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Home › Waters › Arizona › Bartlett Reservoir
Reservoir · Maricopa County, a Verde River impoundment in the Tonto National Forest northeast of Phoenix · Arizona

Bartlett Reservoir Fishing Guides

A desert Verde River impoundment an hour from Phoenix, with a gauge tracking a pool that swings dramatically between wet and dry years.

Desert country running down to open water in the Southwest
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Bartlett Reservoir

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About the Bartlett Reservoir

Bartlett Reservoir sits on the Verde River in the Tonto National Forest, about an hour northeast of Phoenix by road. It is a desert impoundment in the fullest sense: saguaro and palo verde down to the waterline, no town on its shores, and a water level that moves far more than anglers from wetter parts of the country expect.

The gauge at Bartlett Dam reports reservoir elevation, and on this lake that number is the whole story. Bartlett is a water-supply reservoir for the Salt River Project, and it is drawn down hard in dry years and refilled by winter and spring runoff off the Mogollon Rim. The difference between a full pool and a low one is not a matter of a few feet; it changes which structure is in play, whether the brushy shoreline is flooded, and where the fish are concentrated. Checking the elevation trend before driving out is the single most useful piece of planning for this lake.

Largemouth bass are the primary target and the lake has long been productive for them, particularly when a rising spring pool floods terrestrial brush. Smallmouth are present in the rockier upper end near the river inflow. Yellow bass are abundant and are something of a Bartlett speciality, schooling in open water and providing fast fishing for anyone willing to chase them. Crappie fishing can be very good in the standing brush, and channel and flathead catfish are widespread, with flatheads reaching substantial size.

Access is via the Bartlett Dam Road out of Carefree and Cave Creek, with several developed recreation sites and ramps. A Tonto Pass or equivalent recreation fee applies at most sites. Arizona regulations apply, and summer heat here is genuinely dangerous, so plan for early starts and carry more water than seems necessary.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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Pool right now

  • Storage147,300 acre-ft

Reading taken 1h ago at USGS 09509502, BARTLETT RESERVOIR AT BARTLETT DAM, AZ. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Bartlett 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

Bartlett Dam - the gauge site at the lower end, with the main ramp and the deepest water in the reservoir.
Rattlesnake Cove - a developed recreation site with ramp access to the lower and middle lake.
Jojoba Boating Site - a further access point on the western shore with a ramp and parking.
Verde River - the inflow at the upper end, rockier water holding smallmouth and river-run fish.
Horseshoe Reservoir - the upstream impoundment on the same river, the alternative when Bartlett is drawn down.
Cave Creek and Carefree - the nearest towns, with fuel, tackle, supplies and the road out to the lake.
Phoenix - roughly an hour southwest, the nearest city for full services, guides and air access.

Seasons

Spring: the best period, with bass shallow on a rising pool and crappie in the flooded brush.
Summer: extremely hot, fished at first light and after dark, with catfish and yellow bass the reliable targets.
Fall: cooling water brings bass back to the shoreline and yellow bass school heavily in open water.
Winter: mild and pleasant, with bass deeper and slower but crappie and catfish still dependable.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Bartlett Reservoir?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Carp, Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Green Sunfish, Largemouth Bass, Redear Sunfish, Smallmouth Bass, Sunshine Bass, White Crappie, Yellow Bass on the Bartlett Reservoir in Arizona.

Where can you access the Bartlett Reservoir?

Bartlett Dam - the gauge site at the lower end, with the main ramp and the deepest water in the reservoir. Rattlesnake Cove - a developed recreation site with ramp access to the lower and middle lake. Jojoba Boating Site - a further access point on the western shore with a ramp and parking. Verde River - the inflow at the upper end, rockier water holding smallmouth and river-run fish. Horseshoe Reservoir - the upstream impoundment on the same river, the alternative when Bartlett is drawn down. Cave Creek and Carefree - the nearest towns, with fuel, tackle, supplies and the road out to the lake...

When is the best time to fish the Bartlett Reservoir?

Spring: the best period, with bass shallow on a rising pool and crappie in the flooded brush. Summer: extremely hot, fished at first light and after dark, with catfish and yellow bass the reliable targets. Fall: cooling water brings bass back to the shoreline and yellow bass school heavily in open water. Winter: mild and pleasant, with bass deeper and slower but crappie and catfish still dependable.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Bartlett Reservoir?

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