Desolation Wilderness Lakes
Above Lake Tahoe (Emerald Bay) · near South Lake Tahoe · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Fishing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- advanced
- Best season
- July–September (snow-free)
Permits and booking
- Licence required
- Yes
- Licence detail
- CA license (16+) required. Desolation Wilderness holds dozens of granite-basin alpine lakes full of trout, reached by trail from Tahoe-area trailheads (Echo Lakes, Eagle Falls, Bayview). Free day-use permit + quota overnight permit (Recreation.gov). No motors, wild setting.
What is here
- Features
- Dozens of trout-filled granite lakes · Classic Sierra backcountry fishing · Above the blue of Tahoe · Accessible from South Lake Tahoe
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Fishing detail
- Water type
- high-sierra
- Water
- fresh
- Methods
- Fly · Casting
- Boat
- shore
- Target species
- Brook trout · Rainbow trout · Brown trout · Golden trout (a few lakes)
- Intl tip
- License required (free day-use permit + quota overnight permit via Recreation.gov). Dozens of trout-filled granite lakes reached from Tahoe trailheads (Echo Lakes, Eagle Falls, Bayview). Brookies are everywhere; goldens in a few high tarns. Small flies/lures. July–September. Combine with Tahoe and the Rubicon Trail. Accessible backcountry.
The guide
The Desolation Wilderness above Lake Tahoe is a granite wonderland studded with dozens of alpine lakes, most of them holding ea…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Desolation Wilderness Lakes — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.92, -120.14