The Seasons for Fly Fishing Northern California Lakes

Each of the many different great fly fishing lakes in Northern California offer different seasons for when they fish best.

Keswick Reservoir:

Keswick Reservoir is open to fishing year round, and fishes well throughout the year. That said, we’ve found that the best times of year on Keswick are the winter, spring, and early summer, from November through June. Access on this stretch of water is very limited; our guides utilize jet boats to motor upstream and drift back down.

Fly Fishing Iron Canyon Reservoir

Iron Canyon Reservoir is open to fishing year round, but our favorite time of year to fish this beautiful mountain gem is the winter and spring. The lake is often low at this time of year, making for great opportunities to sight-cast to cruising rainbow and brown trout. We generally fish Iron Canyon out of drift boats, efficiently working the edges and current seams.

Fly Fishing Lewiston Lake

There are a couple of prime-time seasons on Lewiston Lake: the first is the winter time, from November through April, while late summer (July, August, and September) can also be productive. Some of our guides use jetboats, while others prefer the stealth of drift boats, to fish Lewiston Lake. They’re both affective ways of targeting Lewiston Lakes trophy rainbows.

Fly Fishing Lake McCumber

Our favorite times of year to fish Lake McCumber is during the winter and spring. As long as there isn’t too much ice on the lake, it fishes well, often with dry flies, throughout the winter and spring months. The fish don’t get as large on McCumber as they do on some of our other lakes, but there’s a lot of them! Our guides use drift boats on Lake McCumber to sneak up on the hungry fish.

Fly Fishing Baum Lake

Baum Lake is open every day of the year, but it is a truly great winter fishery, from November through April, with high numbers of Rainbow and Brown Trout ranging from 12 inches to 8 or 9 pounds. All manner of techniques work on this beautiful lake, from indicator nymphing to small dry flies to streamers. When every other piece of water in the North State is blown out from winter storms, Baum Lake always remains a fishable option. Motors are absolutely not allowed on Baum Lake, so it is also a quiet, peaceful winter-time experience. Our guides generally use their drift boats on the lake, drifting in the soft current and casting along the edges of the weed beds.