The Arizona Game and Fish Department recently announced that the spring catfish stocking season that includes eight deliveries of fish every other week will end the week of June 28-July 3. Every stocking, 14,000 pounds of 14-20 inch channel catfish, are delivered from Arkansas to Arizona’s 20 “Urban Fishing Program” waters in the Phoenix and Tucson areas.
Coming from fish ponds in Arkansas, the fish farms drive a total of over 50,000 miles on their large rigs to truck catfish into Arizona’s park lakes during the spring stocking season.
Warming lake temperatures and air temperatures make it impractical to haul live fish into Arizona’s Urban Lakes and Ponds during the heat of the summer. Consequently, the state stops scheduling fish stockings for July, August, and the first half of September.
Catfish stockings resume again in mid-September when lake and air temperatures cool enough to safely transport fish across the hot desert and into the Urban waters. Anglers can still fish for catfish, bass and bluegill at Urban waters throughout the summer, but the action is generally slower.
