Lake Havasu (California Side)
Needles / Havasu (CA-AZ border) · near Needles · California Desert
Fishing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best season
- Bass spring/fall · stripers year-round · redear spring
Permits and booking
- Licence required
- Yes
- Licence detail
- CA license (16+) required; CA-AZ Colorado River reciprocal arrangement applies on the border water (check current rules). Havasu is a Colorado River reservoir famous for bass, stripers, and world-record-class redear sunfish. Launches on the CA side near Needles.
What is here
- Features
- World-record redear sunfish water · Bass & striped bass · Warm desert reservoir · Colorado River impoundment
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Fishing detail
- Water type
- lake
- Water
- fresh
- Methods
- Casting · Trolling · Bait
- Boat
- both
- Target species
- Largemouth & smallmouth bass · Striped bass · Redear sunfish (giant) · Catfish & crappie
- Intl tip
- License required — CA-AZ Colorado River reciprocal rules apply (check current). World-record-class redear sunfish ('shellcrackers') are the claim to fame — target them in spring. Also bass and stripers. Launches on the CA side near Needles. Brutal summer heat — fish dawn/dusk. A unique desert reservoir fishery.
The guide
Lake Havasu, the Colorado River reservoir straddling the California–Arizona border, is a warm-water fishing destination of genu…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Lake Havasu (California Side) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 34.46, -114.37