Fishing in Lake County

Looking for a place to go fishing in Lake County?

If you want to go fishing in Lake County you’ve come to the right place.

Whether you’re looking to plan a family fishing trip or just want to find a place in Lake County to go fishing — I urge you to keep reading.

I’ve taken the time to assemble a comprehensive list of places to fish throughout Lake County, California. The list includes lakes, ponds, rivers and streams along with details about each location such as surface area, elevation, inflow, outflow, Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) ID and the fish species present.

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Clear Lake ^Freshwater

Clear Lake is a natural freshwater lake located in Lake County, California, about 90 miles north of San Francisco. It is the largest natural freshwater lake that is contained entirely within California. Known as the “Bass Capital of the West,” Bassmaster ranks Clear Lake as the #3 best bass lake in the United States and the #1 best bass lake on the West Coast. Clear Lake has an average depth of 27 ft (8.2 m) with a maximum depth of 59 ft (18 m).

“California’s Clear Lake landed in the No. 3 position on the strength of its production of big largemouth.” — Bassmaster

• Type: Reservoir (Cache Creek Dam)
• City: Clearlake, CA
• GNIS ID: 258441
• Area: 43,520 acres (17,612 ha)
• Surface elevation: 1,329′ (405.1 m)
• Average depth: 21′ (6.4 m)
• Maximum depth: 59′ (18 m)
• Inflow: Scotts Creek, Middle Creek, Forbes Creek, Morrison Creek, Seigler Canyon Creek, Shindler Creek, Kelsey Creek, Adobe Creek, Manning Creek
• Outflow: Cache Creek
• Fish: Black crappie, Bluegill, Brown bullhead, Brown trout, California roach, Channel catfish, Clear Lake hitch, Clear Lake splittail, Clear Lake tule perch, Common carp, Fathead minnow, Florida Black crappie, Florida largemouth bass, Golden shiner, Goldfish, Grass pickerel*, Green sunfish, Hardhead, lake trout*, Lake whitefish*, Largemouth bass, Mississippi silverside, Northern largemouth bass, Pacific lamprey, Prickly sculpin, Pumpkinseed, Rainbow trout, Redear sunfish, Sacramento blackfish, Sacramento perch, Sacramento pikeminnow, Sacramento sucker, Smallmouth bass, Thicktail chub, Threadfin shad, Threespine stickleback, Western mosquitofish, White catfish, White crappie, Yellow perch*

Hidden Valley Lake ^Freshwater

• Type: Reservoir (Hidden Valley Lake Dam)
• City: Hidden Valley Lake, CA (CDP)
• GNIS ID: 1657219
• Area: 6,328 acres (2,561 ha)
• Surface elevation: 1,106′ (337.1 m)
• Average depth: 36′ (10.67m)
• Maximum depth: Unknown (11m)
• Inflow: Coyote Creek, Marine View Creek, North Cove Channel
• Outflow: Coyote Creek
• Fish: Bluegill, Brown bullhead, Channel catfish, Crappie, Largemouth bass, Rainbow trout

Indian Valley Reservoir ^Freshwater

• Type: Reservoir (Hidden Valley Lake Dam)
• City: Hidden Valley Lake, CA (CDP)
• GNIS ID: 274690
• Area: 4,000 acres (1,600 ha)
• Surface elevation: 1,421′ (433 m)
• Inflow: North Fork of Cache Creek, Stanton Creek
• Outflow: North Fork of Cache Creek
• Fish: Black bullhead, Black crappie, Bluegill, Brown bullhead, Central Valley spring chinook salmon, Channel catfish, Clear Lake prickly sculpin, Golden shiner, Green sunfish, Hardhead, Largemouth bass, Rainbow trout, Redear sunfish, Sacramento pikeminnow, Sacramento sucker, Smallmouth bass, Sockeye (Kokanee) salmon, Threadfin shad, Western brook lamprey, White catfish, White crappie

Lake Pillsbury ^Freshwater

• Type: Reservoir (Scott Dam)
• City: Potter Valley, CA (CDP)
• GNIS ID: 234468
• Area: 2,000 acres (810 ha)
• Surface elevation: 1,818′ (554 m)
• Inflow: Eel River
• Outflow: Eel River
• Fish: Bluegill, Channel catfish, Largemouth bass, Rainbow trout, Sacramento pikeminnow, Sacramento sucker

* Unsuccessful introduction or thought to be absent from the lake.