Very first time at this lake and it did not disappoint. Tucked away in the rolling hills of East San Diego County. It is very majestic and magical. Personally, I love mountain lakes, the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees and the birds chirping, what more can you ask for? This is where I rest and recharge. Silverwood lake in the San Bernardino mountains is like this, but that will be another post. They have a tackle shop and restaurant next door to each other right off the highway. You have to get a permit from tackle shop to be on the grounds for ten dollars, but this fee is waived if fishing and/or camping. The tackle shop has a small gift shop so, naturally I bought a hat with their logo on it. Paid for fishing permits ($10- each and valid CA fishing license) and rental motorboat ($50- all day) and we were off to their dock. There is a public restroom in the parking lot right next to the boat dock. Very convenient and very clean. A big plus. The lake has gas powered motors so; you have to pull the cord to get it started. Other lakes have electric boats which would be more user friendly, but it was fine. I brought my youngest son with me, he is twenty-one years old, and we have not spent time with each other lately because of life so, it was good that we could do this together. We each had a trout setup rod/reel because Lake Cuyamaca boasts itself a trout lake and a catfish/sturgeon setup because of the catfish and the sturgeon which is the only southern California lake that has them. A catfish and sturgeon rod/reel can be the same setup. We used nightcrawlers, shrimp, and trout bait. The nightcrawlers were the winning bait today. We caught small catfish, very small, photographed and released. Then, at the end, my son caught himself a big trout, about sixteen inches long. He was very happy and excited. We kept the one trout, and I will be showing my son how to fillet it soon. Final tally, I caught four catfish, my son caught one catfish and one trout. No sturgeon or anything big. We were there from sunup till about 12:30pm. The wind picked up about 9 or 10am and got bigger as the day progresses. We mostly drifted in the boat until the end when we anchored. The wind did not get as bad as Silverwood before we left. In my opinion, you can have a motor boat on the lake all day, but for kayak fishing, probably early in the morning and then just hang close to the shore when the wind picks up, should not be so bad. I will definitely take my kayak to this lake to try it out. Lake Cuyamaca’s rules on kayaks, it must be hard plastic, not inflatable, $5- fee to launch and they will inspect for the invasive quagga species before launching. This inspection is pretty much standard in all lakes. We had lunch in their restaurant. It was good, nothing fancy. Lake Cuyamaca is worth it and a bargain too.
It was a great time out on this lake, and I will be back.
Lake Cuyamaca trip
One of my small catfish
Cuyamaca Peak
Beautiful Lake Cuyamaca
