Francis Short Pond in Flagstaff has been refilled and stocked with trout. The pond was drained in summer 2022 after monsoonal rains following the Pipeline Fire flushed thousands of cubic yards of ash, debris and sediment into the pond, resulting in a complete fish kill due to low dissolved oxygen.
The City of Flagstaff worked tirelessly to remove over 5,000 cubic yards of debris
during the summer of 2023. It repaired and installed a new aeration system that
not only runs on solar power, but is also hooked up to main electrical power. The new
aeration system has the capacity to provide dissolved oxygen to the pond 24 hours a
day, particularly overnight when it is the most critical time for fish survival.
The pond was refilled with Class A reclaimed water by the City of Flagstaff in early October 2023, and the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Page Springs Hatchery stocked 500 rainbow trout on Nov. 8 and again on Nov. 20.
Fishing has been good using flies (#12 Prince Nymphs and #10 Simi-seal leeches) and lures (1/8-ounce Panther Martins and Kastmasters). The limit is 2 bass minimum size 13 inches, the limit is 4 channel catfish, the limit is 5 sunfish, the limit is 4 trout. Surface temperature was 46.5 F, pH 7.75, D.O. 7.2, Secchi Depth 1 meter (3.28 feet) on 11/6/2023.
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