Caribou Lake, California: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Caribou Lake lies within the bounds of Siskiyou County, California. The surface lies 6,788 feet up. The water covers some 44 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. The bank runs about 1.1 miles all the way round, so one visit can cover most of it. Size puts it in the front rank of our Siskiyou County list. Some 20 miles away sits Weaverville, the nearest settlement. Chico sits 107 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Caribou Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Open biodiversity records for Siskiyou County list rainbow trout, brook trout and Chinook salmon. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. On Caribou Lake the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year August sits at 58°F and December at 31°F. The calendar is generous: something works in nearly every month. Some winters give nothing at all, so plan for open water. April and May are the settled weeks, with October close behind. Expect Caribou Lake to follow that timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. There is a campsite half a mile from the water. Light line and small metal for the trout; a fly rod earns its place on calm evenings. Take the rules with you rather than trusting memory. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Lower Caribou Lake, 0.6 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. What applies at Caribou Lake may have changed since it was mapped.