Just south of Laughlin, Nevada is the Avi Resort, complete with two 18-hole golf courses, boat launch and RV park.

Southern Nevada gets nearly 90 percent of its water supply from the Colorado River, which begins as snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains. The snowmelt travels through a series of tributaries into the river, which winds its way south for 1,450 miles before emptying into the Gulf of California in Mexico.

The Colorado River forms the boundary between Arizona and Nevada. Much of the 12 miles of river within Nevada is contained by dikes and is subject to commercial and private development. There are a few backwater areas to fish along the Nevada side.

This section of the Colorado River flows from Davis Dam downstream for 12 miles before entering Arizona and California. Daily and seasonal flows generally vary between 2,000 and 20,000 cubic feet per second. Game fish species include striped bass, small- and largemouth bass, channel catfish, rainbow trout, bluegill, and redear sunfish. Largemouth bass fishing picks up during March through June and range from 12 to 20 inches. Striped bass fishing is best from April through October and average 15 inches, with some occasionally reaching larger than 35 inches. The most productive fishing methods use cut bait and lures that imitate threadfin shad or trout. Rainbow trout range from 9 to 13 inches and are generally caught from October through March. They are best captured with Power Bait or salmon eggs or by casting spinners or lures.

Boating access along the Nevada side occurs at Sportsman’s Park in Laughlin, Big Bend State Park, and the Avi Resort and Casino. There are additional ramps on the Arizona side. Shoreline access occurs along most of river on the Nevada side of the river.

Camping is available on the Arizona side, but there is RV camping on the Nevada side. Laughlin offers multiple hotel rooms. Consider the extreme summer temperatures, which may reach 115°F.

Laughlin is an unincorporated resort town and census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is located on the Colorado River, directly across from the much larger Bullhead City, Arizona.

Hit the casinos, watch big-name entertainment and stay at a themed hotel. Las Vegas? No, but this small gambling town on the banks of the Colorado River offers a taste of Vegas minus the glitz, traffic and high costs. Plus, there’s much to do here besides gambling. Not only does Laughlin have the Colorado River for boating, swimming, fishing, waterskiing and other sports, but it also has gorgeous Lake Mohave offering much of the same on a grander scale.

Golfers will enjoy beautiful courses where reasonable green fees stretch their dollars. For a taste of the Wild West, head to nearby 100-year-old Oatman, where you can catch a mock gunfight and guzzle beer in an old-time saloon. Hiking, anyone? Grapevine Canyon awaits you, famous for the Indian markings – some 800 years old – carved into its boulders.

The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The 1,450-mile-long river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states.

From its genesis on the Continental Divide in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, the river originally known as the Grand grows from a cold mountain trout stream into a classic Western waterway slicing through jagged gorges between sweeping, pastoral ranchlands on the upper leg of a 1,450-mile journey.