Lake Amador
Ione / Buena Vista (Amador County) · near Ione · Gold Country & Central Valley
Fishing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Best season
- Winter-spring for trophy trout; spring/summer for bass
Permits and booking
- Licence required
- Yes
- Licence detail
- CA license (16+) PLUS a private lake-access/fishing fee (privately operated pay-lake). Speed limit keeps it calm. The lake manages for trophy bass - confirm current slot/limit at the office.
What is here
- Features
- Fast-growing Donaldson/Lightning trout stocked large · Quietly grows giant largemouth bass · Calm, small, kayak-friendly · Family-friendly - disc golf, camping
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Fishing detail
- Nickname
- Home of the Lightning Trout
- Water type
- lake
- Water
- fresh
- Methods
- Bait · Spin
- Boat
- both
- Target species
- Trophy largemouth bass · Donaldson / Lightning trout · Catfish · Crappie · Bluegill
- Intl tip
- In cold weather the Donaldson/Lightning trout cruise shallow along the shoreline - fish near the surface with small spoons or bait rather than going deep for the standard rainbows.
The guide
Lake Amador is the Mother Lode's trophy-trout put-and-grow specialist - a small, privately run foothill lake near Ione famous f…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Lake Amador — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.269, -120.905