Jackson Lake

Cute little lake, 2 miles after mountain High ski resort, next to two campgrounds: «Lake Campground» and «Mt. Oak Campground». We stayed at the former (same side as the lake and directly attached to the end of the lake (100 yard walk). See my review on the campground page.
The lake is also a day-​use picnic area with tables and such with lots of shade. The lake itself is pretty (see photos), with nice path on the south end and also a trail at the west end.
The fishing was pretty darn good. Each group caught a few fish. There was about 5 species, including cat fish and trout. The lake does get stocked by Fish and Game. We caught cat fish and trout. You can use powerbait, salmon eggs and night crawlers (earth worms) or small lure. One of them basic $ 3 lures from (about 1 ½″ fill length) from walmart will suffice. But there is a lot grass under water so you have to real closer to top (don’t let sink) and try to find a path without grass). For catfish the night crawlers work best (and the trout will definitely hit those also).
Lots of people come and fish by just parking along the road and fish just below their cars. Of course you need an Adventure pass ($ 30 per year or $ 5 daily).
You can boat/​kayak or even swim. But of course the swimming is in somewhat muddy/​greenish lake water, so don’t expect some clear water hole in some mountain creek.
The town of Wrightwood is about 6 miles and take about 10 minutes to get there. They have various amentias including gas and decent size market (about half the size of a normal grocery store. definitely not a mini-​mart.
Hiking: Although it is not shown on the large scale area map the host gives you, if you go about 400 yards east of the lake driveway, there is a sloping camp day-​use area called «Peavine Campground». There are path that go up and after about 200 yards up you start climbing these dirt steps they built into the hillside as it gets steep and goes up. At the very top of the steps you turn right at a very distinct and wide trail. You can go about 1 mile or so, along the ridgeline, on that trail until you get to a giant water tank above the lake and continue on that trail until it winds back down and you walk through a bible camp and end up in the west end of the lake parking lot/​driveway. Very nice and beautiful trail up there. Maybe about 45 mins. to an hour hike depending on your pace. And the initial climb is quite a steep climb though, but only for a few hundred yards. There is also a separate trail off of the lake’s parking lot heading west (but I did not have time to hike that one).

We are amateur campers and decided that this was a good place to start our camping adventures at. We stayed at the Lake Campground, which is directly adjacent to Jackson Lake (aka a large pond). None the less, the stay was amazing. The lake is BEAUTIFUL at any time of the day. Sunsets are amazing. This is a good place to come with kids for just a day hang out, or even to camp for a few days at one of the adjoining grounds. There are plenty of fun and easy trails to hike, as well as more difficult ones for the more avid hikers. Such a great little get away, so close to Los Angeles. It is almost unbelievable that it is only a 40 minute drive.

Great location… small, pretty lake. Fairly light use even on an extremely hot summer weekend. Parking lot is shaded as are picnic table and lots of shady areas for sunbathing. Parking does require an Adventure Pass. Close to Wrightwood but a bit of a jaunt from AV (and a very twisty road to boot!). The water is very pleasant not as cold as some mountain streams can be. It is a bit murky and can be muddy on the bottom. There were several people fishing and seemingly catching! Also great for kayaks and floats… all in all a highly recommended beat the heat location!

I’ve been coming here since I was in the 4^th grade and needless to say it’s a real hidden gem. Beautiful in the winter and relaxing in the summer. Make sure you bring some boots if you come during the winter if you’re planning to walk around the lake, it’s slippery as hell.

This is a pretty relaxing small «lake» — more like a pond — that is well stocked with fish.
We had nothing on the first day, but we were only using Powerbait. There were guys using worms who had 10 fish within two hours.
The trick to catch the fish here is to keep moving your line. The trout here like to chase the bait, so if it is just sitting there, you’re not going to catch anything.
The lake is usually peaceful with fishermen, until Saturdays around 2pm when all of the Hispanic families come up and set up camp at the picnic tables like it’s their own backyard. Kids running around throwing rocks and scaring off the fish pretty much ended our day.
You can also hear the noise from the highway, so it’s not as quiet and serene as you’d think.
Overall, it’s a great place to show up early and catch a few fish, if you know the secret, which I told you, so you shouldn’t have any problems!
It’s a great place to relax in the early morning and let the day pass you by.

Now I’m pretty biased here, but because I’m thinking there are other people like me: amateur fishers.
This lake is very small and competition for territory can be fierce, but it isn’t such an issue where there’s fist fights for spots. We came out at 6AM to fish in this well stocked lake. There’s trout, bass and blue gill. Yes, there’s gold fishes and carp, too, but who eats those?
Because I’m an amateur fisher, I pretty much don’t catch fish at all. Much to my costernations, I never catch fish although I’m always pumped when I go fishing. When I got to this place, I’ve never seen anything like it.
My buddy threw his line in and within 15 seconds, trout! Threw another line in, got another. I was thinking about the past and that he’s actually a good fisher, but my other buddy, Fry, who has fish luck like mine, threw his line in and bam, got a good sized trout. Fry, as I said earlier, never catch fish, but he ended up catching so much fish, he threw some back because he got picky on the size.
We caught our daily limit and ended up playing catch and release the rest of the time.
So for you serious anglers, I get it, not your spot, but for you amateur fishers out there, you’d probably like it as much as me.