South Lake

South Lake sits at the top of South Lake Road, 22 miles and about 9,750 feet up from Bishop, the highest lake you can drive to in Bishop Creek Canyon. Southern California Edison raised a natural lake behind Hillside Dam in 1910, and at full pool it covers about 173 acres and stores close to 12,900 acre-feet, the most on the Bishop Creek system. CDFW planted catchable rainbows six times between early May and late August in 2026, and trophy rainbows of 2 pounds and up go in on top. The wild fish are brook trout, and in a good year a lot of them run close to 12 inches. A few big browns hold over too: the lake record is a 17 lb 1 oz brown from 1998.

The fly water is the south end, where three creeks come in from Long Lake, the Treasure Lakes and the Gilbert Lake side, and a reed bed runs along much of the south and west shore. A float tube suits that end. During the June fill, hang a beadhead Hare's Ear, a Prince or a chironomid under an indicator on the inlet seams, or strip a small olive bugger along the reeds on an intermediate line. By mid-July the rainbows suspend 10 to 20 feet down between the dam and Boiler Cove, so set the indicator deep or count down a slow-sinking line, and save the dries (Elk Hair Caddis and Parachute Adams in 16 to 18) for evenings at the inlets. Late August and September bring flying ant falls, and a big black ant fished along the shore draws hard takes. In October the brookies and browns stage at the inlet mouths to spawn, and a streamer or leech stripped there finds the biggest fish of the year. Trollers work lead core past the Rock Slide on the west bank for the trophy plants.

Timing decides the trip. South Lake is a store-and-release reservoir, so it sits low through winter and spring (about 47% full in April 2025) and fills fast in June for summer release. In a big snow year it can stay iced until mid-June, so the late-April opener often means fishing the creek below, not the lake. Edison starts drawing it down in late summer, and by October the launch can be short of water. The trailhead lot is shared with the Bishop Pass trail and fills early on summer weekends, and the lake fishes best on the slow days after a busy weekend. The season closes November 15. If South Lake is low, iced or crowded, Lake Sabrina and the Weir Pond are a few miles away.