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Home › Waters › Arizona › Imperial Reservoir
Reservoir · Yuma County and southeastern California, the lower Colorado River reservoir behind Imperial Dam north of Yuma, a maze of backwaters and dredged channels on the Arizona-California line · Arizona

Imperial Reservoir Fishing Guides

The lower Colorado River reservoir behind Imperial Dam north of Yuma, a shallow maze of backwaters and cane-lined channels fished year round for bass and catfish.

Sun setting over a desert canyon cut by a river
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Imperial Reservoir

Imperial Reservoir backs up behind Imperial Dam on the lower Colorado River, straddling the Arizona-California line about thirty miles north of Yuma. It is nothing like the deep canyon reservoirs upstream. This is a shallow, silty, warm impoundment spread across the old floodplain, a network of dredged channels, cane-lined backwaters and shallow lagoons rather than a single open basin, bounded by the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge on the Arizona side. Much of it is only a few feet deep, sediment from the river continually reworks the backwaters, and the character of the place is closer to a desert marsh than a lake.

The fishing suits the water. Largemouth bass are the main quarry, holding in the cane, the flooded salt cedar and along the edges of the dredged channels, and because the water stays warm they feed over a far longer season than bass further north. Striped bass run up from below the dam and through the channels, and some hold in the reservoir. Channel and flathead catfish work the deeper cuts and are dependable year round, with crappie and bluegill in the backwater brush and tilapia abundant in the shallows. A shallow-draft boat is the right tool, and local knowledge matters because the channels shift.

The gauge at Imperial Dam reports stage only, a pool elevation held within a narrow band because the reservoir exists to divert water rather than to store it. That makes the level unusually stable compared with reservoirs upstream, which is one of the reasons this is a year-round fishery, but it also means the stage reading tells you less than the season and the weather do. The number worth watching is the trend: a drawdown for dredging or maintenance will pull water out of the backwaters quickly and strand the shallow lagoons. Summer heat here is extreme, and the fishing is genuinely best in the cooler months.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Posting to Imperial Reservoir.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Imperial Dam - the structure at the lower end, and the reference point for the pool level.
Yuma - the nearest city to the south, with full services, tackle, lodging and an airport.
Imperial National Wildlife Refuge - the refuge along the Arizona shore, with launches and backwater access.
Martinez Lake - the resort community and marina on the Arizona side, with ramps and guides.
Picacho State Recreation Area - the California-side park upstream, with camping and a ramp.
Laguna Dam - the structure downstream, with river access below the reservoir.
Winterhaven - the California community near Yuma, and the nearest services on that side.

Seasons

Spring: the best season of the year, with bass shallow in the cane and striped bass moving through the channels.
Summer: extreme heat, with fishing confined to first light and after dark and catfish the most reliable target.
Fall: cooling water brings the bass fishing back strongly and the backwaters fish well again.
Winter: mild and pleasant, with steady bass and catfish fishing and the largest seasonal influx of visiting anglers.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Imperial Reservoir?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Carp, Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Striped Bass, Tilapia on the Imperial Reservoir in Arizona.

Where can you access the Imperial Reservoir?

Imperial Dam - the structure at the lower end, and the reference point for the pool level. Yuma - the nearest city to the south, with full services, tackle, lodging and an airport. Imperial National Wildlife Refuge - the refuge along the Arizona shore, with launches and backwater access. Martinez Lake - the resort community and marina on the Arizona side, with ramps and guides. Picacho State Recreation Area - the California-side park upstream, with camping and a ramp. Laguna Dam - the structure downstream, with river access below the reservoir. Winterhaven - the California community near Yuma,...

When is the best time to fish the Imperial Reservoir?

Spring: the best season of the year, with bass shallow in the cane and striped bass moving through the channels. Summer: extreme heat, with fishing confined to first light and after dark and catfish the most reliable target. Fall: cooling water brings the bass fishing back strongly and the backwaters fish well again. Winter: mild and pleasant, with steady bass and catfish fishing and the largest seasonal influx of visiting anglers.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Imperial Reservoir?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Arizona agency site: https://www.azgfd.com/fishing/regulations/