Scotts Flat Reservoir
Nevada City (Nevada County) · near Nevada City · Gold Country & Central Valley
Fishing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best season
- Spring/early summer for smallmouth; spring & fall for trout
Permits and booking
- Licence required
- Yes
- Licence detail
- CA license (16+). Standard regs. Pine-rimmed foothill lake at ~3,000 ft - cooler and clearer than the valley reservoirs.
What is here
- Features
- Best smallmouth-bass water near Nevada City · Higher-elevation, clear & scenic · Planted trout & kokanee too · Two campgrounds & a marina
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Fishing detail
- Nickname
- The Bronzeback Lake
- Water type
- lake
- Water
- fresh
- Methods
- Jigging · Spin · Fly · Bait · Trolling
- Boat
- both
- Target species
- Smallmouth bass · Rainbow trout (planted) · Kokanee · Largemouth bass
- Intl tip
- Work rocky points and the dam face with tubes or dropshot rigs for smallmouth in late spring; for trout, fish bait or troll in spring and fall when the water is cool.
The guide
Scotts Flat is the best smallmouth-bass water in the Nevada City and Grass Valley area - a pretty, pine-rimmed reservoir at abo…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Scotts Flat Reservoir — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.281, -120.917