Big Lake is a reservoir in Arizona's White Mountains', with attractive size, recreational activities, and visitor amenities. As with most trout waters in Arizona, catch rates are best in spring, during late April and May after the winter ice thaws. Fishing gets even better later in the summer and into fall until the lake freezes over again in late November. Big Lake is in Apache County and is managed by the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. Description Big Lake is , an average depth of 16 ft (4.9 m). The lake has 4 campgrounds, a general store, a marina, and 2 boat ramps. Gas motors are restricted to 10 hp or less. There are also boat rentals. The cold waters are home to many trout species including Rainbow, Brook, Brown, Cutthroat, and Apache trout. Each year, the Department stocks an average of 480,000 fingerling (three inch) and 50,000 sub catchable (six inch) trout. Most of these are rainbows. Big Lake is about 40 minutes or south of Springerville and Eagar, accessed by paved road via Highways 260 and 261. From Show Low and Pinetop-Lakeside, Big Lake is 47 miles (60 km) or approximately a one hour drive east using Highways 260 and 273. Access to Big Lake is restricted in the winter when roads are closed due to the large amounts of snow, generally December to early April. Arizona highest elevated town of Greer is just 20 minutes north of big lake. The small town sits in the valley of the Little Colorado River and has a year round population of just 58 people. Greer is home to Sunrise Ski Resort, the largest ski park in the state. The resort has 7 lifts that span over 3 mountains, Apache peak (11,100 ft), Cyclone Peak (10,700 ft), and Sunrise peak (10,700 ft). Geography Big Lake is situated at 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in the White Mountains at the base of Mount Baldy (11,409 ft) in the Apache-Sitgreaves National forest. It is a large reservoir located in the subalpine grasslands and the petran subalpine forests of eastern Arizona about 20 miles from the New Mexico border. Big lake is part of the Salt River watershed and the reservoir was created by flooding a small tributary of the Black river by the Big Lake dam. The lake is used as a retention basin for rain water and snow melt. There are also many other lakes