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Best brown bullhead lakes in California

14 California waters hold brown bullhead. Ranked below by size and depth-data quality — open any water to see exactly where to fish it: depth contours, scored spots with plain-English reasons, seasonal windows and bait picks. Night-feeding catfish of weedy, mud-bottomed lakes — the classic after-dark shoreline bite across the east and Canada.

1. Lake Almanor — 90 ft max · Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Channel Catfish, Rainbow Trout
2. Lake Davis — 105 ft max · Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Brown Bullhead
3. Butt Valley Reservoir — 70 ft max · Smallmouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Common Carp, Brown Trout
4. Frenchman Lake — 120 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Brown Bullhead
5. Antelope Lake — 90 ft max · Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Crappie, Rainbow Trout
6. Round Valley Reservoir — 31 ft max · Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, Rainbow Trout, Brown Bullhead
7. Meadow Lake — 34 ft max · Brown Bullhead
8. Cascade Lakes, Upper — 35 ft max · Brook Trout, Brown Bullhead
9. Weaver Lake — 18 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Lake Trout, Brown Trout, Brook Trout
10. Culbertson Lake — 16 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout, Brown Bullhead
11. Blue Lake — 21 ft max · Brown Bullhead
12. Lindsey Lakes — 13 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Brown Bullhead
13. Snowflower — 22 ft max · Bluegill, Brown Bullhead
14. Carr Lake — 19 ft max · Brook Trout, Brown Bullhead

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When to fish brown bullhead in California

• Spring 2–8 ft — First warm rains pull bullheads into black-bottomed bays and creek mouths — the classic spring shore bite.
• Summer 3–12 ft — Day fish hold on deeper mud and weed edges; after dark they spread across the shallows to feed by smell.
• Fall 5–15 ft — Fish slide toward deeper soft bottoms as the shallows cool — the evening bite shortens with the days.
• Winter 10–25 ft — Bullheads pod up half-dormant in the deepest mud basins; a long soak with bait on bottom is the lone play.

Also in California: best largemouth bass lakes · best smallmouth bass lakes · best crappie lakes · best bluegill lakes · best channel catfish lakes · best rainbow trout lakes · best striped bass lakes · best chinook salmon lakes · best brown trout lakes · best brook trout lakes

Brown Bullhead elsewhere: Ontario · Minnesota · Québec · Michigan · Maine · New Hampshire · Massachusetts · New York · Connecticut · Nebraska · South Dakota