Lake Nacimiento | Santa Margarita Lake | Lake San Antonio

Santa Margarita Lake

It is hard to believe that such a beautiful place exists, but it does! Santa Margarita Lake is without a doubt the jewel of our 4 local lakes. Formed in 1941 at the headwaters of the “upside-down” Salinas river (it flows north), Margarita is so pretty to look at that it’s easy to forget about the awesome fishery it contains.

Santa Margarita Lake supplies drinking water for the popular tourist destination of San Luis Obispo. The lake is 7 miles long comprising 1,100 surface acres and has 22 very interesting miles of shoreline. My wife and I have seen black bears, mountain lions, bobcats, wild turkeys, bald eagles and lots of deer as we’ve fished this lake.

Santa Margarita is the oldest lake of our 4 Central Coast lakes and has a pure Northern strain of largemouth bass dating back a ½ century. The lake record was just broken this year and stands at 12.96 lbs and remarkably was caught on a fly rod! There is a lake record for the smallmouth bass and it stands at an impressive 5 lbs 8 oz but in my 3 decades of fishing the lake, I’ve never seen one so don’t hold your breath. Largemouth are the stars at “Margy” anyway, an average fish is 2 lbs and it’s very common to catch 2 or 3 fish at, or over 5 lbs in a day’s fishing.

Water contact is forbidden due to the lake’s role as a drinking water reservoir so there is no water-skiing or wake-boarding which makes the lake easier to fish than our other 3 lakes. Santa Margarita marina used to have a logo which read: Santa Margarita Lake, where the fisherman is King!, that was, and is, an apt description of this small but precious gem of a lake.

Most summers see an abundant weed/mat growth along the shoreline which offers great opportunities for those who like to throw frogs or flip. The topwater bite can only be described a phenomenal and my personal best (8 lb 5 oz) inhaled a Zara Spook one summer afternoon.

Spring is spawn time and with a possible 12’ visibility, Margarita can be a sight-fisherman’s paradise. Watching a cruising pair, both in the 5-6 lb class is enough to get your heart pumping faster and this is standard fare at Margy.

Thanks to regular trout plants, Santa Margarita has become a great swim-bait lake. Many big fish have been caught here in recent years with Huddleston, Rago and the venerable M.S. Slammer, don’t leave them at home.

Year in and year out the jig produces more big fish from Margarita than any other lure type. There are many rocky points and submerged islands which hold fish year-round and which can readily be fished with a jig.

I’ve included some lodging possibilities below. They’re all within a ½ hour from beautiful Santa Margarita Lake and both of them offer great dining as well.

Apple Farm
San Luis Obispo www.applefarm.com.

Paso Robles Inn
15 miles east in Paso Robles at the junction of Hwy 101 and 41 is the century old Paso Robles Inn (1-866-321-1828) www.pasoroblesinn.com.