Often thought of as an eyesore and just another piece of city infrastructure, the canals in and around the area have recently become host to a whole new city service. In a push to encourage outdoor recreation, the city of Chandler has supplied additional funding to the community fishing program that stocks waters with fish for people to catch. While two of the most popular locations are Veterans Oasis and Desert Breeze park, the canals have been recently gaining significant attention with students and members of the community who enjoy fishing.
Known for being difficult, canal fishing generally makes it hard to catch fish, not to mention impressive ones by any means. However, the City of Chandler explains that, “through the community fishing program, the canals are stocked with big enough fish to catch, which in turn help the canals stay cleaner due to the fish eating the algae in the canals.” However, “There are no catch-and-release requirements but there are limitations.”
An additional benefit of fishing in the canals is how easy they are to get to and actually use. With natural lakes and recreation areas taking sometimes hours to travel to, the canals offer a fishing opportunity just a few minutes away. This, senior Angel Barillas says, is why he loves the canals because, “I can go every day with my friends right after school and just hang out doing something I love.” Further, Barillas added, “I didn’t think the fish would be that big, but recently I caught what felt like around a 6 pound catfish at least.”
Drawbacks of the canal fishing experience do include the scenery and general atmosphere of the traditional fishing experience. Due to the necessary locations of these canals, students often have to deal with the noise of traffic and the sights of urban sprawl. Junior Gabe Taylor explained, “I have been fishing up in northern Arizona and Utah. I loved those places because my favorite thing about fishing is being in nature with my friends and just relaxing.” Being next to a man-made canal while fishing dampens the ability to relax, but does offer some interesting benefits. Due to the shallow and heavily stocked waters, anglers are much more likely to actually catch fish in the canals compared to the natural lakes and streams where populations can often be overfished due to loose environmental regulations and weak catch limit enforcement.
For this reason, the community fishing program has become largely successful, with Taylor further attesting that, “Veterans Oasis was actually my favorite place that I have fished because I actually caught stuff.” Barillas and Taylor believe that more students who like to fish should take advantage of the community fishing program because of the short travel times and increased ability to catch fish faster.
