Fountain Lake

Fountain Lake is a lake in Maricopa County, Arizona and covers about 32 acres, reaches about 16.9 feet at its deepest point and holds roughly 500 acre-feet.

Use this plain plan on Fountain Lake: a point, weed edge, or small drop is more important than simply covering the whole shoreline.

Fish and Baits

Fish listed for Fountain Lake include Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Green Sunfish, and Largemouth Bass.

For black crappie, fish a small jig or minnow around wood, weeds, and sharp little drops; check the first shelf outside shallow cover.

For bluegill, use a small jig, worm, or tiny plastic around green weeds and protected pockets; keep one slow bait ready.

For largemouth bass, work a soft plastic, jig, or spinnerbait around weeds and protected cover; check the first shelf outside shallow cover; match lure size to the fish on this 32-acre lake.

At Fountain Lake, try this for channel catfish: fish cut bait or a nightcrawler on the bottom along a channel edge or warm flat.

For a short trip to Fountain Lake, other targets listed here include Common Carp; give each one its own bait and depth instead of trying to catch everything with the same rig.

How to Read the Water

A focused trip to this water begins this way: try wind as a clue; a light push can carry food toward a bank, but hard wind may muddy it, so look for a clean edge beside a point or protected pocket.

Season by Season

During the first hour on Fountain Lake, in spring, start with warming banks, creek mouths, and shallow cover; summer usually pushes the better bite toward the outside weed edge or a nearby drop; fall can bring bait back to windblown points, while winter calls for smaller moves and a slower pace.

A Simple Tackle Plan

When working Fountain Lake, a medium spinning rod, 8-pound line, a small box of jigs, a few crankbaits, and a simple bottom rig cover most situations; change depth or speed before changing every piece of tackle.

At Fountain Lake, record the wind, water color, productive depth, and cover after a bite; those four notes are more useful on the next trip than a long list of spots that did not produce.

Fountain Lake FAQs

What is a simple way to start fishing for black crappie at Fountain Lake?

Work an old channel turn, then fish a small jig or minnow around wood, weeds, and sharp little drops; change retrieve speed before changing lures.

What does the 16.9 feet deepest point mean when fishing Fountain Lake?

Treat 16.9 feet as the deepest point, not the automatic fishing depth; start near cover and move deeper only when bites or bait give a reason.

What is the best reason to change spots at Fountain Lake?

Change depth before changing the whole spot, then move after checking the same useful feature at several depths without finding bait, a clean edge, or a bite; check both sides of the point.