Lake Mary

Lake Mary is the biggest lake in the Mammoth Lakes Basin, about 140 acres of cold granite-basin water near 8,900 feet, ten or fifteen minutes up Lake Mary Road from town. It is a planted lake first. CDFW stocked it six times between mid-May and mid-September in 2026, and the Town of Mammoth Lakes and Mono County add trophy rainbows on top, so most of what you catch is a 10 to 14 inch planter. The reason people keep coming back is the rare big fish: a 13 lb 8 oz rainbow came out in September 2025 and a 9 lb 2 oz fish in early May 2026. A few holdover browns and brook trout round it out.

For a fly rod it is float tube water, and a floating or intermediate line covers most of it. Start at the edges that move food: the Coldwater inlet at the southeast end, the creek from Lake George on the west side, and the shallow north cove toward the outlet to Lake Mamie. After ice-out, hang a size 16 to 20 chironomid or a small black leech under an indicator in 6 to 15 feet of water. Through summer, calm mornings bring callibaetis and evenings bring caddis and a midge rise close to shore in the last hour of light, when a size 18 or 20 black parachute takes fish. By July the fish drop out of the shallows at midday, so fish early and late or go down on a sinking line. In fall, strip a leech or bugger along the rocky edges and off the inlets, where the browns come to feed on planters.

The trade-offs are boats, crowds and a short season. Lake Mary Marina and Pokonobe rent motorboats and pontoons, the 10 mph limit keeps the wakes small but not gone, and bait anglers and trollers line the planting spots in July. The lake often holds ice past the late-April opener, and the Forest Service opens the Lake Mary gate only when the road is clear (May 2 in 2026). The road closes again after the first big storm, sometimes before the November 15 close, and after that you walk, bike or ski in. On a summer weekend the free Lakes Basin Trolley beats hunting for parking. If Lake Mary is busy, Lake Mamie, Lake George and Twin Lakes are all within a mile.