The Arizona Game and Fish Commission lifted the slot limit at Roosevelt Lake starting Aug. 17, set the spring 2011 big game hunts, and established the 2010-11 waterfowl regulations during its regularly scheduled meeting in Phoenix on Aug. 6-7.

Game and Fish biologists asked the commission to remove the slot limit at Roosevelt in part because most anglers now practice catch-and-release, but also because this popular lake in the Tonto Basin is experiencing tremendous productivity.

Fisheries Chief Kirk Young told the commission that when the slot limit was initiated in 1990 it typically took anglers around eight hours to catch one bass, and the vast majority of anglers kept and ate the fish they caught. The objective of the slot limit was to increase the catch rates on bass and also increase the average size of bass, which it accomplished.

The slot worked well. Times have changed.

After two years of intensive studies at Roosevelt, biologists have determined that the bass population is healthy, reproduction is good, size classes are well balanced, bass grow-outs are superb and less than 7 percent of anglers catch and keep bass.

However, the commission acted on the Roosevelt proposal a few months earlier than the other proposed fishing regulation changes for 2011 so it could accommodate a request from Payson to lift the slot limit for an upcoming national bass tournament, the FLW, at Roosevelt Sept. 22-25. Payson hosts the event.

Young explained that because the department was already planning to recommend the commission lift the slot starting in January, dealing with the issue a few months early makes no difference biologically but socially it would accommodate Payson's request.

Payson Mayor Kenny Evans thanked the commission and the department for working so cooperatively with the town on this and other issues. Mayor Evans pointed out that that last year's FLW tournament was a major economic boon to the Town of Payson, Tonto Basin and other nearby communities, and the event shows all signs of being even larger and more fun-filled this year. "Roosevelt is becoming a world-class bass fishery."

During the Saturday portion of the meeting, the Game and Fish Commission also set the spring hunts for turkey, javelina, buffalo and bear.

The main changes from last year include:

* Juniors-only spring turkey seasons are stratified and shortened: The season opens for 7 days, then is closed for 14 days (during the opening of the standard season), and then reopens for 14 more days (simultaneously with standard season).

* Open areas for juniors-only spring turkey nonpermit-tag hunts altered: Game Management Units 1, 4A, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7, 8, 10, 12A and 27 are open areas for the 2011 season and may be hunted with the purchase of an over-the-counter tag. Units 3C, 6A, and 23 are now permitted through the draw and juniors-only hunters may apply to hunt in these units.

* Archery-only spring turkey nonpermit tags: Units 4A, 4B, 12A, and 27 will be open to archery-only spring turkey hunting with the purchase of an over-the-counter tag. The archery-only season will be for the last two weeks of the standard season.

* Open areas for archery-only javelina nonpermit-tag hunts increased: Game Management Units 1, 2A, 2B, 2C, 3A, 3B, 3C, 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B, 7, 8, 9, and 11M, 25M, 26M, 38M, and 47M metro units are now open areas for the 2011 season. Units 1-5 and 7-9 were added to the open areas for over-the-counter hunts.

Game Branch Chief Brian Wakeling explained junior turkey hunters last year accounted for 35 percent of the total harvest in Hunt Units 3C, 6A, and 23, so according to the department's hunt guidelines, those hunts need to come under the drawing system.

However, Wakeling pointed out, there are still over-the-counter spring turkey tags for Hunt Units 1, 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B, 6B, 7, 8, 10, 12A, and 27 so young hunters and their mentors still have plenty of choices remaining for the easier to obtain tags.

For waterfall, Arizona falls within the Pacific Flyway, along with 11 other western states. Waterfowl species occurring in the state include both resident and migratory populations.

Arizona's waterfowl hunting season opens on the first Friday in October and runs into January. Hunting seasons and bag limits were set by the Pacific Flyway with what is termed "liberal" frameworks this year and were adopted on Aug. 7 by the Game and Fish Commission.

Waterfowl migrating into or through Arizona generally come from the northern Rocky Mountain states as well as Alberta and Saskatchewan. All common species of both diving and puddle ducks as well as dark and white geese can be found in Arizona.