Fly Fishing for California Native Trout

California Golden Trout

The California golden trout is native to two drainages: the Golden Trout Creek, a tributary of the Kern River, and the South Fork of the Kern River. It is also known as the Volcano Golden Trout.  Golden Trout Creek, a designated Heritage and Wild Trout Water, was previoiusly called Volcano Creek. The California golden trout is the State Freshwater Fish of California.

If you want to catch California golden trout in Golden Trout Creek, you'll need to put in a multi-day hike. The hike to Golden Trout Creek is 8 miles long over Cottonwood Pass.  Alternatively, Mulkey Creek is a 5 mile hike over Trail Pass.  All three hikes start from the Cottonwood Pass & Trail Pass trailhead at Horseshoe Meadow above Lone Pine.

Golden trout can be found in the Cottonwood Lakes / Horseshoe Meadow area but these are out-of-native-range populations.

Golden trout can also be found on high-clearance 4x4 accessible portions of the South Fork of the Kern River, such as in Monache Meadows, but they typically show significant signs of hybridization with stocked rainbow trout.

Little Kern Golden Trout

The Little Kern golden trout (O.a. whitei) is native to the Little Kern River and its tributaries, including Clicks, Fish, Mountaineer, Fish, Soda Springs, and WIllow creeks.

Of these, the most commonly fished is Clicks Creek as you can basically drive up to it and start fishing. Nearby the Lewis Camp Trailhead provides access to the Little Kern River itself, dropping nearly 2000 feet in a bit over 4 miles. The trail parallels Fish Creek, my favorite creek for targeting Little Kern golden trout.

Great Basin Redband Trout

The Great Basin redband trout is native to drainages of the eastern Cascades.  Most of their range is in southeastern Oregon but does extend into northeastern California and northwestern Nevada.  They occur in seven isolated drainages, two of which include waters of northern California.

• Goose Lake redband trout and

• Warner Lakes redband trout.

The Goose Lake redband trout is native to waters that drain to Goose Lake. The Warner Lake redband trout is native to waters of the Warner Lakes basin.  Each separately qualifies for California's Heritage Trout Challenge.

The best fishing in California for both of these redband populations can be found in the northern portion of Warner Mountains.  The Warner Mountains is an 85-mile long range that runs north-south east of Goose Lake and forks of the Pit River and west of the Warner Lakes and Surprise Valley.

For the Goose Lake redband trout, any of these creeks will do: Cottonwood, Davis, Lassen, Pine, or Willow Creek.  My personal favorite is Lassen Creek.

For the Warner Lakes redband trout, your choices are basically Dismal Creek and Twelvemile Creek and tributaries of the latter, namely Tenmile Creek and Elevenmile Creek. My favorite is Dismal Creek.  It's easily accessible from Goose Lake area via Pine Creek Canyon Road, offers a mix of types of waters, from the alpine meadow section known as the Dismal Swamp, down a canyon section to the beaver ponds before entering Oregon.  Note that access to this fishery can be blocked by deep snow drifts that can persist into through late spring if not into early summer.

Coastal Rainbow Trout

The coastal rainbow trout is native to Pacific Ocean tributaries from South California up to Aleutian Islands of Alaska. The adadromous forms are referred to steelhead.  Their native range includes most waters west of the Pacific Crest.

For stealhead, my favorite fishery is the Trinity River. For non-anadromous forms, I'm a fan of waters of the western Sierra, such as the upper Mokelumne River and its tributaries.

This subspecies qualifies for California's Heritage Trout Challenge but not the Western Native Trout Challenge.

Mountain Whitefish

The mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) is a salmonid native to western North America.  Their native range extends across eastern Sierra, overlapping with the historic range of Lahontan cutthrout trout within California. They can be found within the Carson, Truckee, and Walker river drainages.

This species does not qualify for California's Heritage Trout Challenge nor the Western Native Trout Challenge.

In California, your best bet to catch one is probably on the Truckee River, East Walker River, or West Walker River. I've caught them on tributaries of the West Fork of the Carson River as well.  They can also be found in various lakes in the area, including Cascade Lake and Independence Lake.

Mountain whitefish typically forage for food on the bottom of river beds, using their fins to kick up aquatic insect larvae and other macro invertebrates, especially in the evening hours.  They will also consume food that drifts by while resting.  They are rarely seen feeding on top but are known to eat emerging aquatic insects such as midges and mayflies.  To specifically target mountain fish, I recommend using a dropper/dropper rig with two fast sinking flies, with the lead fly being the larger of the two.  For most of the year, a #14 beadhead pheasant tail nymph trailed by a #18 beadhead zebra midge is a good combo. Then target gravel bottom runs in the evenings, presenting the flies on the bottom in a dead drift.  Use additional weight if need be.  Bobber optional.