Ice Fishing at Castle Lake

California really does have it all, including
an amazing place to go ice fishing in the Winter. Castle Lake located just 20 minutes from Mt. Shasta City is a beautiful alpine lake, frozen in the winter with ice almost two feet think. We brought a breaker bar thinking we could find someone else's hole and chip it out, but the holes we found were so fresh it wasn't even needed (someone else must have just drilled them recently and moved on). If you want to drill your own holes you can supposedly get hand-cranked augers for not too much money.


The fish are hungry in the winter time. After a few minor technical difficulties with the rigging we were on our way. We used two hooks on the same line, one with a mealworm and the other a nightcrawler. When we felt a tug we soon discovered the nightcrawler had been eaten, so the next line went down with two more of the same. This time the fish didn't get away. It didn't take us long to realize these fish were very hungry and Nightcrawlers were simply more than they could resist. Within about 30 minites we had caught another 3 fish, and we probably could have just kept going. Cold hands and a darkening sky though prevailed on us to pack up and head out. Still, a great trip and one I'd love to do again sometime.