Say "Arizona" and few people picture a fishing rod. Yet the desert state hides some genuinely great water, and a few days spent chasing fish here is one of the most underrated pleasures the outdoors has to offer.
The range is remarkable. Up in the high country there are cool trout streams and mountain lakes; down along the Colorado and at the great reservoirs, there is bass, catfish, and room to run a boat. Spring and fall are kind to the angler; summer sends the smart ones to the pines.
You do not need much to begin - a license, a little patience, and a willingness to be somewhere beautiful with nothing urgent to do. That, in the end, may be the real catch.
Originally published in View AZ Highlife Magazine, June / July 2007.