Strange-looking fish caught in Tempe lake

Jose Chavez proudly holds his trophy catch.

I see fish like this on the Discovery Channel," he said.

But certainly not at Kiwanis Lake in Tempe.

Jose and his father fish there frequently. The night they caught what appears to be an alligator gar they had tried out a new kind of bait -- real chicken liver.

Little did they know what the new bait would attract.

"His pole was bending," Jose said. "His snout barely came out and I said, 'Oh shoot!'"

They knew right away it wasn't the usual catfish catch.

"Cuz I was about to put my hand in there and go get it and he said, 'No! Look at the teeth on that!'"

The gar kept snapping at them with razor sharp teeth so Jose decided to leave the hook in the gar's mouth.

"Weird looking. Looked like a snake. My dad thought it was a snake. He said, 'Damn, looks like a snake mixed with an alligator.'"

The odd catch is attracting a lot of attention -- and Arizona Game and Fish officials are interested.

Gars are prohibited in Arizona. They're not even allowed in tanks at home.

They're considered voracious predators.

Jose's father plans to bring the gar to Fish and Game officials who hope this is the only gar fishermen will bring in from the Tempe lake.

Arizona fishing outlook is best in 25 years!!!

According to Salt River Project (SRP), the projected runoff from the current snow pack is more than enough to fill Roosevelt Lake – for the first time since the dam was raised in 1996. The tremendous runoff in 2005 almost filled the lake, but was three feet shy at 96-percent full.

“Our most recent runoff forecast is for inflow to exceed the amount necessary to bring Roosevelt Lake to 100 percent capacity,” predicted Mark Hubble, the senior hydrologist with SRP.

Fishery biologists with the Arizona Game and Fish see great things happening this year not just at Roosevelt, but most of the other fishing lakes as well.

“This looks like an historic year in our fisheries, in large part because of the tremendous runoff in 2005 and resulting spawns, but also because of the widespread deep snow pack in the high country we haven’t experienced since at least 1993,” said Fisheries Chief Kirk Young. “The Arizona fishing outlook is the best we’ve seen in 25 years or so.”

Most of the state’s popular high elevation trout lakes should fill-and-spill this year, or have high water levels. Even some ephemeral waters, such as Lower Lake Mary near Flagstaff, should have enough water to be stocked with trout this year.

“In 2005, Lower Lake Mary was transformed from being a large elk meadow into becoming our largest high country trout lake. That could happen again this year,” Young said.

Biologists are also hopeful that the state’s only two natural lakes – Mormon Lake and Stoneman Lake near Flagstaff – will experience significant filling.