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Home › Waters › Arizona › East Verde River
River · Central Arizona, below the Mogollon Rim near Payson, running west from the Rim country to the Verde River at Childs · Arizona

East Verde River Fishing Guides

A Mogollon Rim stream near Payson, stocked with trout through the summer and turning to smallmouth in its lower canyon.

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

Guides on the East Verde River

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About the East Verde River

The East Verde rises under the Mogollon Rim north of Payson and runs west through a sequence of small canyons to meet the Verde River at Childs. It is a modest stream by any measure, and for much of the year the upper reaches run thin. What makes it worth knowing is its position: it is the closest genuinely cool running water to Phoenix, and for a great many Arizona anglers it is where trout fishing begins.

Arizona stocks rainbow trout into the accessible upper reaches through the warm months, timed to when the water is cold enough to hold them, and those stockings are the backbone of the summer fishery. Some fish hold over in the deeper shaded pools and a few brown trout persist in the harder-to-reach water. The stocking schedule is published and it is worth consulting, because on this creek the difference between a good day and an empty one is often a matter of a week.

The lower river below the canyon is a different fishery and a better-kept secret. As the East Verde drops toward Childs it warms, deepens and picks up smallmouth bass, catfish and the occasional largemouth washed down from above. Very few people walk into it. The approach is a hike down a rough drainage rather than a drive to a pullout, and that filtering is most of the appeal.

Summer monsoon storms are the safety consideration here and they are not a minor one. This is a narrow canyon system with a hard rock catchment, and it rises fast and dangerously when a storm sits on the Rim, even when the sky overhead is clear. Watch the forecast for the high country rather than for where you are standing, and get out of the canyon when it darkens up there.

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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.

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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 East Verde River.

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

Water Wheel Recreation Site - the best-known access above Payson, with a short trail to the creek.
Second Crossing and Third Crossing - Houston Mesa Road crossings with stocked reaches.
Flowing Springs - a lower-canyon access point off the Beeline Highway.
Houston Mesa Road - the main route to the upper creek from Payson.
East Verde Estates - a residential reach with limited public access points.
Childs - the Verde River confluence at the bottom of the drainage.
Payson - the town, the licences, and the base for a day on the creek.

Seasons

Spring: snowmelt off the Rim gives the creek its strongest flows of the year.
Summer: trout stocking runs through the warm months, with monsoon flash flood risk from July.
Fall: settled weather, low clear water and good smallmouth fishing in the lower canyon.
Winter: cold, low flows, and little stocking activity until spring.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the East Verde River?

As of Sep 17, 5:30 am, the USGS gauge EAST VERDE RIVER NEAR CHILDS, AZ reads 1 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the East Verde River?

Anglers target Brown Trout, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass on the East Verde River in Arizona.

Where can you access the East Verde River?

Water Wheel Recreation Site - the best-known access above Payson, with a short trail to the creek. Second Crossing and Third Crossing - Houston Mesa Road crossings with stocked reaches. Flowing Springs - a lower-canyon access point off the Beeline Highway. Houston Mesa Road - the main route to the upper creek from Payson. East Verde Estates - a residential reach with limited public access points. Childs - the Verde River confluence at the bottom of the drainage. Payson - the town, the licences, and the base for a day on the creek.

When is the best time to fish the East Verde River?

Spring: snowmelt off the Rim gives the creek its strongest flows of the year. Summer: trout stocking runs through the warm months, with monsoon flash flood risk from July. Fall: settled weather, low clear water and good smallmouth fishing in the lower canyon. Winter: cold, low flows, and little stocking activity until spring.

Where are the fishing regulations for the East Verde River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Arizona agency site: https://www.azgfd.com/fishing-2/licenses-and-regulations/