I live about 15 minutes from mile square park. I have gone there at least 20+ times over the past year. I have not caught a single bass out of there...
There's alot of "walk in" ( fully accessible simply non reserveable) sites in the sierras. all along the lower Owens each campground has a few. might...
That's easy to explain. In doing required maintenance on the Dam, they had to drop the water level way low! So to the East in the old Santiago Flats...
The closure was due to heavy metals entering the lake from upstream manufacturing companies that generated toxic wastes that migrated into the creek...
You have my strong advice to give this location a try, DS. ;) It's one of my favorite fishing spots in SoCal. I think your homework was on the mark ...