Fish & Trail Report 6-7-25 

Surprise!!! High country heaven is early...

Well, all righty then…

we’ve heard you and you’re right. No matter how busy we are, there’s really no excuse to be slacking on the Fish & Trail Report to such an extent that June 7th is Report #1. It’s an injustice of the highest degree, and veers dangerously close to an unforgivable act of deviance on par with starting a hike to summit Mt Whitney at 10am decked out with Vans and no socks, a tank top, a fanny-pack holding only a 12oz can of Red Bull and a few packets of pop rocks for energy, and a full-sized fully-charged Bluetooth speaker slung over your shoulder blasting a tragic mix of Yoko Ono’s greatest hits, Tupac’s posthumous anthology, and a live version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Pink Cadilac” playing every 3rd or 4th song. It's awful to think about, and I apologize. Moving on….

Conditions & Trail Report

It doesn’t happen as often as we’d like, but the snow accumulated over the winter months has left us with what experts refer to as an “average winter” or “average snowpack”. What a remarkable treat and a welcome change of pace! Hahaha. This “average snowpack” coupled with a mild spring that trended a smidge on the warmer side, has resulted in favorable conditions for this early in June.

Currently the first tier of backcountry lakes, including the trails to some of the most popular day hikes near Parchers like Green Lake, Brown Lake, Long Lake and the first Tyee Lake, are clear or soon to be clear. As of yesterday the trail to Long Lake only had a few snowbanks left and best guess is they’ll be gone within a week. Bishop Pass is still pretty socked in so it’s likely off the table for the average day hiker. You ready to lace ‘em up?

Also noteworthy are the wildflowers starting to pop all along South Lake Road between 7500ft and 8500ft. Bunches of yellow or purple flowers are the most obvious but we’ll get some red Paintbrush and Colobines showing up next.

Last thing to report on the hiking side of life – there were no PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) hikers early this week…..and then boom, there they were. The first week of June is a bit early for most thru hikers, but here they come. I was able to corner a solo PCT hiker who was in the process of repacking his gear and thus helpless to flee, he had some helpful information when pressed, most notably that Mather, Glen and Bishop passes were all pretty socked in still..difficult but not impossible (obviously). His timing had him atop Mather Pass late in the day and it was really mushy and post holing was not super fun..and there was a section that was both precarious and unavoidable, so be careful out there folks. Fair warning… using our resupply storage at Parchers is appreciated, but we can make no promises that you’ll be safe from our pesky questions about trail conditions.

Fishing, Stocking & Water Levels

South Lake and Lake Sabrina were both stocked this week and both have rentals available including pontoon boats and motorboats. The grade of fish planted and the amount of fish brought by California DFW were very respectable..a very welcome sight. I don’t have any info on the bite at Intake but fishing at SLK & Sabrina is very good.

South Lake just opened yesterday so fishing for the boaters I spoke with were reporting catch & release counts that were…well… too high to even quote here because most wouldn’t believe it. Let’s just say that if catching & keeping a 5 fish limit was the goal, it would probably take as many minutes to do so.

The lake levels are rising at both reservoirs, not as fast as they could be, maybe a food a day at SLK and a few inches at Sabrina. The South Lake launch ramp has some water on it but it’s currently unusable for a trailered boat….unless you don’t need the axle on your trailer any more. Might be another week before small boats can launch, but it’s hard to say. Boaters can launch off the shore at Sabrina.

DFW lost some of their fish inventory due to a power outage at one of our local state hatcheries, what if any impacts to us is not clear at present. We have fish from Idaho and Oregon coming this month and with the fishing being exceptionally good right now, I’m confident the fish would be plentiful and on the chew for weeks even if we weren’t getting more fish – so things are looking great.

Fishing is good enough to where a lot of lure & bait recommendations are somewhat unnecessary. Check in with the guys & gals in our shops and they’ll put you on the right stuff.

Current Hours of Operation & Rental Fleets

Lake Sabrina 

Boats, beer, pie & shop: 7am-6pm daily. 

Breakfast bowls, burritos, burgers & more: 8am-3pm Friday – Sun.

4 Pontoons, 8 Motorboats, Paddleboard, Canoe

South Lake 

Is OPEN now! 

Boats, tackle, snacks etc. 7am-6pm daily 

(weather & demand dependant)

1 Pontoon, six 8hp motorboats, two 15hp motorboats

Additional rental inventory is constantly being added to each landing as the water rises.

Parchers Resort Store

Snacks, gifts, cold drinks, wood, ice and so on. 8am-6pm daily

Operating hours subject to change without notice for a variety of reasons including but not limited to wind, other inclement weather, power outages, staffing, or unexpected limitations outside of our control

BOOK ONLINE

Sabrina Boats – www.VisitLakeSabrina.com

South Lake Boats & Parchers Cabins– www.ParchersResort.net

Early to mid-June 2025 is a rare opportunity for visitors to enjoy fishing & hiking conditions more akin to summer, but with the lighter crowds of fall. And don’t forget, Parchers has 25% off cabins on weekdays until June 15th.

Hope to see ya’ll soon… the mountains are calling!

Sierrally,

Jared Smith & 

the Lake Sabrina, Parchers Resort, & South Lake crews

PS- I had to write this report from scratch twice due to technical difficulties – so I skipped a thorough review of spelling & grammar. Figured getting the info out was more important than spelling like an imbecile.