Get “Hooked” Up with Arizona Fishing Guides

Friday, December 07 2007 @ 05:22 PM MST

Fly fishing and bass fishing in the desert? Are you nuts? Nope! Did you know that Arizona has more miles of inland coastline than the West Coast and Canada combined? There are more than 150 bodies of water in Arizona … and that means lots and lots of places to fish year around! Arizona offers desert lakes and rivers as well as high country creeks and streams. So when you come to Arizona to fish, you can cast into waters that have many varieties of bass, trout, catfish and carp.

The Hook Up Owner and Guide Ben Koller says, “Arizona has unique waterways and experiences. Our guests can go after Brown, Rainbow and Apache Trout. Apaches, found only in the White Mountains of Arizona, are a beautiful golden color trout. They are the only fish ever to be taken off the endangered species list.

A lot of effort by numerous organizations in Arizona went in to conserving the fish. In the desert locations, our guests can go after Large-Mouth Bass, Small-Mouth Bass and Stripped Bass, as well as catfish and carp.” The Hook Up Outfitters specialize in half day to multi-day guided fishing, bass fishing and fly-fishing excursions. They have permits to waters all over the state, more than any other guide service, so the only problem you may have is choosing where to start your Arizona fishing adventure. You can choose from the largest Sonoran Desert lake to Oak Creek, the Little Colorado River, numerous high country lakes and streams and dozens more locations. The Hook Up even offers private fly-casting instruction.

The Hook Up Outfitters promise the best fishing experience in Arizona. Koller says, “The foundation of our business is the quality of guides and the quality of equipment. Our guides are the state’s elite anglers, who have all been specially trained to provide instructions and offer outstanding customer service. We are one of the only guide services that use a fleet of brand new Ranger Boats. We rotate our fleet every three years. In addition, we are the only Orvis-endorsed guide service in Arizona, and we use only the best gear.”

The Hook Up Outfitters can back up their claim of having some of the best anglers in the country and in Arizona, because when they aren’t guiding, they are winning fishing tournaments! They are frequent guests on TV and radio fishing shows and you will probably see them fishing the BassMasters Classic or the FLW Tour Championship, sending in state and world records to the IGFA record books. They spend time writing articles and being featured in articles for nationally published fishing magazines, and they teach at guide schools and give seminars at various outdoor shows throughout the country.

Koller says, “This is the best job in the world! There is no particular day that stands out as the best day because every day is so cool. Every person and every trip is a different experience and it is always amazing. I have several families that come in every spring. I and so lucky because I get to see the kids grow and learn. They practice the things we worked on the year before and get better and better every year. That’s very rewarding.”

“My favorite two places to fish are Lake Pleasant just north of Phoenix and Oak Creek Canyon in Sedona,” says Koller. “In the early 1900s, there was a hunting and fishing lodge that operated at the West Fork of Oak Creek. Author Zane Grey used to visit the area frequently and he stocked the stream with Brown Trout (though it is a non-native species to Arizona, it is one of the most popular trout varieties for anglers). I love to fish that area because it is beautiful and because I know I may be fishing on the same spot that Zane Grey once fished. In the Sonoran Desert, I love to fish at Lake Pleasant because there are so many species of fish, and that makes for an exciting adventure every time I go there, plus the location is beautiful.”

Jon New is the other owner of The Hook Up Outfitters, which currently boasts 13 extremely talented guides. The company offers fishing experience year around. In the summer, they do a lot of night fishing (to avoid the heat) and, of course, that is prime time for high country fishing. In the winter, the fishing is marvelous at lower altitudes in the desert lakes, rivers and streams.

The Hook Up Outfitters will be opening a salt-water location in San Diego very soon as well as a fly-fishing and tackle shop near Lake Pleasant in the near future.

So if you are in the mood to explore the Southwest and learn about the amazing fishing opportunities here, call The Hook Up to get “hooked up!”

Direct: (623) 412-FISH (3474)
Toll Free: (888) 899-HOOK UP (4665)

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