Beautiful spot in nature with many campgrounds nearby. The largest pinecones I've seen in southern ca. were here-cool! In the summer they do kayak and paddle board rentals here. Plenty of picnic tables. Great spot for some day use to get out in nature. read more

Jackson Lake - Fishing Near Me - Valyermo, California

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I enjoyed this lake a lot. Came here on a Saturday and got here around 3pm. It was super busy and when we arrived the parking lot was full. I was directed to go across the street and walk down. Parking was $10 per car and across the street it was free. However, it's a walk from the parking across the street. They also have a yearly pass which is $30. They also have bathrooms close by. We fortunately found parking and unpacked and went down to the lake. There's plenty of space for a lot of people. You can fish, swim and even kayak. There is also a spot to rent out equipment to do all that. We brought our own boats for kayaking. The lake isn't too big, you can go down the whole thing within 10min or less. Very small but it's very calm and beautiful. My family loved it. It's a great spot to hang out and relax. We'll come back again if we're ever in the area. read more

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Nice little fishing lake that was formed by the San Andreas fault. It collects the snow runoff from the mountain and is right off and visible from the highway. A few people fishing on shore, others in kayaks or rafts. Wasn't overly crowded on Sunday in July. There is a parking lot, as well as parking ofc the side of the highway. Trees surround the lake. It was quite peaceful. One guy had several fish he had caught on a line. Surrounded by FCFS campgrounds like Mountain Oak, Lake Campground, Peavine, and a few others. read more

Jackson Lake - Fishing Near Me - Valyermo, California

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This place is worth the drive. First of all, the drive here look like we are heading to the middle of nowhere only to come into the forest, Lowkey giving off Big Bear vibes, cabins and little town from hallmark kind of look. Like this is the place where you're gonna meet the man that is gonna rock ya world, treat you right kind of place. That's the vibes I was getting, then again, the holidays is around the corner and those hallmarks movies hits. There is no entry fee, at the time that I went, late September, all the grill is closed but tables are still available and my friends and I, had a little dim sum picnic at one of the table. Leaves aren't full falling but it wasn't so hot, it's actually pretty cold, hits below 50 degrees but it does have wind chill at the time. Saw some people hiking but none fishing since the lake is really low, maybe it will be full after winter. It's a must go to place if you want to get away from the city that is only like one and half hour away if Sequoia is a far drive for you and you're short on days off. It's not big red wood trees, but the air is more crisps and I bet at night it would be very pretty. They also have campsites areas too but not sure at the time if they are open. Would come back for camping season too. read more

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2 CENTS FROM THE NEW YEAR My girlfriend and I decided to make a picnic at the lake. We did a similar trip in December of 2021. I love this lake/pond because it feels cozy and I can sort of imagine that if I had come to California in the old days I could have bought a piece of land that just so happened to have a lake/pond on it just like this. I have been here about three times now. Each offers slightly different experiences. 1st time: I was camping with friends at Mountain Oak campground. The lake is a 5-minute walk away from camp and a great source of easy entertainment for my group. We lounged around with some beers. 2nd time: My girlfriend and I went up for a picnic. We almost had the whole place to ourselves. It was magic and reinforced the vision of this lake that I described before. I would learn how lucky we were to have this experience then after my most recent visit. 3rd and most recent visit. We entered through the side of 15 North. Traffic began right as we entered the city of Wrightwood. It was about a 30-minute delay to reach the lake. Once we arrived there was no parking available in the maybe 40-space lot. Luckily we were able to snag a table and unload our gear from the car. I then parked the car on the north end of the lake right on Big Pines highway. Like a fool, I walked back to the picnic area not on the pavement but chose the lake trail. Which was covered with snow and ice. I narrowly avoided slipping at every step by walking at a snail's pace. We made our food and by the time we were done. Parking spots had opened. My girlfriend went on a walk to get the car and take a break from the crowds. We were pooped at this point so we packed up and took off. We hit another spot of traffic starting at Mt. High and ending at the Wrightwood city limit. SOME TIPS - Bring your own toilet paper - Arrive as early as possible ( We arrived at Wrightwood at about 11:30 am) it was too late - If possible avoid going if it is a weekend during winter after a storm - If possible bring a kitchen trash bag to pack your trash out. CONCLUSION Armed with the knowledge I have now, I am sure that my next visit will not disappoint. This is not the prettiest lake. In SoCal, you take what you can get regarding water bodies. I would recommend anyone visit the lake. read more

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The reviews on this "lake" are all over the board. Frankly I had low expectations figuring that this was unsuitable for swimming and just a fishing hole. While this is really a place to fish, you can swim and use an inflatable tube or kayak and have some fun. Even if you don't swim or fish you can still pull up a lawn chair and enjoy the breeze. The one issue with swimming at Jackson Lake is that so many people fish here that you'll find hooks in the muddy bottom (we did). Only swim in front of the parking lot and be sure to wear water shoes. As for fishing, not really...nobody was catching anything. Kids don't need a license to fish. - Breeze means fewer flies. - Park on the road above lake to avoid fees. read more

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Been going to Jackson Lake off and on since 1987 what a gem it used to be back in the early days before the high desert got over populated. Having to pay $10 to park was a joke on top of the forest adventure pass. The lake was filthy, would never eat ANYTHING out of there. read more

Had a good time at the lake. Plenty of shade and tables. Will return to have another bbq and picnic.

Super cute spot in the middle of nowhere. You can take a propane bbq and they have tables , shade and restrooms. No entry fee. Lake looks a little low some fish and I would recommend swimming but some people did have rafts. read more

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Big, shady trees. Lots of picnic tables. Small lake. I saw several people swimming, on rafts, boating and fishing on a hot August day. Mountain High was selling cold drinks, snacks and renting kayaks. $10 a day to park or $30 for Mountain High annual pass. I bought the annual pass, will return for hiking in the area. read more

My kid liked it but the lake is tiny and the kayak seat was broken. If you go just don't have a bunch of expectations.

The lake is pretty small (more like a pond) but in a beautiful setting. One can almost pass it by when traveling from Wrightwood. There are picnic tables and grills nearby. There's a beach for fishing. We were very successful fishing but only caught (and released) blue gill. One can also take a canoe into the lake. Many of the reviews mentioned that there was a lot of garbage and mess in the vault toilets-fortunately for us it was clean. $5 Adventure Pass is expected. read more

The lake was frozen and the mountain full of snow. Great place to go snow sledding.Great place to come and hang out with the family.

Didn't know what to expect but was a really nice spot to just relax and think. Fresh, cool breeze and nothing but the sounds of birds and leaves flowing. There were people fishing, didn't see anyone getting in. Water didn't look good enough to swim but perfect to admire. read more

Jackson Lake - Fishing Near Me - Valyermo, California

YUCK! My son and I went for a day trip to do some exploring and fishing. We had never been here and thought it would be nice to check it out. The lake itself was just "okay". The water level was low, but to be expected. The picnic areas were gross. The trash was overfilled and was thrown everywhere. Around the lake, there was trash and plastic water bottles. The worst part was the outhouses. Every single stall had feces on the walls, floor, and running down the sides of the toilet. There was pee puddled on the floor and no toilet paper. Flies galore too. I literally made myself hold it until we went into town. I wont be going back any time soon. My interest was peaked, but that was enough for me. read more

love this lake but i went during labor day weekend and it was dried out there was only a little bit of water

Cute little lake, 2 miles after mountain High ski resort, next to two campgrounds: "Lake Campground" and "Mt. Oak Campground". We stayed at the former (same side as the lake and directly attached to the end of the lake (100 yard walk). See my review on the campground page. The lake is also a day-use picnic area with tables and such with lots of shade. The lake itself is pretty (see photos), with nice path on the south end and also a trail at the west end. The fishing was pretty darn good. Each group caught a few fish. There was about 5 species, including cat fish and trout. The lake does get stocked by Fish and Game. We caught cat fish and trout. You can use powerbait, salmon eggs and night crawlers (earth worms) or small lure. One of them basic $3 lures from (about 1 1/2" fill length) from walmart will suffice. But there is a lot grass under water so you have to real closer to top (don't let sink) and try to find a path without grass). For catfish the night crawlers work best (and the trout will definitely hit those also). Lots of people come and fish by just parking along the road and fish just below their cars. Of course you need an Adventure pass ($30 per year or $5 daily). You can boat/kayak or even swim. But of course the swimming is in somewhat muddy/greenish lake water, so don't expect some clear water hole in some mountain creek. The town of Wrightwood is about 6 miles and take about 10 minutes to get there. They have various amentias including gas and decent size market (about half the size of a normal grocery store. definitely not a mini-mart. Hiking: Although it is not shown on the large scale area map the host gives you, if you go about 400 yards east of the lake driveway, there is a sloping camp day-use area called "Peavine Campground". There are path that go up and after about 200 yards up you start climbing these dirt steps they built into the hillside as it gets steep and goes up. At the very top of the steps you turn right at a very distinct and wide trail. You can go about 1 mile or so, along the ridgeline, on that trail until you get to a giant water tank above the lake and continue on that trail until it winds back down and you walk through a bible camp and end up in the west end of the lake parking lot/driveway. Very nice and beautiful trail up there. Maybe about 45 mins. to an hour hike depending on your pace. And the initial climb is quite a steep climb though, but only for a few hundred yards. There is also a separate trail off of the lake's parking lot heading west (but I did not have time to hike that one). read more

Jackson Lake - Fishing Near Me - Valyermo, California

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Now I'm pretty biased here, but because I'm thinking there are other people like me: amateur fishers. This lake is very small and competition for territory can be fierce, but it isn't such an issue where there's fist fights for spots. We came out at 6AM to fish in this well stocked lake. There's trout, bass and blue gill. Yes, there's gold fishes and carp, too, but who eats those? Because I'm an amateur fisher, I pretty much don't catch fish at all. Much to my costernations, I never catch fish although I'm always pumped when I go fishing. When I got to this place, I've never seen anything like it. My buddy threw his line in and within 15 seconds, trout! Threw another line in, got another. I was thinking about the past and that he's actually a good fisher, but my other buddy, Fry, who has fish luck like mine, threw his line in and bam, got a good sized trout. Fry, as I said earlier, never catch fish, but he ended up catching so much fish, he threw some back because he got picky on the size. We caught our daily limit and ended up playing catch and release the rest of the time. So for you serious anglers, I get it, not your spot, but for you amateur fishers out there, you'd probably like it as much as me. read more

We are amateur campers and decided that this was a good place to start our camping adventures at. We stayed at the Lake Campground, which is directly adjacent to Jackson Lake (aka a large pond). None the less, the stay was amazing. The lake is BEAUTIFUL at any time of the day. Sunsets are amazing. This is a good place to come with kids for just a day hang out, or even to camp for a few days at one of the adjoining grounds. There are plenty of fun and easy trails to hike, as well as more difficult ones for the more avid hikers. Such a great little get away, so close to Los Angeles. It is almost unbelievable that it is only a 40 minute drive. read more

Jackson Lake - Sunset from out camp site on 4/2/13. (no, this isn't photo-shopped) - Fishing Near Me - Valyermo, California

Used to be a nice place to fish in the summer when the valleys were hot and you wanted to get to a cooler place for the day and catch some fish. Not many places to fish from though. However, in recent years, the lake was either dry or drained to get the goldfish out that some idiot dumped in there and/or to get all the weeds out so fishing could resume without getting hooks all caught up. Don't know what is happening now. Some California fish hatcheries had a bacteria problem and they had to exterminate all the fish that would be stocked. I keep checking the stocking report, but I don't see Jackson Lake on the list, so I'm assuming that fishing would be unproductive there. I'll try to find the phone number of the agency that handles Jackson Lake and see if they know what is going on there. read more

I live in Wrightwood and have not been to that lake in years. A couple of months ago I invited my coworkers (a bunch of nurses and kids) to spend an afternoon at the lake. I could not have been more embarrassed!! The lake, as some say, is more like a pond, which is no big deal and I made them aware of how small the lake is. The setting was relaxing thank God! but the upkeep of the restrooms was indescribable. You are being made to pay for a daily (or yearly) recreation pass but not sure what that money goes to because the restrooms are disgustingly dirty; as others have mentioned here, feces everywhere, not an exaggeration. Porta potty would be better option!! Never going there again!! read more

Sadly the lake is extremely low. Forest service told us it hadn't been stocked since the start of Covid which seems true as there were many people fishing and 0 catches. Many tiny tiny bluegill but not big enough to hook. Cool place for a picnic even a little hike but the lake is more a pond. read more

Lovely little pond, but the only fish we saw were goldfish (carp) and the water is currently VERY low because of the drought we are experiencing. Didn't see anyone else catch anything but the fish were very active once the sun set. read more

The upkeep at this lake is horrible!! The bathrooms have urine and feces and toilet paper all over the floors inside and out and looks like its been there for weeks The bbq's are filled to the hilt with ashes and overflowing all over the ground in big piles The picnic tables haven't been painted for months to years and have bird doo all over them The weeds are over grown and there's trash in the lake itself floating beer bottles and the water itself is brown with a pungent smell Who ever is supposed to take care of this lake should be ashamed of themselves! This is a ghetto lake which is a shame because it could be so much better with some upkeep read more

Great location...small, pretty lake. Fairly light use even on an extremely hot summer weekend. Parking lot is shaded as are picnic table and lots of shady areas for sunbathing. Parking does require an Adventure Pass. Close to Wrightwood but a bit of a jaunt from AV (and a very twisty road to boot!). The water is very pleasant not as cold as some mountain streams can be. It is a bit murky and can be muddy on the bottom. There were several people fishing and seemingly catching! Also great for kayaks and floats...all in all a highly recommended beat the heat location! read more

I've been coming here since I was in the 4th grade and needless to say it's a real hidden gem. Beautiful in the winter and relaxing in the summer. Make sure you bring some boots if you come during the winter if you're planning to walk around the lake, it's slippery as hell. read more

Used to go here all the time as a kid with my parents in the early 2000's. Sure do miss those days! Great little area and there used to be a camping site right down the road from it. Idk if it's still there. read more