One of several large Salt River reservoirs in Central Arizona, Theodore Roosevelt Lake is the largest lake that lies entirely within the state lines.
The 21,000-acre lake stretches over 22 miles end-to-end and is one of Arizona’s top fisheries for both channel and flathead catfish, among other game fish.
Arizona Game and Fish Department surveys regularly turn up impressive numbers of catfish at Roosevelt Lake, and anglers bring in 30- to 40-pound channel cats every year, as well as a few flatheads that top 50 pounds.
If all you want to do is have fun loading up on scrappy mid-sized channel cats, you can easily do so from shore at any of a dozen public access points around the lake.
Giant flatheads are more often caught out a little deeper, and the bait of choice is a live bluegill between 3 and 6 inches.
Big flatheads hunt by ambushing their prey, and they tend to hunker down among rocks, log jams and rocks where they can remain unseen.
In Roosevelt Lake, flatheads can be anywhere from 10 to 45 feet deep—toward the deeper end of that range during the day, and shallower at night.
Roosevelt is a massive lake with countless spots where you can catch catfish, but a lot of the best action is centered around the Salt River Inlet toward the eastern end of the lake. Of course, even this is a vast area with a lot of options.
Cougar point, which overlooks the Salt River Channel, is one of the best bets in this part of the lake. The point has a steep drop that catfish love.
Nearby Wildcat Shoal is also a good spot, especially at night, and Champagne Bay has a lot of productive submerged timber.
Up in the middle section of the lake, there’s another great area that is sometimes referred to as Nonesuch Shores, which extends from the Roosevelt Lake Visitors Center east to Windy Hill Recreation Site.
This whole stretch is made up of cuts and washes strewn with submerged boulders and other structures. There’s a submerged roadbed here, and the steel culverts beneath the old road are favorite hiding places for big catfish.
This is a great area for shore fishing as well, and there are numerous trails and campgrounds in the area, all managed as part of Tonto National Forest.
Roosevelt Lake also is one of the best crappie fishing lakes in Arizona, among several other premier fisheries.
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