Lake Isabella Visitor Center

This lake is disgusting!
Low water, trash everywhere, zebra oysters contaminate the waters everywhere. Don’t take your shoes off– they’ll cut you are then infest your boat! Very murky grey water– wouldn’t even put my feet in.
The people were cat calling us so badly went went to leave– oh wait, we can’t. Our truck got stuck in the soft sand driving down here!
After calling the tow truck, he says, «this always happens.» There are no signs! Be careful driving… The ground is softer than it looks.
We ask the people next to us to help (whose children were playing with knives and bottle caps– I wish I was kidding) their cars almost got stuck pulling us out. We repaid them in our left over booze from camping.

Lake Isabella was once a resort town. Yep, it’s true. People would come from miles away for the epic fishing and mountain air. Many years later, the community is in a shambles, poverty is rampant throughout the town, and the lake is drying up. Poor water management by State Politicians and years of drought have taken their toll on the lake and it’s surrounding community and the tourists and resort hotels are no more.
The fishing, though, is still EPIC!!! The air is still clean. The locals are still nice folk.
I took my 5 year old daughter fishing here and she caught her first 5 catfish before lunch. She is hooked on fishing now and keeps asking to come back. The lake is low, but still has a good bit of water and fishing. Many folks like camping here still, but it does get really hot in the summertime.
There are no water-​skiers on the lake anymore but there are a good few bass boats. Most folks (like me) do really well fishing from the shore.
If you get the chance, try out Lake Isabella, and visit a local business. It is still a nice place and they could use your/​our support.
I’m sure you will at least catch some fish.

this is the place to go for questions about recreational camping, fishing, kayaking, and gold panning in the area. the officers/​rangers are very welcoming, helpful, friendly, and just very nice.
there are tons of information about the area and brochures you can take, and there’s a map of the area so they can tell you where you can go for whatever you need.
getting up on the ponderosa dr from kernville rd/​wofford heighs blvd, to get to the visitor center is a little tricky because the road is a dirt road and it’s a small windy uphill, but once you get there, you can see the view of lake isabella. it’s really something!
p. s. if Unilocal doesn’t fix the location on the map, here is the real address:
4875 Ponderosa Dr.
Lake Isabella, CA 93 240