Hammil Lake Fishing near Mammoth Lakes, California

• Overview

  Hammil Lake is one of the Mono County listings for California. It lies 9,938 feet above sea level. Surface area runs to about 4 acres — small enough to read in one session. It is a small entry by Mono County standards. Start from Mammoth Lakes, 5.2 miles down the road. The big place round here is Clovis, 65 miles distant. The nearest edge is a long way off, so local rules apply throughout.

• Where to Fish on Hammil Lake

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Across Mono County, recorded fish include brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, owens sucker and california golden trout. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Read Hammil Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 53°F at the top of summer and 22°F at the bottom of winter. Cold winters and warm summers give a wide working range. Ice-out usually falls in early June, and the weeks after it fish hardest. The open-water window runs from around early June to about late November in an average year. Fish feed hardest at the start and the close of the open season. That is the shape of the year on Hammil Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. Access points are not mapped for this water, which suits people who like quiet. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Should this one be busy, Way Lake is 0.4 miles off. Nothing here settles the position at Hammil Lake for certain.