How To Fly Fish for Trout on The Lower Salt River

If you’re like me every year you look forward to when they stock The Lower Salt River with trout every year.

Each year around fall they lower the water level in The Lower Salt River in order to fill the reservoirs.

The water flow goes from about 1100 cubic feet per second down to as low as 8 CFS. You can look up the current water flow on the USGS website.

For the Salt River your basic 9 foor 5 weight rod will handle anything you encounter. Personally I have been using my redington rod and reel.

You can check out my bait fishing for trout article or my article on using lures for trout.

My strategy changes up a little based on whether or not they just stocked the river.

I’ve been there and they’ve dumped the trout truck right in front of me and I had schools of trout swimming around my legs.

Most of what I do in the Salt River involves the dead drift method in one way or another.

If the trout were just stalked I’ll try out a few different colored Glo-bugs.

Rainbow Trout I caught with a pink Glo-bug at pebble beach. I let this one drift down the river on the bottom.

I’ll tie these on a 6x tippet with just a tiny split shot to take it below the surface.

With this set up many anglers find it easier if they use a strike indicator as well. It lets you see what you can’t feel since there will be slack in the line.

Cast up river at an angle and just let your line drift down with the current. It’s important to periodically mend the line so that the river isn’t pulling your lure making it appear unnatural.

The other technique I employ if the fish have been there for a few days as they become more wild is to dead drift a nymph or dry fly.

When picking a fly I always try to match the hatch. Look around and see what bugs are landing on the water and often you’ll see trout surfacing to eat them.

If you see the trout surfacing to eat flies then use a dry fly that matches the flies on the river at that time.

Put a little bit of floatant on the fly to keep it on the surface. I personally use Gink. It’s easy to use and they make nifty carriers to go on your vest.

Once again yoou’re going to cast up river and let the fly drift down with the current.

Try casting and letting the fly drift down different parts of the river.

You will have a much better experience if you bring waders so you can get out in the water closer to the fish and not compete with everyone on the shore.

I actually found a really cheap decent pair on amazon. You can get them here, but I really prefer my nicer pair but they aren’t necessary you can see them here if you’re interested.

Nymphing works great in the Lower Salt River. What I like to do is tie a dry fly on with some gink on it and then tie a nymph about 24 inches below it.

This allows the nyph to bounce along the bottom and the dry fly acts like an indicator that also catches fish.

If the water is very fast and white I’ll skip the dry fly in favor of a strike indicator.

I’ll just use this method 90% of the time on the Salt River and it tends to be the easiest method by far.

As far as fly selection I’ll usually buy a variety of size 12-18 of both dry flies and nymphs.

As the season progresses I’ll see what is working and match the hatch and start buying individual flies that are more fitting, but to start the season I always just buy a variety and have fun.

Sometimes the fly you thought would never work ends up working like a charm.

If you’re here locally I recommend buying individual flies from Sportsmans warehouse. They’re close by in mesa and have the best deals in the area.

Make sure to have fun on the Salt River and pick up after yourself. Also you might get lucky and see the wild mustangs roaming the river banks. They’re harmless as long as you stay out of their way.

Disclaimer: I only recommend products I have used and truly would use again. Some of the links on this site are affiliate links and may result in me getting a commission though they don’t affect my reviews.

Trout Fishing on The Lower Salt River using Fishing Lures

If you’re like me you enjoy fishing with a lure much more than just casting bait out and waiting for a bite.

To learn what bait to use check out my article on bait fishing the Salt River for trout or my article on fly fishing for trout on the Salt River.

Using a lure makes you feel more proactive and isn’t boring.

I’ve been fishing the Lower Salt River since I was a kid and I’ve picked up a few tips and techniques over the year.

First is what lure to use. I have found for trout that rooster tails by far work the best.

Small spinners and spoons work well also as do small lures that look like bait fish.

Typically I’ll just use a rooster tail, because I have found them to work the best.

First you’ll want to match your rooster tail (or any lure) to the conditions that day.

Remember bright sky bright lure, dark sky dark lure. clear water flashy lure, dark murky water noisy lure.

Also take into consideration what bait fish are swimming around and try and match them to your lure as well.

I’ll typically use a rooster tail that looks like a tiny trout or largemouth bass.

If I’m in a slow moving pool I’ll start by dragging a rooster tail straight down the middle. then methodically cast to one side and then the other to cover all the water.

Once I’ve covered the center i’ll start looking for more structure to try and pull them out of.

Trout like to hide behind rocks so that they can rest. I like to cast just up river of these and pull the lure back over them.

It’s important to go with the waterflow, because trout are usually facing upriver and they’ll be able to see a lure coming at them from upriver.

If you try and pull your lures against the water upriver all day you simply won’t catch anything.

They’re similar to bass where they’ll hang out along the banks as well under cover or in slow pools off to the side so I be on the look out for small pools.

Rainbow Trout I caught with a white rooster tail on the Salt River.

The trout also love to hide behind the bridge pylons at the pebble beach area. If it’s not too crowded that can be a great section of the river.

Presentation of your lure is important with trout. My set up is a light spinning rod with braided line tied to a swivel tied to a really light fluorcarbon leader that the fish can’t see.

Braided line allows you to easily feel strikes since it doesn’t stretch while the fluorocarbon leader isn’t visible to the fish.

Good luck and have fun on the river. Remember to be polite and share the river and pick up after yourself.

Disclaimer: I only recommend products I have used and truly would use again. Some of the links on this site are affiliate links and may result in me getting a commission though they don’t affect my reviews.

Trout Fishing on The Lower Salt River

I grew up and have lived in Arizona’s East Valley my whole life. Anyone who lives here and loves to fish will have fishied the Lower Salt River.

The fun thing about the Lower Salt River is it changes with the seasons every year.

The Salt River is a tail water for Saguaro Lake, Canyon Lake and Apache Lake. They open and close the dam to fill or drain the lakes which serve as reservoirs for the phoenix area.

Because the lakes are used as water reservoirs they close the dam in winter to fill the reservoirs back up to store water for the rest of the year.

This causes a high and low water period for the Salt River. During the winter when it’s lower they stock the river with Rainbow trout.

Today I’l talk about regular trout fishing with a spinner rod and bait from the shore.

There’s two main scenarios I’ve encountered on trout fishing on The Lower Salt River. First is the just stocked the river or it’s been a little while since it was stocked.

Sometimes they stock the river while you’re there. It makes for a great day.

It’s important to actually take into consideration if the river was just stocked since this will change how the trout feed.

We’ll talk about the river after it was freshly stocked and how to use bait since I’ve seen freshly sstocked fish tend to prefer it. You can see the stocking schedule on the AZ Game and Fish website

To learn how to use a lure check out my article on how to trout fish the Salt River with a Lure or my article on fly fishing.

If they were just released then dough baits are the way to go. I like to use the powerbait eggs or the gulp nuggets.

I’ve found it’s best to have a few different colors and find the one that works that day, but pink seems to usually come out ahead followed by chartreuse.

Another good option for bait when the trout are freshly stocked are good old fashioned salmon eggs.

With the dough bait or salmon eggs the technique is fairly simple and it changes based on the water flow.

If you’re in a slow moving pool put a splitshot weight about 6-18 inches up from the bait. I normally place it behind the swivel so it won’t slide down as I cast.

You want the bait to float just above the bottom of the river above any rocks as well.

Make sure to cast the line in an area free from tall grass where it’s visible, but close to cover.

once you cast wait a few minutes if you don”t get a bit real it in a little to get the bait in a new spot for different fish to see.

Rainbow Trout caught on the Lower Salt River

I’ve even caught plenty of trout while reeling in a dough bait or salmon eggs.

If the water is moving kinda quickly in the spot you intend to fish you’re going to switch up the strategy.

Trout generally “park” as I call it in a river and face up and swim against the current to hold still and strike at passing food.

When you’re at a moving section of the river don’t use a weight. Just cast your line up river and let it float down past the waiting trout.

You’ll want to cast and let the bait follow a few different paths down the river to pull out any trout in the area.

Once you’ve gone through the area letting your bait go over the surface put a very small piece of splitshot on so that it will still flow with the river but sink down and bounce across the bottom.

It’s important that you use a really small split shot for this technique because you want it to bounce and flow through the river as naturaly as possible.

Once again try and float it down the river in different spots along the same stretch.

Pro tip: when letting the bait drift, cast up and to an angle that way you have minimal slack in the line that you can easily pull out by lifting your rod tip.

With those two techniques you’ll be able to catch trout on the salt river using bait.

Disclaimer: I only recommend products I have used and truly would use again. Some of the links on this site are affiliate links and may result in me getting a commission though they don’t affect my reviews.