Lassen Volcanic National Park

• Year-round
• Walk/wade

Lassen Volcanic National Park is one of the biggest tourist attractions in our area. Every year thousands of fly anglers visit the park and many of them book a day or two of guided fly fishing withs us in or near the park. Many people want to know the best places to fish in the park. As it turns out, the park itself has one shining gem of a fishery in Manzanita Lake, and not much else. There are a couple of very small streams with trout that are neither large nor numerous, and most of the other lakes in the park are devoid of fish. Fortunately, there are many high-quality destinations within a short drive of the park.

Top 3 guide trips for fly anglers visiting Lassen:

• #1: Lower Sacramento River: Most folks visiting Lassen drive up from Red Bluff or Redding, both of which are right on the Sacramento River. A lot of people plan their trip so that they overnight in one of these towns on the way to or from the park so that they can spend a full day fishing the Lower Sac with one of our guides. The Lower Sac has the biggest wild trout in our area and the catch rate is usually very good too. We fish from drift boats on the Lower Sac and most days of the year you can fish in your street clothes. The Lower Sac is an excellent choice for novices and experts alike.
• #2: Hat Creek and Burney Creek: Hat Creek and Burney Creek are just 30-45 minutes north on Highway 89 from Manzanita Lake at the north entrance of the park. These are great fisheries for beginner fly anglers and we frequently hit both in a full day of fishing. If you are looking for an intro to fly fishing near Lassen Park, this trip is hard to beat!
• #3: Manzanita Lake: Manzanita Lake is one of the most scenic lakes in the country and is home to many a cruising, surface-feeding rainbow and brown. We are one of two guide services permitted to guide inside the park and we do numerous Manzanita Lake guide trips each summer. You might ask why this destination, the only major fishery inside the park, is not at the top of the list? The primary reason is Manzanita Lake is a very technical fishery and not well-suited to beginner fly anglers. The most compelling way to fish Manzanita Lake is to sight-cast to cruisers and that requires a lot of patience and casting skills. If you enjoy that kind of fishing, you would be hard-pressed to find a better way to spend a day fishing!