Dennis Green, the Arizona Cardinals football coach, fishes a rising Roosevelt Lake along with Vickie Williams and her dad, Gary Williams, who owns Tempe Marine. The rising waters at Roosevelt flooded thousands of acres of prime upper Sonoran habitat. Photo by Rory Aikens

Bass anglers, looking for the best action this year? You'll want to point your rod tips toward the top-of-the-line lakes in central Arizona, where an epic new era of fishing is unfolding, thanks to unprecedented runoff in the winter and spring of last year.

Roosevelt, Bartlett and Alamo will be the bass triumvirate in 2006 and most likely beyond -- they all received massive influxes of nutrient-laden inflows during last year's fortunate runoff. These lakes' productivity simply went off the charts and they experienced humongous bass and shad spawns. Crayfish populations also exploded.

These three lakes, Arizona's top bass factories, will be providing anglers some terrific bass and crappie bonanzas. But keep a close watch on Lake Pleasant too: Throughout the spring spawn, it had a massive influx of nutrients and sustained the highest lake level in its history.

ROOSEVELT:
New Lake Syndrome
The water at Roosevelt Lake looked like rich chocolate milk, so while maneuvering the bass boat, my friend Ernie Bunch could toss a soft plastic jerk bait alongside a giant saguaro cactus that was half submerged.

It was one thing to hear about the lake level rising to cover 10,000 surface acres of vegetation. It was quite another to experience the phenomenon in person from the deck of a bass boat. It was like visiting the Grand Canyon for the first time: almost more than the mind could absorb.

While fishing Salome Cove, I looked over to see my friend, Gary Williams, his daughter Vickie, and Arizona Cardinals Coach Dennis Green working spinnerbaits through the brush-choked chocolate soup amidst a forest of half-submerged saguaros. Vickie was the first to hook up with a bass. "Way to go, Vickie," I shouted, then almost ran the boat into the arms of a saguaro. I had to stay alert every second or lose a trolling motor prop.

I looked over at Ernie and asked, "Man, can you believe this? Imagine what this lake will be like in two or three years! I lost track of the 50- to 100-bass days I had at Lake Pleasant while it was going through the New Lake Syndrome. This lake could be even better."

Ernie, who fished the pro bass circuit some 20 years ago, agreed. We could both remember in the late '90s when tournament anglers at Pleasant routinely caught five fish weighing more than 30 pounds and sometimes, more than 40. A friend of mine once took five fish totaling more than 32 pounds, and he didn't even place in the top five. Is Roosevelt going to eclipse Lake Pleasant's premier days as a big bass producer?

One day last spring, after a fun day of fishing at Roosevelt, our group of outdoor writers, guides, tournament anglers and biologists all sat around the campfire, eating fish tacos and sharing visions about Lake Roosevelt's future. "Wouldn't it be something," somebody asked, "if we have a lake just 90 miles from Phoenix that rivals Mexico's top bass lakes, such as Huites Lake or Lake Novaro?"

We all agreed that it's possible.

Our superb cook that night was Jim Warnecke, a biologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. He pointed out that thanks to the 13- to 16-inch slot limit, Roosevelt had legions of prime spawning-age bass available when the lake exploded beyond its drought-starved physique.

"The fantastic forage base of shad and crawdads also means the slot-sized bass will be moving quicker through the slot, due to lots of groceries, and popping out the top end quickly," said Warnecke.

He predicts there'll be masses of 8- to 11-inch bass to catch this year, but plenty of lunkers too. "These small bass are the future, and no one should mind dealing with them. Plus, I look for another year of good spawning conditions, since the lake level stayed pretty high through the winter. Even if we get a spring runoff that's only so-so, lots of submerged habitat will be available again to continue the 'New Lake Effect' for another year."