Gold Lake, CA

Gold Lake, which is at an elevation of 6,400 feet in Plumas National Forest, is bigger than most people expect. Since it is a natural body of water, it is always full and makes for a beautiful sight.

Almost all the fish caught at Gold Lake are taken by anglers with boats, by trolling. It's difficult to catch fish from shore. And by midmorning, when the wind often comes up, a lot of boaters get driven off the lake and try to cast into it from shore. It's one of those frustrating encounters in life. If you can hit it just right in the spring, when at least half the lake is free of ice, trolling a big woolly bugger on the surface on a long line will catch some big browns and rainbows.