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About Eagle Lake
This majestic natural lake is the second largest freshwater lake in California. It expands over 27,000 acres and is 16 miles long and 3-6 miles wide, on the average. Eagle Lake is a high mountainous lake at an elevation of 5115 feet. It has over 100 miles of shoreline due to the many “fingers of lava” that extend into the lake forming a multitude of points and peninsulas. The extended shoreline gives the lake the advantage of abundant marine life and lake vegetation such as tuey chubs, freshwater shrimp, leeches and snails, a fish-food Smorgasbord!
At about Eagle Lake 's north to south midway point, one can witness nature's transition from forest to desert. Here the Sierra Nevada ends and the Cascade Range begins. To the east lies the Great Basin and to the west, Modoc Plateau, giving Eagle Lake this phenomena of two distinctive weather patterns. There is a dramatic difference in rainfall between the southern half of the lake, about 30 inches per year, and the northern half of the lake, about 10 inches per year.
Eagle Lake at one time may have been connected to Lahontan and Pyramid Lakes in Nevada. Some biologists believe the Eagle Lake trout, one of a few fish able to survive in the lake's highly alkaline water, is related to the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Others say the Eagle Lake Trout is a hybridization of the rainbow and the cutthroat. One thing for certain, with the abundant food-chain available the Eagle Lake trout can get big in a hurry and they have the resulting salmon-pink flesh. Most say that it is the best tasting game fish of all.
In recent years the size of the fish caught at Eagle Lake has declined from and average fish of 3 to 5 pounds, to an average size of 2 to 3 pounds. Where a trophy was a 10 pound fish, in recent years a 5 to 6 pound fish is considered a big fish. The California Department of Fish and Game, the communities of Eagle Lake, and California Inland Fisheries Foundation have begun programs to recreate the conditions required for Eagle Lake Trout to reach their previous proportion.
For information on other California fishing lakes please visit: www.anglerboys.com
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