Gallison Lake Fishing Guide, Mono County, California

• Overview

  Gallison Lake belongs to Mono County, California. The country round it is mixed forest from end to end. It covers about 13 acres, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. It is high ground by California standards. Yosemite Valley sits 14 miles from here and is the nearest stop. It is 69 miles to Clovis, the nearest city. Rules here are straightforward: one county, one set of rules.

• Where to Fish on Gallison Lake

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Reported across Mono County: brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, owens sucker and california golden trout. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Read Gallison Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 51°F at the top of summer and 20°F at the bottom of winter. Winter closes the water for a while, and the reopening is worth catching. The lid usually goes in mid June, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Averages place the thaw at mid June and the freeze at mid November. Early summer and early autumn carry the open-water season. The season on Gallison Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Check locally before you travel, because a wasted drive is a long one. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Should this one be busy, Bernice Lake is 0.7 miles off. For Gallison Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.