FISHING AT LAKE AMADOR

About Lake Amador

Lake Amador is located about one hour above Sacramento, in California. The lake is not huge on size, but it is huge on fish. The lake is closed to water skiing and jet ski's. The lake offers campgrounds, boat rentals, fishing, store with fishing supplies and bait, and even a small cafe. They stock their own fish with their own raised Donaldson Trout. Donaldson Trout mature in two years and weigh in at 10 pounds, where a natural trout will mature in four years and weigh in at 1.5 pounds. The difference is that they can rapidly produce huge trout, which will make any angler happy. Lake Amador is also known for it's thirty to fourty pound catfish, and its normal report of producing Largemouth Bass over ten pounds on a regular basis. Bluegill and Crappie are also a good bet at Lake Amador. In 2023, Lake Amador began planting a new breed of Amador Blue’s, another colorful trout in their unique trout species line up.

Fish Types at Lake Amador

The types of fish that can be found at Lake Amador include Largemouth Bass, Channel Catfish, Bluegill, Black Crappie, White Crappie, Donaldson Lake Trout, Rainbow Trout, Common Carp, Smallmouth Bass, Amador Golds (similar to lightning trout), Amador Blues, and Threadfin Shad.

Trophy Trout Spoons For Fishing At Lake Amador

Lake Amador Details

An excerpt from the Lake Amador website: For over 30 years, the Lockhart Family, of four generations, has been in the process of developing the finest fishing resort in the Western United States. Lake Amador Resort, located in the foothills of the Sierras, is only one hour from Sacramento or Stockton and two hours from anywhere in the Bay Area. Years ago, we realized that Mother Nature, alone, could not provide the quality of fishing that our anglers deserved. So, we set out to raise the best eating, hardest fighting, and biggest trout found anywhere in the country. We imported a special strain of crossbred trout from Switzerland, the Donaldson Trout. They are part Steelhead, part Cutthroat, and part Rainbow. Anglers from all over the world now rave about the spectacular jumps and awesome fight that these unique fish exhibit.

Lake Amador Resort Facilities

Lake Amador has complete launching and docking facilities that make for a quick launch. They have full hook up RV sites and a 150 site campground, with showers and flush toilets. All of this is nestled along the shoreline of Lake Amador and are available year round with reservations or walk ins are also welcome without a reservation. There is always plenty of room, though Holidays do get pretty busy so you should call ahead. Lake Amador is a must every winter. You can catch large planter "cutbows" and rainbow trout here on almost every trip. It's not difficult to bag a limit most of the time up to 5 pounds and sometimes end up with a hog tipping the scales well over 5, and sometimes over 10 pounds. These hard fighting fish are fun to catch, and they taste great. Lake Amador is a great fishing destination where you can fish 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year long. It is best known for its excellent trout fishing, as it has the heaviest trout planting program in all of California. They begin planting in October and will plant up through May, depending on the heat and water temparatures. They stock about 50,000 pounds of trout each season, with many of these being trophy trout over ten pounds! Lake Amador is also home to massive Channel and Blue Catfish, Crappie, Blue Gill, Bass, and Carp. The lake has an extremely health supply of Shad minnows, which you will see up in the backs of the lake congregating in the millions. It’s an amazing sight to see. There is plenty of food to fatten up these trophy fish and keep the lake inhabitants plump and healthy. This is why the trout in Lake Amador are referred to as “football trout” as they are plump and huge. Lake Amador has a dual lane paved boat launch that provides for easy boat launching from full capacity all the way to 80’ down. If you don’t have a boat, the lake has 13.5 miles of shoreline to fish from. The lake also has an extra large fishing dock that extends over 100’ off the shoreline down below the clubhouse. If you would like to rent a boat, they have 12 foot aluminum fishing boats available for ½ and full day boat rentals at the Clubhouse.

Soft Bait Lures for Fishing at Lake Amador

Lake Amador Fishing Techniques

The best way to fish Lake Amador is by trolling needlefish, rapalas, white plastic grubs, or a power mouse. Keep the trolling speed around 1 mph for the grubs, and kick it up a little faster for the Rapalas. The bank fisherman also do very well using Power Bait about 2-3 feet under a bobber. From the bank you can also do very well using a Kastmaster with a slow retrieve. Cast the Kastmaster out and let it sink for ten seconds before retrieving it. Crank it in slowly so that it has a little bit of action, just enough to entice a bit. An air injected night crawler, and minnows can also work quite well. Bass fisherman do well with 10" Black Berkley Power Worms, and the typical spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. Catfish fisherman do well with all the typical catfish baits, with huge catfish up to 39 pounds being caught on the lake. Be sure to fish shallow and focus on the corners and pockets all around the shoreline. The Dam is very productive but the coves in the back of the lake are great too, if you bring a boat to get there. Use garlic rainbow or chartreuse Power Bait or run a small kastmaster, or needlefish to get hooked into a nice trout.

Camping & RV Spots on Lake Amador

They have expanded the campground to 150 campsites, all of which can be reserved. They are surrounded by big beautiful oak trees right on the shoreline of Lake Amador. Showers, flush toilets, privacy and great views abound.

Lake Amador Trophy Trout Fishing

Lake Amador, during certain months out of each year, will plant five thousand pounds of trophy trout each week. The average fish size is two to six pounds, with many fish over ten pounds selected to be released throughout the season as well, and on the rare occasion there will be fourteen plus pounders released. Ten plus pound cutbow trout are released throughout the planting season for you to get a chance at a real trophy trout. The lake record at the time of this article for the largest Cutbow Trout weighed in at an amazing size of 20.1 pounds. The largest rainbow trout so far is a whopping 19.3 pounds. Lake Amador also has trophy Amador Golds, which is a trout that is very similar to the lightning trout that many fishermen talk about. They did plant lightning trout in Lake Amador many years ago, but they now have their own strain that they call Amador Golds. A beautiful strike of lightning swimming through the lake, which are easy to spot as they swim by you, or as you are reeling them in.

Trophy Trout Flatfish Lures For Lake Amador Fishing

Largemouth Bass Fishing On Lake Amador

Lake Amador is also a trophy largemouth bass fishery. Many bass fisherman fish at night for the large bass that are present in the lake. Largemouth Bass over ten pounds are caught all the time on Lake Amador. They held the Northern California bass record for over ten years which weighed over seventeen pounds. Located on over 400 acre, Lake Amador has over 13 miles of shoreline. The lake record at the time of this article for the largest Bass weighed in at an amazing size of 17.1 pounds.

Bass Lures for Fishing at Lake Amador

Lake Amador Trophy Catfish Fishing

Lake Amador has amazing catfish fishing as well, with monster catfish up to 40 pounds are caught throughout the summer. The lake record at the time of this article for the largest Catfish weighed in at an amazing size of 39.6 pounds. Now that’s a whopper.

Lake Amador Panfish Fishing

Huge Crappie and 2 pound Bluegill round out the nice fish population waiting to provide hours of exciting fishing adventure for you and your family at Lake Amador.

Lake Amador Fish Stocking

Lake Amador stocks Donaldson Rainbows, Amador Golden Rainbows, Cutbows, and Golden Cutbows from our trout farm, most trout are a 3lb average. A new trout being planted this year are the Amador Blue’s, which is a blue trout that has a real nice shade of blue.

2022-2023 Lake Amador Trout Stocking Totals

10/27/22 —— 300lbs (Golds) 10/28/22 —— 700lbs (Golds) OCTOBER TOTALS: 1,000lbs 11/3/22 ——– 500lbs (Golds) 11/10/22 —— 500lbs (Golds) 11/12/22 —— 500lbs (Rainbows) 11/17/22 —— 500lbs (Trophy Golds) 11/23/22 —– 600lbs (Golds) 11/25/22 —– 400lbs (Rainbows) 50 Tagged 11/30/22 —– 500lbs NOVEMBER TOTALS: 3,500lbs 12/8/22 —— 500lbs (Cutbows) 12/15/22 —– 900lbs (Mixed) 25 Tagged 12/22/22 —– 500lbs DECEMBER TOTALS: 1,900lbs 01/19/23 —– 800lbs (Mixed) JANUARY TOTALS: 800lbs SEASON TOTAL: 7,200lbs

Lake Amador Fishing & Recreation Fees

Fishing Fee $9 Oct to May $7 Jun to Sep Day Use Fee $10 Oct to Apr $12 May to Sep Boat Launch - $7 Boat Rental Full Day - $100 Boat Rental 1/2 Day - $75 Extra Person - $2 Check the Lake Amador Website for up to date fee information.

Lake Amador Fishing Map

This map provided by Lake Amador of the lake and where the top spots are to catch Trout, Bass, and Catfish is a great guide. The fish can be found in just about every inch of this lake, but the hot spots for each fish type is a good starting point until you learn the lake yourself and find your favorite fishing spots.

Cottages and Vacation Home Rentals At Lake Amador

Looking for a vacation rental near Lake Amador in Ione, CA, or any destination you wish to go? Vrbo has vacation homes, cabins, and cottages for many locations that would be great for your next family vacation to Lake Amador.

Lake Amador Fishing Guides and Fishing Charter Boats

There are many different fishing guides that offer guided fishing trips on Lake Amador. FishingBooker is a service of local guides that you can choose from and schedule your next guided fishing trip on Lake Amador, or any other area you are interested in going on a guided fishing trip, fishing charter boat, or fishing party boat.

Shop for fishing tackle in our Fishing Gear and Tackle store.

About The Author Mike Mendenhall is the the founder of Mendenhall Outdoors. This website is an extension of the Mendenhall family’s lifestyle and passion for the great outdoors. Everything that they learn, and experience, along the way that they find may be valuable to our website visitors is on the site for you to enjoy. We highlight products and services that you might find interesting. We frequently receive free products from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. If you click a link on this page, then go on to make a purchase, we might receive a commission – at no extra cost to you, and does not impact the purchase price of any products that you may purchase. The Best Lake Amador Fishing Experience Awaits!