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Home › Waters › Oregon › Diamond Lake
Lake · Douglas County, a high basin at roughly five thousand feet between Mount Bailey and Mount Thielsen, just north of Crater Lake in the Cascades · Oregon

Diamond Lake Fishing Guides

A high Cascade lake north of Crater Lake, stocked heavily and fished from boats and float tubes, with a long history of being managed hard to keep the trout fishing good.

A dock and moored boat on a misty reservoir at sunrise
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Diamond Lake

Diamond Lake sits in a shallow basin between Mount Bailey and Mount Thielsen at about five thousand feet, a short drive north of Crater Lake, and it has been one of Oregon’s best known stillwater trout fisheries for the better part of a century. The lake is broad and comparatively shallow, which makes it productive, and the trout put on weight quickly in a short high-elevation growing season. For most visitors this is a boat fishery: trolling and still fishing from small craft dominate, while fly anglers work the weed lines and the shallow margins from float tubes and pontoon boats when insects are active on the surface.

The lake’s recent history is unusually instructive. Illegally introduced tui chub took over the food web twice, crashing the trout fishing both times, and the lake was treated and restocked in 2006 to reset it. That intervention worked, and the rainbow fishery recovered strongly, but it also left the lake under close management: stocking rates, harvest limits and the ongoing watch for chub are all part of how Diamond Lake is run now. Anglers should expect the regulations here to be specific to this water rather than generic statewide rules, and should check them before a trip rather than assume.

Access is easy by Cascade standards. A paved road circles the lake, there are developed campgrounds, a resort, boat ramps and a paved trail around the shoreline, which makes this a practical destination for families and for anglers who would rather not work hard for a launch. The USGS gauge reports lake elevation rather than a stream discharge, and the useful signal in it is seasonal: the basin fills with snowmelt and then draws down slowly through the summer. The larger constraint on a trip is not water level but the calendar, because the road and the lake are effectively a late-spring-to-autumn proposition at this elevation.

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The photo at the top of this page is not Diamond Lake.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Pool right now

5,184.05ft NGVD29
  • 24 hours0.00 ft → steady

Reading taken 56 min ago at USGS 14312450, DIAMOND LAKE NEAR DIAMOND LAKE, OR. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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Posting to Diamond Lake.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Lake level alert

Tell me when the pool at Diamond Lake ft (NGVD29)

Now: 5,184.05 ft pool elevation, read 5:30 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 14312450, DIAMOND LAKE NEAR DIAMOND LAKE, OR).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Diamond Lake Resort - the main base on the lake, with lodging, moorage, rentals and a store.
Diamond Lake Campground - the largest developed campground on the east shore.
Broken Arrow Campground - a second large campground at the south end.
Thielsen View Campground - west shore camping with a ramp and the best mountain outlook.
South boat ramp - the usual launch for the shallow southern flats.
Roseburg - the nearest city of any size, west down the North Umpqua highway.
Crater Lake National Park north entrance - a few miles south, and the reason many visitors are in the area at all.

Seasons

Spring: ice comes off and the trout feed hard in shallow water, which is the best surface fishing of the year for anyone willing to deal with cold weather.
Summer: the busiest season, with heavy recreational traffic and fishing that shifts toward early mornings, evenings and deeper water through the middle of the day.
Fall: crowds thin, the trout feed up before winter, and the lake is at its most pleasant for a quiet trip.
Winter: snowbound and effectively closed to normal access at this elevation, with the basin storing the snowpack that refills it in spring.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Diamond Lake?

Anglers target Brook Trout, Bullhead, Rainbow Trout, Tui Chub on the Diamond Lake in Oregon.

Where can you access the Diamond Lake?

Diamond Lake Resort - the main base on the lake, with lodging, moorage, rentals and a store. Diamond Lake Campground - the largest developed campground on the east shore. Broken Arrow Campground - a second large campground at the south end. Thielsen View Campground - west shore camping with a ramp and the best mountain outlook. South boat ramp - the usual launch for the shallow southern flats. Roseburg - the nearest city of any size, west down the North Umpqua highway. Crater Lake National Park north entrance - a few miles south, and the reason many visitors are in the area at all.

When is the best time to fish the Diamond Lake?

Spring: ice comes off and the trout feed hard in shallow water, which is the best surface fishing of the year for anyone willing to deal with cold weather. Summer: the busiest season, with heavy recreational traffic and fishing that shifts toward early mornings, evenings and deeper water through the middle of the day. Fall: crowds thin, the trout feed up before winter, and the lake is at its most pleasant for a quiet trip. Winter: snowbound and effectively closed to normal access at this elevation, with the basin storing the snowpack that refills it in spring.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Diamond Lake?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Oregon agency site: https://myodfw.com/fishing/regulations