Share your catch
US

Eagle Lake Fishing Report, California

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Eagle Lake: a 22,000-acre natural lake in Lassen County and the only home of the Eagle Lake rainbow trout.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~47 F est.
Air / High
47 / 49 F
Wind
NNE 12 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Tap a marker for today's tip
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Eagle Lake fishes cold and honest: earn your bites in the deep stuff. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 12 mph, steady pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 49. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:42 AM-11:42 AM and 10:11 PM-12:11 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutExcellent

In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Lake troutGood

Winter: Vermont says most of its lake trout fishing is done through the ice, and Michigan anglers jig spoons tipped with cut bait in deep Great Lakes bays.

Tomorrow: Warmer at 57 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

California requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $64.54 for residents. What a California licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with CDFW before you keep anything. The season dates for California, read off the agency, are on the California seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp47 F
High / Low49 / 36 F
WindNNE 12-13 mph
Pressure1019.6 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 47%
Sunrise / Sunset07:23 / 18:10
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~47 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Eagle Lake this week

The best day on Eagle Lake this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:42 AM-11:42 AM and 10:11 PM-12:11 AM
Minor period
4:07 AM-5:07 AM
Sun
07:23 to 18:10
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 15 mph
Rain chance
47%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Eagle Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Lake trout illustration

Lake trout

Spring and fall in shallow water, deep in summer, and through the ice in winter

Lake trout are slow-growing chars of large, deep, cold lakes, native from Alaska and northern Canada to New England and the Great Lakes, and introduced in many western lakes. Winter: Vermont says most of its lake trout fishing is done through the ice, and Michigan anglers jig spoons tipped with cut bait in deep Great Lakes bays.

When to come: the Eagle Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
Lake trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 47 F (estimated, not a reading).

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Eagle Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 55 F, wind to 16 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 65 F, wind to 13 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 12 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

California requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

California license. Eagle Lake trout: 2 a day, 4 in possession; the 2026 season opened May 23 (CDFW). See CDFW's freshwater regulations for the closing date and any changes.

Access

Eagle Lake Recreation Area (Lassen National Forest), south shore: marina with store, fuel and boat ramp, five campgrounds and three day-use areas. Forest Service information: 530-825-3454.

About this water

22,000-acre natural lake (Recreation.gov) in Lassen County, California; the only native water of the Eagle Lake rainbow trout.

Fishing Eagle Lake: the full guide

A trout found nowhere else

CDFW says Eagle Lake rainbow trout are endemic to Eagle Lake and its main tributary, Pine Creek. They also matter well beyond the lake: CDFW's hatcheries raise them for waters from Lake Annie in Modoc County to Cuyamaca Lake in San Diego County. Catching one in Eagle Lake counts toward CDFW's Heritage Trout Challenge.

Spawning trouble on Pine Creek

The lower 25 miles of Pine Creek are seasonal and depend on snowmelt, and CDFW says the creek has dried up three times in the last 10 years. In March and April 2026, after an early runoff, CDFW crews moved about 5,800 adult trout of 9 to 24 inches from drying pools back to the lake, its largest rescue in more than a decade. Earlier that spring CDFW collected 1.3 million eggs from 320 pairs and planned to return about 170,000 offspring to the lake.

Season and limits

In 2026 the Eagle Lake trout season opened on Saturday, May 23, with a daily limit of two and a possession limit of four. Check CDFW's current regulations for the closing date.

The south shore

The Lassen National Forest's Eagle Lake Recreation Area on the south shore has five campgrounds, three day-use areas and a marina, linked by a 5.2-mile paved trail. Recreation.gov calls Eagle Lake California's third-largest natural lake, at 22,000 acres; Christie Campground on the southwest shore sits at 5,100 feet.

Common questions

What is special about Eagle Lake rainbow trout?

They occur naturally only in Eagle Lake and Pine Creek, and CDFW stocks the strain in waters across California.

What is the limit?

Two trout a day and four in possession, per CDFW's 2026 opener announcement.

Why does CDFW rescue trout in Pine Creek?

The creek is seasonal and snowmelt-fed; when it drops early, spawning trout get stranded, so CDFW moves them back to the lake.

Is fishing good at Eagle Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Lake Almanor35 miPyramid Lake77 miLake Oroville83 miShasta Lake85 miStampede Reservoir87 miBullards Bar Reservoir88 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 40.6400, -120.7440 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.