Alamo Reservoir is often the first place in the state where bass spawn. So if the weatherman says there's a high-pressure dome over Arizona this time of year, drop everything and head to Alamo for a day of fishing to remember. Photo courtesy of Rory Aikens.

Oil up your reels, and set your drag for line-stripping action this year at Arizona's fabulous four -- Roosevelt, Alamo, Bartlett and Pleasant reservoirs. These top-of-the-line waters will provide some of the best bassin' in the West this year.

We are now two productive years out from when each one took in major influxes of water and nutrients during the record-setting winter-spring runoff of 2004-05.

Two years ago, spawns for threadfin shad and largemouth bass were off the charts. Fish grow-outs have continued to be phenomenal. The vast legions of football-shaped yearlings that bass anglers saw last year will be pushing 2 and 3 pounds this year at all four reservoirs. Also expect the long parade of lunkers to increase this year -- especially at Roosevelt, Alamo and Pleasant.

ALAMO: EARLY-BIRD SPECIAL
Alamo Lake, in the desert west of Wickenburg, offers an annual early-bird special: It typically has the first bass and crappie spawns of any lake in the state. We've routinely found bass on beds in early February. It's not out of the question to find bass staging for the spawn during those late-January bluebird days.

Weather and runoff are the keys. Storms can change the early-bird equation, as it did two years ago when Alamo rose to near-record levels. When the state experiences a high-pressure dome in late January or anytime in February, drop everything and immediately head for Alamo -- you'll have fishing to remember.

What many anglers really like about Alamo is the opportunity to drop any attempts at subtlety and fish with some attitude. You can put aside the willowy drop-shot rig and grab some heavy timber -- the big flippin' stick -- and go rearrange some habitat. Yeah!

The bass will often move up into the thick trees and brush where the Bill Williams River enters the lake. It can be flippin' and pitchin' heaven in that thick, tangled jungle. But keep those cute little drop-shot outfits handy for the bass staging off the major lake points or along dropoffs.

Or you can take a page from my friend Mark Knapp, who is a park ranger at Alamo. Mark prefers Texas-rigged 4-inch lizards with a small bullet weight (no peg). This outfit can be deadly at times. The February bass are often targeting crayfish scurrying across the bottom, and that 4-inch lizard is "matching the hatch," as the flyfishers would say.

When you cast these small baits, keep a close watch as they fall through the water. Bass often will hit them on their way down. Look for the line moving sideways, set the hook and shout, "Fish on!"

ROOSEVELT: THE BEST
Can you say "The best in the West"? That's what to expect at Roosevelt Lake. This remarkable fishery, just 90 miles from downtown Phoenix, is on the verge of greatness.

Here's why.

This is the second year of the new-lake syndrome for Roosevelt, which is the state's largest inland lake. The dam had been raised 60 feet.

Two years ago, Roosevelt Lake filled to its new 19,000-surface-acre capacity for the first time, flooding around 6,000-plus acres of prime upper Sonoran habitat with nutrient-rich, chocolate-colored waters. The rising lake also inundated a huge cottonwood gallery and submerged most of an immense mesquite bosque where the Tonto Creek had formerly entered the lake.

All this has created a jungle of fishing opportunities. Since it filled, Roosevelt has been undergoing a bass and shad explosion of major proportions. Although spring runoff last year was below par, the intense summer rains resulted in unprecedented runoff, and the lake level rose again.