For those who catch-and-release big bass, there are certified scales at the marinas of both lakes to weigh the lunker and return it to the water. The Arizona Game and Fish Department keeps annual catch-and-release big fish of the year records, but you must weigh the fish at a certified scale, then measure and photograph it to qualify.

CANYON LAKE
At Canyon Lake, trout are stocked at the main boat ramp and in LaBarge Cove, which is surrounded by the Boulder Recreation Area. LaBarge Cove is like a small lake attached to the main body of water. The big cove connects to the main lake by a narrow channel that goes under the highway adjacent to the marina.

In the winter of 1991, a previous state-record largemouth bass weighing just over 15 pounds was caught in about two feet of water near that bridge on a spinnerbait. That was before the AGFD initiated the trout-stocking program. The current state-record bass of 16 pounds, 7.68 ounces was also set at Canyon Lake, when Randall E. White of Mesa was fishing there in 1997. Canyon Lake is truly the land of the giants and has been for some time.

Some Canyon devotees never get more than a few hundred yards from the main boat ramp because that is where the big ones hang out. A favorite spot for some is where the big paddlewheel tour boat, The Dolly, is moored. Its broad hull is a perfect hiding place for drop-bellied giants.

At the other stocking spot, the hatchery truck doesn't drive to the shoreline in LaBarge Cove. There is a long tube angling down into the lake from the roadway above. The trout slush down the big tube then splash into the cove below. It's dramatic. The sound of water coming down the tube is like a dinner call to big bass. Sometimes you can see the dorsal fin of a big bass slicing through the water like a white shark charging a seal pup struggling in the surf.

You can get a good view of the action from the large handicapped-accessible fishing pier in the cove.

A critical element in the big bass mystique of both Canyon and Saguaro lakes is electricity. Canyon, Saguaro and Apache lakes make up a hydroelectric trinity. Water is pumped from Canyon and Saguaro lakes during peak electrical demand times during the day, and then pumped back into those impoundments during low demand times. Since Canyon is in the middle, between Apache and Saguaro lakes, it can flow one way in the morning, and another way during the afternoon, and then switch directions again at night.

"To be truly successful fishing Canyon, you need to read the current," says veteran lake angler Bill Warman, who compares fishing Canyon to fishing in tidal rivers. "If you don't know which way the current is flowing, you could be casting the wrong way. Predatory fish face into the current."

Warman is on a quest to break the largemouth bass world record at Canyon, having presumably caught and released more 10-pound-plus bass there than any other individual.

Another secret to Canyon Lake is oxygen. Oxygen equates to energy in organic systems. Energy may equal MC-squared in physics, but when it comes to the science of fishing, it can equal lots of line-stripping monsters.

This 960-acre impoundment is shaped like a tadpole with a big round head and a long, squiggly tail -- a 10-mile-long squiggle. The round head is the only relatively shallow basin for this remarkable reservoir, and it is where you will find the boat ramps, marina, restaurant and other amenities.

However, Canyon averages 130 feet deep. Most of the lake is squeezed into a long, narrow channel below towering cliffs where desert bighorn sheep and peregrine falcons dwell. Be sure to bring your binoculars.