Live wading and fishing conditions for 26 Arizona rivers
Every river below is monitored through its USGS streamflow gauges, refreshed every 15 minutes and rated in plain language for wading safety. Select a river for the live dashboard with current flow, trend, weather and community reports.
Colorado River at Lees Ferry
Arizona's crown jewel and one of the finest trout tailwaters on the continent — the cold, clear release below Glen Canyon Dam runs 15 miles of gin-clear riffles and gravel bars from the dam down to Lees Ferry. Flow is entirely generation-controlled by Bureau of Reclamation dam releases, so the daily water level swings on a schedule, not on rain, and reading generation matters more than any single CFS number.
Region: Colorado River Corridor · Fish for: Rainbow Trout · USGS gauges: Colorado River At Lees Ferry, Az
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Oak Creek
The iconic red-rock trout stream of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon — a cold, clear, spring-fed creek stocked heavily with rainbows and holding wild browns in the shaded upper canyon. Heavily visited and heavily fished, but the deeper pools and pocket water below the swimming holes still give up good trout, especially early and late in the day.
Region: Mogollon Rim · Fish for: Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout · USGS gauges: Oak Creek Near Sedona, Az, Oak Creek Near Cornville, Az
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Lower Salt River
The Lower Salt below Saguaro Lake and Stewart Mountain Dam is metro Phoenix's playground river — cold winter releases stocked with rainbow trout, warm-season smallmouth, largemouth, catfish, and carp, plus wild horses and summer tubers. Flow is entirely controlled by Salt River Project dam releases, so conditions track the release schedule, not the weather.
Region: Central Arizona · Fish for: Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass · USGS gauges: Salt River Blw Stewart Mountain Dam, Az
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Verde River
Arizona's great free-flowing desert river and a federally designated Wild & Scenic stretch — the Verde runs green and cottonwood-lined from Paulden through Clarkdale and Camp Verde, holding smallmouth, largemouth, catfish, carp, and a nationally important native-fish community. It's the state's premier warmwater river float and a conservation flagship.
Region: Central Arizona · Fish for: Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass · USGS gauges: Verde River Near Paulden, Az, Verde River Near Clarkdale, Az, Verde River Above Camp Verde, Az, Verde River Near Camp Verde, Az
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Salt River
The wild, free-flowing upper Salt carves a spectacular desert canyon between the White Mountains and Roosevelt Lake — a snowmelt-driven whitewater and smallmouth river running past saguaro and cliff. It's one of Arizona's best river smallmouth fisheries, best on the falling snowmelt flows of spring and early summer; some reaches cross San Carlos Apache land and require a tribal permit.
Region: Central Arizona · Fish for: Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass · USGS gauges: Salt River Near Chrysotile, Az, Salt River Near Roosevelt, Az
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Lower Verde River
Below Bartlett Dam the Verde runs cold and green through saguaro desert toward the Salt confluence — metro Phoenix's nearest big-river bass and catfish water. Flow is controlled by Salt River Project releases from Bartlett and Horseshoe dams, so conditions track the generation schedule and irrigation demand rather than the weather. Largemouth and smallmouth hold on the rock and wood, with channel and flathead catfish in the deeper bends.
Region: Central Arizona · Fish for: Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass · USGS gauges: Verde River Below Bartlett Dam, Az, Verde River Near Scottsdale, Az
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Black River
A remote, wild-trout jewel of the White Mountains, tumbling through pine and canyon country along the edge of the Fort Apache and San Carlos reservations. The upper forks hold wild rainbows, browns, and native Apache trout in cold pocket water; the lower river warms into smallmouth. Access is long dirt roads — check tribal permit requirements for reservation reaches.
Region: White Mountains · Fish for: Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout · USGS gauges: Black River Near Fort Apache, Az.
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Little Colorado River (Greer)
The high headwaters of the Little Colorado around Greer are a classic small-stream trout fishery, winding through mountain meadows at 8,000 feet below Mount Baldy. Stocked rainbows and wild browns hold in the undercut banks and beaver-pond pools; it's intimate, cold, snowmelt-fed water a world away from the desert.
Region: White Mountains · Fish for: Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout · USGS gauges: Little Colorado River At Greer, Az
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White River
Formed where the East and North forks join on the Fort Apache Reservation, the White River is a scenic White Mountain trout stream managed by the White Mountain Apache Tribe. Cold forks hold rainbows, browns, and native Apache trout; a tribal fishing permit is required, and the tribe's special-regulation reaches are among Arizona's best small-stream trout water.
Region: White Mountains · Fish for: Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout · USGS gauges: East Fork White River Near Fort Apache, Az., White River Near Fort Apache, Az.
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East Verde River
A small, spring-and-snowmelt Rim stream above Payson, stocked with rainbows at its road crossings in the cool months and running clear over bedrock through the pines. A friendly, family-scale trout creek with easy access at the numbered 'crossings,' warming to smallmouth in its lower reaches near the main Verde.
Region: Mogollon Rim · Fish for: Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass · USGS gauges: East Verde River Near Childs, Az
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Tonto Creek
A Mogollon Rim creek below the Tonto Fish Hatchery near Payson — the upper reaches are stocked with rainbows in the cool months and hold trout in the shaded canyon pools, while the lower creek warms into smallmouth and catfish water as it drops toward Roosevelt Lake. A popular, accessible Rim escape.
Region: Mogollon Rim · Fish for: Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass · USGS gauges: Tonto Creek Above Gun Creek, Near Roosevelt, Az
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Gila River
The Gila is southern Arizona's great desert river — a big, warm, sandy system running from the Gila Box canyons past Safford and Kelvin toward the Phoenix valley. Where water runs, it holds channel and flathead catfish, largemouth, carp, and native suckers; it's a boat-and-bank river of holes and diversion pools, not a wade-trout stream. Frame conditions as big-river stage and flood safety.
Region: Southern Desert · Fish for: Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish · USGS gauges: Gila River Near Clifton, Az, Gila River At Head Of Safford Valley, Nr Solomon,, Gila River Below Coolidge Dam, Az., Gila River At Kelvin, Az.
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Bright Angel Creek
Bright Angel Creek tumbles off the North Rim down to the Colorado at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, a cold, clear tributary that holds wild brown and rainbow trout in its pools and riffles near Phantom Ranch. Reaching it means a rim-to-river hike or a river trip — it's one of the most remote and spectacular trout streams in Arizona, fished by backpackers and rafters at the canyon's heart.
Region: Colorado River Corridor · Fish for: Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout · USGS gauges: Bright Angel Creek Near Grand Canyon, Ariz.
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Fossil Creek
Fossil Creek is one of Arizona's ecological crown jewels — a turquoise, travertine spring creek below Strawberry that was restored to native fish after its dams were removed, and reborn as a Wild & Scenic river. Non-native fish were cleared to protect a native community of roundtail chub, desert sucker, and other Gila-basin natives; it's a catch-and-release native fishery and a permit-controlled recreation area, best treated as a place to wade, watch, and fish light.
Region: Mogollon Rim · Fish for: Roundtail Chub, Desert Sucker · USGS gauges: Fossil Creek Near Strawberry, Az
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Chevelon Creek
A remote, rugged wild-trout canyon on the Mogollon Rim below Chevelon Canyon Lake — a small, brushy, boulder-strewn stream that rewards the angler willing to hike in. Wild and stocked rainbows and browns hold in the deep plunge pools; it's one of the Rim's quiet backcountry trout gems.
Region: Mogollon Rim · Fish for: Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout · USGS gauges: Chevelon Creek Near Winslow, Az
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Bill Williams River
The Bill Williams runs the short, green tailwater below Alamo Dam through a cottonwood-willow corridor toward the Colorado near Parker — western Arizona's warmwater float and bank fishery. Flow is controlled by Bureau of Reclamation releases from Alamo Lake, so conditions track dam generation and flood-control operations, not rain. Largemouth, catfish, and sunfish drop down out of the lake, and the lower river winds through the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge.
Region: Western Arizona · Fish for: Largemouth Bass, Channel Catfish · USGS gauges: Bill Williams River Below Alamo Dam, Az, Bill Williams River Near Parker, Az
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San Pedro River
The San Pedro is one of the last free-flowing desert rivers in the Southwest and a globally significant riparian corridor, protected through the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area near Sierra Vista. It's a native-fish and conservation river more than a sportfishing destination — a thin, cottonwood-shaded ribbon of desert-sucker, longfin dace, and occasional warmwater fish — best treated as a place to wade, watch, and learn.
Region: Southern Desert · Fish for: Desert Sucker · USGS gauges: San Pedro River At Charleston, Az
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Wet Beaver Creek
Wet Beaver Creek runs a spring-fed canyon out of the Mogollon Rim toward the Verde near Rimrock, a clear, shaded stream in the Wet Beaver Wilderness that holds smallmouth bass, stocked trout in the cool season, and native fish in its deeper pools. The Bell Trail follows it into a red-rock canyon of swimming holes and pocket water — an accessible Rim gem below the desert.
Region: Mogollon Rim · Fish for: Smallmouth Bass, Rainbow Trout · USGS gauges: Wet Beaver Creek Near Rimrock, Az
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West Clear Creek
West Clear Creek carves one of the longest, deepest canyons on the Mogollon Rim, a clear spring-and-snowmelt stream running toward the Verde near Camp Verde. Its shaded pools hold smallmouth bass, stocked and holdover trout in the cool season, and native fish; the Bull Pen reach is a classic hike-in canyon fishery of plunge pools and bedrock.
Region: Mogollon Rim · Fish for: Smallmouth Bass, Rainbow Trout · USGS gauges: West Clear Creek Near Camp Verde, Az
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San Francisco River
The San Francisco flows out of New Mexico's mountains into eastern Arizona, joining the Gila at Clifton after cutting a rugged high-desert canyon. It's a smallmouth and catfish river of rock, riffle, and pool in a copper-country landscape — one of the quieter warmwater river fisheries in the state, running on snowmelt and monsoon flows.
Region: Eastern Arizona · Fish for: Smallmouth Bass, Channel Catfish · USGS gauges: San Francisco River At Clifton, Az
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Eagle Creek
Eagle Creek tumbles out of the White Mountains through a remote canyon in the Apache-Sitgreaves country west of Morenci, a cool freestone stream that holds smallmouth bass and, in its higher reaches, wild and stocked trout. Long dirt-road access keeps it quiet; it's a backcountry Gila-basin creek for the angler willing to make the drive.
Region: Eastern Arizona · Fish for: Smallmouth Bass, Rainbow Trout · USGS gauges: Eagle Creek Nr Double Circle Ranch, Nr Morenci, Az, Eagle Creek Above Pumping Plant, Near Morenci, Az.
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Virgin River
The Virgin cuts the far northwest corner of Arizona through the Virgin River Gorge on I-15, a desert river running from Utah's high country down toward Lake Mead. The Arizona reach around Littlefield and Beaver Dam holds channel catfish, warmwater fish, and a sensitive native community of flannelmouth sucker and Virgin spinedace — a big-country desert corridor best fished bank-side in the cooler months.
Region: Western Arizona · Fish for: Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass · USGS gauges: Virgin Rv Abv The Narrows Nr Littlefield, Az, Virgin Rv At Littlefield, Az
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Cibecue Creek
Cibecue Creek runs a cool canyon off the Mogollon Rim through the Fort Apache Reservation toward the Salt River, a scenic trout and smallmouth stream managed by the White Mountain Apache Tribe. Its shaded pools hold stocked and wild trout in the higher reaches and warm to smallmouth as it drops; a tribal permit is required, and the tribe's special-regulation water is quiet, beautiful, and lightly fished.
Region: White Mountains · Fish for: Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass · USGS gauges: Cibecue Creek Near Chrysotile, Az
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Agua Fria River
The upper Agua Fria winds through the grasslands and basalt canyons of the Agua Fria National Monument north of Phoenix, a seasonal desert river that runs after snowmelt and monsoon storms and holds smallmouth bass, catfish, and native fish in its perennial pools. It's an intermittent, hike-in canyon fishery — thin and quiet much of the year, coming alive on flow — not a reliable year-round stream.
Region: Central Arizona · Fish for: Smallmouth Bass, Channel Catfish · USGS gauges: Agua Fria River Near Mayer, Az, Agua Fria River Near Rock Springs, Az
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Cherry Creek
Cherry Creek drains the rugged country below the Sierra Ancha north of Globe, a remote high-desert stream running toward the Salt arm of Roosevelt Lake. Its rock-and-pool canyon reaches hold smallmouth bass and, in the cooler upper water, an occasional trout; it's a quiet, long-drive backcountry creek for anglers who like solitude.
Region: Central Arizona · Fish for: Smallmouth Bass, Channel Catfish · USGS gauges: Cherry Creek Near Globe, Az
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San Carlos River
The San Carlos River drains the mountains of the San Carlos Apache Reservation toward San Carlos Lake, a warmwater desert stream holding channel catfish, bass, and carp in its perennial reaches near Peridot. It's tribal water — a San Carlos Apache fishing permit is required — and a quiet, off-the-radar Gila-basin fishery.
Region: Eastern Arizona · Fish for: Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass · USGS gauges: San Carlos River Near Peridot, Az.
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