further add to this troubling trend, are poachers who keep everything they catch. Prior to our recent monsoon, we’ve been suffering a severe drought. The canals were the lowest this year that I’ve ever seen them. There’s your source for our urban ponds, so follow the water. 
 

AZ Game and Fish don’t seem to care about urban stocking and especially maintaining healthy habitats. Golden algae blooms wipe out a lot of fisheries and that could take years to recover. 

Buckeye Hidden Lakes was an amazing fishery once upon a time. Golden algae hit that like the plague and the previous owner, a friend of mine, God bless his soul, for murdered on his own property last year….. it just goes on and on.  
 

Ask anyone who knows me, I’m a very optimistic, pie in the sky sometimes, chill dude, but I’m worried and frustrated with the fishing in AZ these days. 
 

I hope the monsoons help with our water levels but that’s only one attributing factor towards cultivating healthy fisheries. Social media to urban bass fishing tournaments on 3 acre ponds (seriously?) are pounding our resources. I sound like a lefty hippy, which I’m not politically, but yeah….. I’m bitter my friend. 

15 hours ago, Dorado said:

I hate to sound bitter and I’m sorry I’m not adding much value. I might PM you with a couple suggestions. When I moved here from Colorado about 5 years ago, there were a ton of hidden gems. You could just Google Earth places with water and find bass fairly easily. 
 

Nowadays, you have urban bass fishing tournaments and Instagram and YouTube local celebrity wannabes hot spotting ponds left and right that there are no honey holes anymore. It’s so sad. 
 

To further add to this troubling trend, are poachers who keep everything they catch. Prior to our recent monsoon, we’ve been suffering a severe drought. The canals were the lowest this year that I’ve ever seen them. There’s your source for our urban ponds, so follow the water. 
 

AZ Game and Fish don’t seem to care about urban stocking and especially maintaining healthy habitats. Golden algae blooms wipe out a lot of fisheries and that could take years to recover. 

Buckeye Hidden Lakes was an amazing fishery once upon a time. Golden algae hit that like the plague and the previous owner, a friend of mine, God bless his soul, for murdered on his own property last year….. it just goes on and on.  
 

Ask anyone who knows me, I’m a very optimistic, pie in the sky sometimes, chill dude, but I’m worried and frustrated with the fishing in AZ these days. 
 

I hope the monsoons help with our water levels but that’s only one attributing factor towards cultivating healthy fisheries. Social media to urban bass fishing tournaments on 3 acre ponds (seriously?) are pounding our resources. I sound like a lefty hippy, which I’m not politically, but yeah….. I’m bitter my friend. 

that’s what i have heard, i love the honesty here and i don’t consider it to be bitter. it is a very valid point. i’ve really only been fishing these 2 ponds lately and that’s about it. cant really find bass at any other urban ponds. Even fools hollow lake in Show Low is fairly pressured and people poach so often. I have no idea why you would poach the urban pond bass.. that’s just ridiculous.