Wet conditions are great for quail hunting with bird dogs
Wet weather and high soil moisture mean scenting conditions will be great for hunting quail with your bird dog, says Mark Zornes, but there is a flip side: those same conditions result in quail holding tighter than normal, making it more of a challenge to locate them without a dog.

Zornes, who is the small game biologist for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, says dog-less hunters may want to slow down so they can make tight-setting birds nervous enough to flush.

"Expect birds to be more widely dispersed in response to green up and water availability. Focusing on water holes will not be the best strategy right now," says Zornes.

Zornes says hunters should also avoid causing resource damage with their vehicles. "Stay on the roads. It's pretty slick out there right now, and some areas are bottomless- you can get stuck up to your axles. Remember, tire tracks can last forever in the desert. Despite the inconvenience, hope that the rain continues: more rain equals more birds next year."

There is still plenty of time to go quail hunting: the season ends Feb. 7.

Optics and patience are the keys to locating javelina this year
A wet winter and resulting green-up mean javelina hunters will want to modify their hunt strategies this year, says Arizona Game and Fish Department biologists.

"Expect javelina to be more dispersed due to the green-up and water availability this year," says Big Game Supervisor Brian Wakeling. "In the long term, the green-up is good for javelina. In the short term, it makes finding them more difficult. Plan to wear out your eyeballs, not your shoe leather. Optics will be the key."

During mild weather, expect to find javelina on south-facing slopes that have good forage. "The green background may actually result in javelina standing out more, but don't count on it. Plan to use your binoculars and spotting scopes a lot this year," Wakeling suggests.

During inclement weather, javelina will hold in thick cover. "Javelina do not have thick fur: they are not cold tolerant. If it's cold or the weather is bad, try hunting the bottomlands. The best place to start is where you can find the thickest, nastiest brush around," Wakeling suggests.

The archery javelina season closes on Jan. 31. The Juniors-Only Javelina Season is Feb. 4-10. The Handgun, Archery, and Muzzleloader Season is Feb. 11-17. The General Javelina Season is Feb. 18-24 in most units.

Tremendous inflows give shot in the arm to fisheries
The recent rains were like an angler's prayer being answered.

Bartlett Lake filled to overflowing.

Horseshoe Lake filled, was lowered, and was filling again, with more storms on the way.

Roosevelt Lake rose to 43 percent by Jan. 10. On top of that, the White Mountains received 18 to 24 inches of snowfall. Plus, more storms are on the way. Cross your fingers: if this weather pattern continues through the spring, this could be the year Roosevelt exceeds the old lake level. The dam was raised 77 feet in 1995, but the state has experienced a prolonged drought since the project was completed.

Alamo Lake filled significantly in the fall (rising 37 vertical feet in a few days), and then the lake got hit with heavy inflows again this past week. On Jan. 5, the Alamo Lake outflows down the Bill Williams River were around 5,940 cfs. Inflows from the Santa Maria River and the Big Sandy peaked at around 10,000 cfs. That's good new for Lake Havasu as well: it also received a nutrient shot in the arm.

Even nutrient-starved Lake Pleasant received lots of nutrient-laden runoff via the Agua Fria River, Castle Creek and Humbug Creek. It rose almost eight feet in a week.

Anglers at Canyon Lake reported seeing logs and Saguaro cactus floating in the water. Lower Lake Mary near Flagstaff filled to a level not seen since 1995. It should be stocked soon with small trout that should reach catchable size by March. The popular trout lakes in the Williams area all filled for a change.

For anglers, all that runoff means fishing can be challenging in the short term, but the future is brighter than it has been for some time. Most lakes around the state received much-needed water and nutrient inflows.

"For Bartlett, it is as good as you can imagine," says Jim Warnecke, an Arizona Game and Fish Department biologist.

According to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Verde River hit a peak flow recently of about 90,000 cfs. All that nutrient-laden water filled Horseshoe and Bartlett lakes to capacity and beyond.

Warnecke says that Bartlett was full a couple of years ago and at that time, it produced strong year classes of bass, crappie and catfish. This past year, Bartlett was providing great action on plentiful 1- to 2-pound bass. "This recent nutrient and water influx will translate into great growth rates and high reproductive activities. Last year's one and two pounders could be two and three pounders this coming year."

For Horseshoe, the crystal ball is still cloudy. Salt River Project will continue to draw down Horseshoe to fill Bartlett. "If water is impounded for any length of time at Horseshoe during the spring and early summer months, fish will spawn and there will be lots of little ones all over the lake. Whether they stay in Horseshoe or are transported down to Bartlett will depend on a wide range of water management factors," says Warnecke.

Thanks to the runoff from the recent storms, Roosevelt will enter the spring thaw at its highest lake level in years. The lake level at Roosevelt this spring is likely to rise enough to inundate vast areas of the lakebed that haven't seen water in years. Those areas have since been overgrown by vegetation. The flooded vegetation will provide yet another source of nutrients for this lake, along with providing hiding cover for the bait fish and ambush cover for the predatory fish.

It's all looking rosy for Rosy.

Lake Pleasant, as usual, is a slightly different story. Pleasant is used to bank water from the Central Arizona Project (CAP) each year. It is filled with the CAP water from the Colorado River throughout the winter, then it is drawn down in the summer and fall to help meet the Valley's water needs. That CAP water comes from a canal that stretches to Lake Havasu. By the time the water reaches Pleasant, it has long since lost most of its nutrients. During Arizona's prolonged drought, this fishery did not get a lot of runoff, and therefore, was experiencing low nutrient levels, especially in the main basin of the lake.

At the height of the recent storms, the Agua Fria River was flowing at around 10,000 cfs. There are no flow gauges on Castle Creek and Humbug Creek, but all reports indicate that they too were flowing at flood-stage levels. Because there are no outflows from Pleasant (the water is pumped out), the nutrients will stay in the system. Biologists call it a "closed system." Plus Pleasant received decent inflows during the fall storms.

Scott Bryan, a department research biologist who has been studying Pleasant for half a decade, says the nutrient influx should have a positive Domino effect up the food chain. "There will be increased zooplankton for forage fish and for larval and juvenile fish that are hatched this spring. There will be less competition because of the zooplankton and we should see higher recruitment for most species," Bryan says.

Bryan adds that all this doesn't necessarily mean that fishing will be better this year, but it should translate into better fishing for the next two to five years. "However, because of the plentiful forage fish, anglers may see sport-fish that are in better condition-fatter-this year."

For Alamo Lake west of Wickenburg, this is the second time in the past several months it has received a tremendous influx of both water and nutrients. Bass and crappie anglers who are familiar with Alamo have great anticipation for the future of this fishery.

The downside was Tempe Town Lake where the inflatable dams were lowered when 20,000 cfs was roaring down the Salt River past Phoenix. Biologists feel that this season's holdover trout are likely lost, but most of the warmwater fish, such as bass, should be okay. The trout stockings were also suspended along the lower Salt River.

The flip side of so much runoff is a possible bonus for duck hunters along the Gila River drainage, especially at Painted Rock Dam.

Check out the fishing regulation changes for 2005
If you are planning a fishing trip to Deadhorse Lake State Park near Cottonwood to catch trout, take a quick peek at the 2005 Fishing Regulations. The bag limit has changed there.

That's not the only change for this year. Check out page six of the latest regulations and you will see all the changes since last year listed in one spot. The fishing regulations are available online, or you can pick up a printed copy at any Arizona Game and Fish Department office or any sporting goods store.

Don't forget to purchase a 2005 fishing license. The increased lake levels should translate into a terrific fishing year.

Swollen Arizona waterways create dangerous conditions for boaters
Arizona's flooded rivers and streams are causing dangerous conditions for boaters in canoes, kayaks and other vessels without motors.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department warns that current water conditions can present life-threatening dangers and people should take precautions.

Interesting wildlife facts and findings just a click away
How many types of wild animals drink from specially built water catchments to survive? Will the Apache trout, Arizona's official state fish, become the first native fish species ever to come off the endangered species list without dying out?

You can now find information on these and other subjects on the Arizona Game and Fish Department's Web site. The department is kicking off the electronic publication of all of its research reports. The first documents to enter cyberspace are studies of the biological effects of wildlife water catchments and habitat protection for the Apache trout.

2004 marks best year yet for Arizona's endangered ferrets
What's about two feet long, furry, endangered, and making a comeback in Arizona? The answer: the black-footed ferret, which is having its most successful year yet in our state since reintroduction in 1996.

"This year is turning out to be our best year so far," says Steve Goodman, an Arizona Game and Fish Department biologist who works on the ferret reintroduction project, "and we are still doing surveys to count more ferrets."

The ferret story in Arizona is remarkable.