How do you like to spend your weekends? Some people like to go out to bars, some people like to go out to dance clubs, some people like to go out to parties, and some people like to do nothing at all. Just stay at home and recuperate from the grueling work week.
Well in Arizona we often spend our weekends a little differently. In other places across the US, a weekend in January means time indoors, especially at night. Not in Arizona.
This past Saturday night we participated in one of our favorite activities. What might that be you may ask?
Night fishing!
(yes that is a bobber in the upper left, and if you look closely you can see the black blur in the middle, that is a catfish)
Night fishing is a little different than fishing during the day light. First of all, the types of fish that you are able to catch drops to only a handful that hunt by smell and the places that you can fish drops drops quite a bit as well.
So where do we like to fish you might ask?
Usually our night fishing adventures are reserved for golf courses!
Is this legal you might ask? Well, I am not entirely sure of the legal aspects, but we have always operated under the mantra of "it is easier to apologize and ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission". So far this has served us well as we have fished many golf course ponds and only a couple times have we ever been asked to leave.
I think they can sympathize with us when they see that we are just out there trying to catch some fish instead of vandalizing or doing some other kind of nefarious activity. Plus we always throw the fish back.
In general the best fishing in the state of Arizona is at golf course ponds!
Why the golf course?
Golf courses offer some of the best fishing in the entire state of Arizona. For one, the ponds are much smaller on the golf course so the fish are highly concentrated. Secondly, there is almost no fishing pressure as people don't normally fish the golf course ponds! The only problem is that you can't fish them during the day at most courses because that would interfere with the golfers and the rangers will kick you off.
So, how do we solve that?
We sneak on at night!
(The picture is not very good but you can see the black blur in the lower left, that is another catfish)
Again, we are not entirely sure if this is frowned upon or not, but like I said we like to ask for forgiveness as opposed to asking for permission :)
This past Saturday night, I took my stepson out for his very first golf course night fishing trip. It didn't quite go as good as we hoped as we were only able to pull in a couple fish. However, it involved some fence hopping and hiding from some other people we saw out there at night, which got the adrenaline going.
(one of the decent sized catfish we were able to pull in)
There were multiple occasions where my stepson was quoted as saying... "dad are you sure we are supposed to be out here?" My response was... "well I am not totally sure, but there are no signs saying we can't be out here... plus this is where the fish are!"
The next time you are having trouble thinking about a place to go fishing. Try the local golf course. You can either call them up and ask permission or you can try my approach, but you may have to go out there at night ;)
Live well my friends!
All images used in this post were taken by me at different golf courses throughout the valley.
