Lake Cuyamaca
Julian (Cuyamaca Mtns) · near Julian · San Diego
Fishing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Best season
- Trout year-round (best fall–spring); cool 4,600-ft lake stays trout-friendly
Permits and booking
- Licence required
- Yes
- Licence detail
- CA license (16+) plus a Lake Cuyamaca permit. Open daily year-round, an hour before sunrise to an hour after sunset. Regularly stocked with trout.
What is here
- Features
- 4,600-ft mountain trout lake · Open daily year-round · Frequent trout stocking · Boat & rowboat rentals, tackle shop
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Fishing detail
- Water type
- lake
- Water
- fresh
- Methods
- Bait · Trolling · Fly · Spin
- Boat
- both
- Target species
- Rainbow trout · Largemouth bass · Channel catfish · Crappie & bluegill
- Intl tip
- For a near-guaranteed catch, fish floating dough bait or nightcrawlers off the bottom near the stocking points, or troll a small spinner from a rental rowboat.
The guide
At 4,600 feet in the pines near Julian, Cuyamaca is the county's premier put-and-take trout lake — cool enough to hold rainbows…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Lake Cuyamaca — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 32.9905, -116.581