Big Lake (Arizona)

This article is about a lake in Arizona. For other uses, see Big Lake.
Big Lake
Location Apache County, Arizona
Coordinates 33°53′4.80″N 109°24′54.88″W / 33.8846667°N 109.4152444°W / 33.8846667; -109.4152444Coordinates: 33°53′4.80″N 109°24′54.88″W / 33.8846667°N 109.4152444°W / 33.8846667; -109.4152444
Basin countries United States
Surface area 450 acres (180 ha)
Average depth 16 ft (4.9 m)
Surface elevation 9,000 ft (2,700 m)
Meadow & old cabin near Big Lake. Photo courtesy Alan English.

Big Lake is considered one of the White Mountains' best fishing lakes, because of its size, productivity and visitor amenities. As with most trout waters in Arizona, catch rates are best in spring, during late April and May after the winter ice thaws, and gets better later in the summer and into fall until freezing over again in late November. Big Lake is located in Apache County and managed by the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.

Location

Situated at 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, Big Lake is located about 26 miles (42 km) south of Springerville and Eagar, accessed by paved road via Highways 260 and 261, and is approximately one hour’s drive from Pinetop using Highways 260 and 273 and Forest Road 113. Access is restricted in the winter when roads are closed due to snow, generally December to early April. In January, the normal high temperature is 44F with a normal low temperature of 14F. In July, the normal high temperature is 75F with a normal low temperature of 45F.

Description

Big Lake has 680 acres (280 ha),[1] with an average depth of 30 feet (9.1 m). Primary fish species here include rainbow, brook and cutthroat trout, with an occasional Brown trout. Each year, the Department stocks an average of 480,000 fingerling (three inch) and 50,000 subcatchable (six inch) trout. Most of these are rainbows.

Fish species

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Arizona Fishing Map". Archived from the original on 20 September 2010. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, December 12, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.