I'm thinking of taking a friend to the Cottonwood Lakes area to go fishing sometime before mid October. Any suggestions on which lake is the best for trout fishing? I don't fish but he does.

Rafael...

rafael, I'm not much of an angler, and I'm damn sure no expert on Golden Trout, but when I was hiking the Cottonwood Lakes Trail last year I ran across a couple of guys who were up there strictly to fish. As we chatted, I looked around at the lakes we were near (the lower numbered lakes) and asked how the fishing was. They just grinned and said they were pushing on to lakes 5 & 6, which is where they typically fished.

Seeing that I was not going to be poaching their territory - ever - they told me that the lower numbered lakes are where most people fish for the GTs since they're the first ones along the trail and easiest to access. Lakes 5 & 6 take a little more effort to reach, and they were definitely of the opinion that there were either more or larger GT to be had there. I also recall them saying the higher-numbered lakes had different catch/release/limits/restrictions (take your pick) than the lower-numbered lakes. I got the distinct impression these guys knew what they were doing.

For what it's worth . . .

I found this article on gorp.com, and it looks pretty informative:
A Golden Opportunity
Trout Fishing at Inyo's Cottonwood Lake
By Matt Purdue

Looking at DFG rules, it looks like you can fish between July 1 and Nov 15. The lakes are catch-and-release except Cottonwood Lake 5, where there is a 5-fish limit on that lake. They restrict bait to artificial lures/flies with barbless hooks.

Maps have the lakes numbered differently, (with one showing two as "Lake 5". But more show the northern-most (farthest away) lake as #5. I would think lake 4 would be the best fishing, since it is farther away and it is still catch-and-release.

If you end up going, would sure like to hear how successful the fishing is.

The rule here is: No Pictures = It Didn't Happen.

Last year, in late August, our group day hiked into the Cottonwood Lakes area. We fished lake #3, and there were fish rising everywhere. I fished about an hour and caught only two- both Goldens. It was pretty windy off and on, and during the calm the rises increased substantially. If it were up to me I'd stick to the creeks that flow through that area instead.