Arizona · tailwater
200 miles
October on the hatch chart — names and sizes, not a catch report.
Filled months are when that insect is on the chart. Best months for this river are lit.
Swipe months to stay on the year
| Insect | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midge (Chironomidae) | ||||||||||||
| Blue-winged Olive | ||||||||||||
| Trico | ||||||||||||
| Leech | ||||||||||||
| Caddis | ||||||||||||
| Eggs |
Hatch-chart nymphs, dries, and streamers for this river. Not a crowdsourced catch report.
Open the Salt River (Arizona) fly list →6 listed points. Map is Vellum land and Teal water — a desk chart, not a satellite.
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Tonto National Forest Water Users Day Use Area. Official USFS 33.555518, -111.543833. Main lower Salt put-in. Day use only, Tonto Pass required, no motorized boats.
Tonto National Forest Blue Point Day Use Area. Official USFS 33.5552977, -111.5737484. Large beach and mesquite shade. Orvis Phoenix lists Blue Point Bridge as a primary fishing stretch.
Tonto National Forest Sheep Crossing Day Use Area. Official USFS 33.55603604, -111.5771091. West of Blue Point Bridge. 11 shade ramadas. Orvis Phoenix lists Sheep Crossing as a primary access.
Tonto National Forest Raccoon Bluff Day Use Area. Official USFS 33.546914, -111.644048. Day use only, Tonto Pass required, no motorized boats.
Tonto National Forest Phon D Sutton Day Use Area. Official USFS 33.54697106, -111.6571505. Popular take-out. Lower Salt River Nature Trail. Tonto Pass required.
Live USGS gauge Salt River near Chrysotile, AZ. Official NWIS 33.79811903, -110.49984888. Upper Salt / Salt River Canyon, not the Phoenix tailwater.
Arizona fishing license required. Verify current Arizona Game and Fish Commission Order 40 bag limits before fishing. Developed sites on Tonto National Forest require a Tonto Daily Pass or equivalent recreation pass. No Salt River-specific trout special regulation was posted in the 2025-26 AZGFD special-regulations list at the time this page was written; statewide trout limits apply unless AZGFD updates them. Confirm before you go.
Verify with Verify with the local fish and wildlife agency. Retrieved 2026-08-31. Seasons and gear rules change.
Arizona's Salt River is not the Star Valley Salt in Wyoming. That Wyoming river is a separate page. This water runs from the White Mountains through Salt River Canyon into the Phoenix valley.
Three live USGS gauges sit on the fished reaches: 09497500 Salt River near Chrysotile, AZ (canyon, 33.79811903, -110.49984888), 09498500 Salt River near Roosevelt, AZ (33.61916667, -110.92208333), and 09502000 Salt River below Stewart Mountain Dam, AZ (33.55284137, -111.57654306). The lower river below Stewart Mountain Dam is the tailwater most Phoenix anglers fish. Arizona Game and Fish stocks rainbow trout there in the cool months. Bass, sunfish, catfish, and native Sonoran suckers hold year-round.
Tonto National Forest day-use sites along Bush Highway give the mapped access: Water Users just below the dam, Raccoon Bluff, and Phon D Sutton near the Verde confluence. A Tonto recreation pass is required at developed sites. Flows change with Salt River Project releases. Read the Stewart Mountain gauge before you wade.
If something here is thin or wrong, add what you know. It goes to review before it publishes.
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