Lake Mary Arizona Pike

Photo Credit - Anderson
"MANY MOONS AGO" -- according to Margie Anderson, she caught this hefty pike at Lake Mary (actually Upper Lake Mary). Besides the viscious-looking northern pike, the lake holds walleye, largemouth bass, rainbow trout, yellow bass, sunfish, and channel cats. The road in to Lake Mary is paved, and there are a launch ramp, tables, restrooms, and a good parking area. There is no motor restriction on the lake, so feel free to bring any fishing boat you like.

Lake Mary Is A Super End-Of-Summer Getaway Many Species Of Fish Are Waiting For You By Margie Anderson

Lake Mary is big enough for a good-sized boat, and since it is up in the pines near Flagstaff, it makes a super summer getaway for a fisherman who is sick to death of sweating under the hot desert sun. The fishing is pretty darn good, too!

Upper Lake Mary is usually what people mean when they say “Lake Mary.”The lower lake is generally close to empty. Upper Lake Mary has a thriving population of northern pike, with an occasional walleye, largemouth bass, and rainbow trout.

We drove up there in August, and the lake was as full as I've seen it in a long time. There are also yellow bass, sunfish, and channel cats.

The road in to Lake Mary is paved, and there are a launch ramp, tables, restrooms, and a good parking area. There is no motor restriction on the lake, so feel free to bring any fishing boat you like.

Northern Pike: Big Attraction

The northern pike are the main attraction at Lake Mary, and these predators can get enormous. They also have teeth to match, so make sure you don’t forget your pliers. On my honeymoon, I caught a 42-inch pike at Lake Mary. It took a frozen anchovy that was rigged about a foot or so under a bobber.

My husband, a native of Wisconsin, had the necessary experience for rigging these baits. He hooked it in the back so that it rode along as if it were alive.

We were fishing from shore and would just cast the bait out and let the bobber float it along wherever the wind and current took it. It took me almost 45 minutes to land that behemoth, and my heart was in my throat the entire time.

I was using an old fiberglass rod with a Zebco 33 and some really old 10-pound-test line. What a hoot! We spent several days at the lake and caught pike every day. They ranged in size from about 20 inches on up. In Wisconsin, they call those little ones “snakes.”

On May 29, 2000, Lasaro Avila was fishing a waterdog near the dam and he caught a pike that was all of 4 feet long and weighed 24 pounds, 11 ounces. That’s almost scary.

When the weeds are growing, throwing a spinnerbait or a red and gold in-line spinner along the weeds is an excellent way to catch a pike. They are predators, so reaction baits are a good choice.

They also like those big red and white Dardevle spoons and Johnson Silver Minnows. In the summer, you just need to fish a little deeper.

We've also had very good luck catching pike with football head jigs. Just rig a smoke/sparkle Yamamoto twin tail and skirt on the jig and swim it just off the bottom. You can fish this jig at any depth and the pike just slam it. They like Chatterbaits, too.

Plenty Of Places To Camp

There are plenty of places to camp not far from Lake Mary. Right across the road is Lake View campground. It is open from May 1 through Oct. 31 and has a total of 30 sites: 22 tent sites and eight tent or RV sites. There are tables and grills, but no hookups for electricity. It costs just 16 dollars per day to camp there. There is a water spigot, but no flush toilets. If you go down the road a ways, just past Lake Mary, you’ll find Pine Grove campground, also open from May through October.

Pine Grove costs $18 per day and has 46 tent or RV sites, 16 of which are fully handicap-accessible. There are coin-operated showers, and campsites have tables, fire rings and cooking grills. There is also an RV dump station.

You can use the campsites for day-use only for $9 for up to five people. Pine Grove has flush toilets but again, no hookups.

Consider Forked Pine, Ashurst

If you don’t mind a bit more of a drive, go on down to Ashurst Lake, which is just a bit farther down Lake Mary Road past Upper Lake Mary. Take Ashurst Lake road in to the lake area and you’ll find two more nice campgrounds — Forked Pine and Ashurst.

Forked Pine is in the forest, and there is a lot of good bird watching to be done here. It costs $16 per day to camp at Forked Pine and there is a total of 25 sites. Again, there are no flush toilets, but there are tables and grills at each campsite, with gravel parking aprons.

Ashurst campground is one of my favorites. The sites in back give you more of an “away-from-it-all” feeling. There are 25 sites.

At Ashurst and Forked Pine there are tables, fire rings, cooking grills, drinking water, and vault toilets. Tents and motor homes and trailers up to 35 feet are allowed at both campgrounds, but there are no utility hookups.

Ashurst is also $16 per night, but both are available for day use for a fee of $8 for up to five people. There are a lot of great hikes in the area, and it is so close to Flagstaff that you could stay in town and enjoy all the amenities of a city and still be able to make the morning bite with no problem.

Getting to Lake Mary couldn’t be easier. Just take I-17 to just south of Flagstaff and take exit 339 (Lake Mary Road) east to Lake Mary. You really can’t miss it. Call Coconino National Forest at (928) 527-3600 for more info on Lake Mary.