Dogtown Reservoir

aka Dogtown Lake. On a good, wet-year, you can expect Dogtown Lake to sell to slightly more than 50 surface acres. When the skies aren't as kind, it can dwindle to little more than a big, slightly more than -3-acre cattle tank. Though enough water is almost always present to ensure our finny adversary's survival, during the late 1990s and early 2000, limits were taken off due to concerns regarding total fish kill-offs. It was not stocked for 2002.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department has some pretty strict rules about conducting your own stocking program. It's all really simple: you cannot transport fish from on lake to another. It's a good system, one that makes sure the professionals manage the lake properly. Placing a species like catfish in a small tank used to rear the endangered desert pupfish can have tragic results, reversing years of research and work.

Unfortunately, Dogtown Lake is the scene of one such "Bait Bucket Charlie" Stocking. In this case it was crappie, and though you can catch them today, the lake wasn't originally managed for that species.

Today Dogtown Lake offers those desperado crappie, rainbow, brook and brown trout-even an occasional cutthroat. AT an elevation of 7,070 feet the trout thrive, But, because crappie are a warm water species, they rarely get big enough to keep. -G.J Sagi, from the essential travel handbook Fishing Arizona

GPS:

Latitude: 35° 12' 14.7"N Longitude: 112° 07' 31.2"W

Phone Numbers for more information::

(928) 635-5600

Road Conditions:

Paved to dirt

Land Ownership:

Kiabab National Forest

Ranger Station/District:

Williams Ranger District 742 South Clover Road Williams, Arizona 86046 (928) 635-5600 Fax: (928) 635-5680

Entrance Fees/Permits:

No

Elevation:

7000

Max Surface Acres:

50

Average Depth:

15

Bag Limit:

As Posted

Boat/Engine Restrictions:

10 horse Max

Boats to Rent:

No

Camping:

Yes

Launching Area:

Yes

Water Skiing:

No

Marinas:

No

Use the map above to get directions to Dogtown Reservoir is just south of the town of Williams on Perkinsville Road.