Fresno County Fishing Destinations

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Fishing Fresno County

Fresno County includes so much great High Sierra fishing that it could keep the most avid angler moving from stream to lake for years and years without ever fishing the same place twice. It includes much of Kings Canyon National Park and most of the John Muir Wilderness.

Lower down Fresno County encompasses such popular fishing lakes and reservoirs as Shaver Lake, Huntington Lake, Millerton Lake, and half of Pine Flat Reservoir. In the high country fishing is popular at Lake Edison, Florence Lake, Courtright Reservoir, and Wishon Reservoir. Naturally I like to get off the beaten trail and find the less often visited places in Fresno County to do my fishing. And there's no shortage of great destinations in Fresno County.

The california record Golden Trout was caught in Fresno County. Can you guess which lake it was taken from?

  A. Silver Lake   B. Shaver Lake   C. Florence Lake   D. Graveyard Lake

(Look below for the answer.)

Kings Canyon National Park

There are three main trailhead centers on the western side of the Sierra that I use for Kings Canyon National Park:

• Cedar Grove
• Courtright Reservoir
• Florence Lake

Cedar Grove is the gateway to dozens of great fishing destinations. For day trips you can hike up the Kings River toward Mist Falls, fishing along the way. Up the Bubbs Creek trail you can do multi-day backpack trips to East Lake, Charlotte Lake, and Sphinx Lakes, fishing the creeks along the way in-between. Or you can head up the Paradise Valley trail and spend several days there seeking out the less popular fishing holes. Hearty hikers could try the Granite Basin trail and drop over the pass into the Middle Fork of the Kings country.

Courtwright and Florence Lakes Trailheads

From Courtright Reservoir you can follow trails through the John Muir Wilderness and into Kings Canyon over Hell For Sure Pass, but you run the risk of becoming so enamored with the Blackcap Basin in the John Muir Wilderness that you might never go any farther.

Leaving from Florence Lake you enter the north end of Kings Canyon National Park, soon reaching the spectacular Evolution Valley, one of our featured trips. Or you could veer off up Goddard Canyon or make your way up Piute Creek to try your luck fishing for golden trout.

John Muir Wilderness

Blackcap Basin, mentioned above, and its neighboring Red Mountain Basin are dotted with beautiful lakes which make great fishing destinations. From Lake Edison or nearby Bear Creek Diversion Dam you can follow trails up to the high country north of Kings Canyon. I have included a number of destinations in that area among our featured trips, including Bear Creek, Rose Lake, and Sandpiper Lake.

Ansel Adams Wilderness

North of Lake Edison in the Ansel Adams Wilderness are a collection of great fishing destinations. One of the best is Graveyard Lakes, one of our Featured Trips. The lakes are within a day's hike of Lake Thomas Edison. The friendly people at Vermillion Valley Resort run a water taxi across Lake Edison which will drop you at the east end of the lake, saving miles of hiking. From there you can head up to Silver Pass Lake, Mott Lake, Bighorn Lake, or Rosy Finch Lake. Pushing up Mono Creek will lead you to Lower Hopkins Lake and spectacular Pioneer Basin.

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