Fishing at Mud Lake, Modoc County, California

• Overview

  Mud Lake sits in Modoc County, out in California. Elevation runs to 5,495 feet. It runs to roughly 71 acres — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. 28 miles away sits Alturas, the nearest town. It is 148 miles to Reno, the nearest city. Water in the same corner: 2.3 miles away is Boggs Reservoir, Level Reservoir (3.7 miles), 7 miles away is Upper Lake, New Year Lake (8.4 miles) and 9.8 miles away is Little Mud Lake. This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Mud Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Across Modoc County, recorded fish include Sacramento sucker, modoc sucker and rainbow trout. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. The near bank of Mud Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 68°F in July and bottom out at 31°F in December. Spring and autumn are the strongest, but nothing is truly closed. Cover comes and goes, so treat it with suspicion rather than trust. The hot months push the fishing to dawn and dusk. Time your trip to Mud Lake by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  We hold no note on access for this one. Mapped as intermittent, it fills after rain and shrinks between. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. Boggs Reservoir, 2.3 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Nothing on Mud Lake should be assumed from this page alone.