Virginia Lakes

The Virginia Lakes fill a granite cirque at the top of Virginia Lakes Road, six miles up from Conway Summit on US-395, at about 9,700 to 9,800 feet. Three lakes sit on the road: Big Virginia, about 28 acres and 90 to 110 feet deep, Little Virginia, about 12 weedy acres under 20 feet, and Trumbull, about 12 acres and 28 feet. CDFW plants rainbows in all three every one to three weeks from July into early October, and the Bridgeport Fish Enhancement Foundation adds trophy rainbows on top. That is what sets the basin apart from other small high lakes: a 5 pound rainbow is a real chance, and Big Virginia gave up a 5 lb 10 oz fish on a fly in October 2026. Wild brook trout live in almost every lake, and Big Virginia holds a few large browns.

Each lake asks for a different approach. Big Virginia is the deep one. Work the drop-off near the inlet with a leech or bugger on an intermediate line, or drift the steep west shore with a full-sinking line and a streamer 12 to 15 feet down for the browns, which feed best in wind, rain and snow. Little Virginia has weed over most of its bottom. Strip a size 12 olive bugger fast just above the weed, fish a Callibaetis nymph in midsummer, or float the inlet seam in the evening with an X-Caddis or a Griffith's Gnat. Trumbull fishes like a smaller Little Virginia. Above the road, the Virginia Lakes Trail leads into the Hoover Wilderness to Blue Lake, about half a mile in, then Cooney Lake and the three Frog Lakes at about 10,400 feet, with a steep spur to Moat Lake. These hold small wild brookies that take a dry fly, and they are where you go to get away from the crowd. At this height, fish early and late: the midday sun pushes trout deep.

The season is short and the drive-to lakes are busy. The road usually opens to the top in late May, but after a big winter ice can sit on Big Virginia into June, and in 2023 it stayed until mid-July. An early storm can close the road from late September. Summer weekends bring a lot of bait anglers to the road lakes. Big Virginia is a drinking water supply, so there is no swimming, and no lake in the basin allows gas motors. A float tube or a rowboat from Virginia Lakes Resort is the way to fish. The resort sits on Little Virginia and runs a store with flies, a cafe, cabins and rowboats from early June to about Columbus Day, and posts a weekly fish report. There is no cell signal at the lakes. Bridgeport is about 30 minutes north for tackle, and Lundy Lake is a short drive south when the basin is crowded.