Fishing Telephone Lake in Siskiyou County, California

• Overview

  Look for Telephone Lake in the Siskiyou County part of California. It sits at 6,936 feet above sea level. At 4 acres it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. Weed sits 26 miles from here and is the nearest stop. The nearest city of size is Chico, 114 miles away. No boundary runs near, so the county rules hold throughout.

• Where to Fish on Telephone Lake

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Reported across Siskiyou County: rainbow trout, brook trout, Chinook salmon, klamath smallscale sucker and brown trout. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. The near bank of Telephone Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between December at about 31°F and August at about 57°F, the water has a wide range to work through. A lid forms in a hard winter only. Cover comes and goes, so treat it with suspicion rather than trust. Spring and autumn carry the year; summer squeezes it into the ends of the day. Expect Telephone Lake to follow that timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. A camping area sits within 90 yards of here. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. If the gate is shut, Middle Boulder Lake at 0.4 miles is the nearest alternative. Treat Telephone Lake as unsettled until someone local tells you otherwise.