Teddy Roosevelt would get a charge out of Arizona's largest inland reservoir, and not just because it was named for him. At Roosevelt Lake this year, you'll definitely want to quietly arm yourself with a big flippin' stick to work the thousands of acres of submerged vegetation.

This top-of-the-line impoundment 90 miles from downtown Phoenix is going through what biologists call "the new lake syndrome." Thousands of acres of submerged brush and trees are providing cover and fish habitat. For anglers, that will translate into world-class bass action over the next several years. For this spring, grab your flippin' sticks and spinnerbaits, and plan on having lots of brush-bustin' fun.

Ten years ago, you see, the dam at Roosevelt was raised 70 feet. Then came a 10-year drought, when this huge reservoir on the Salt River drainage shrank faster than the waistline of a devout practitioner of the Atkins Diet. Thick vegetation grew in that vast, fertile exposed lakebed.

For years, knowledgeable bass anglers dreamed of the day this drainage would fill back up. Most expected it would take 10 years of normal precipitation and runoff to accomplish the task. Last year, those dreams came true in a single season. Roosevelt went from almost dry to full, flooding the thick vegetation in the old lakebed. The rapidly rising waters also flooded about 6,000 acres of prime upper Sonoran habitat for the first time ever, including vast mesquite forests, huge cottonwood galleries, and dense stands of stately saguaros.

In fact, by mid-spring last year, Roosevelt increased in surface acres to about the size of Lake Havasu on the Colorado River, but Rosey was packed with nutrients from the tumultuous runoff. The resulting baitfish and sport-fish spawns last year were nothing short of spectacular, setting the stage for this year. Expect to have lots of fat and sassy year-old bass fighting for your lures, along with enough lunkers to keep life interesting.

While we fished this remarkable fishery last fall, the numerous small bass were so aggressive that they fought and tossed our topwater lures around like a pickup game of La Jolla Beach volleyball.

Talk about belly-busting fun!

Using light poles and line, we were laughing as the vast legions of small bass tenaciously attacked everything we threw. Tossing a Zara Puppy into a gap in the brush stretching almost across the front of a shallow cove, we saw a lunker greenback hit the lure with a loud ka-whoomp. It was an instant adrenalin rush. The toad jumped out of the water and thrashed back and forth, trying to throw the lure. Then my pole bent almost double as the brute raced into the thick submerged vegetation and broke off. It was awesome!

Expect more of the same this year, but with lots of fat yearling fish to catch.

Jim Warnecke, a fisheries biologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said that anglers may have to fight through the plentiful yearling bass to get to the lunkers. But the lake's productivity is resulting in fast-growing bass, so there are plenty of large bass as well. "Bass have been moving rapidly through the 13- to 16-inch slot and coming out the other side. There will be no lack of fat lunkers this year," Warnecke predicts.