California is the only state in this guide where salmon outnumber trout in the GBIF records. Chinook and coho lead the list, then rainbow trout, then pink salmon, and that ordering says something true: the state's fly fishing runs from spring creeks under a volcano to steelhead rivers on the redwood coast to alpine lakes at 10,000 feet, and anadromous fish are a large part of it. The state is also the home range of the golden trout, recorded here more than anywhere else, and of the McCloud River strain of rainbow that was shipped around the world. Trout water is concentrated in two places, the volcanic country north of Redding and the Eastern Sierra along US-395, with the Sacramento Valley tailwaters and the Truckee in between.
The volcanic north: Hat Creek, the Pit and the Fall River country
Hat Creek below Powerhouse No. 2 is the spring creek where West Coast dry-fly fishing was more or less invented, a flat, weedy, gin-clear stream in the shadow of Lassen Peak. The Wild Trout section holds browns and rainbows that feed on Pale Morning Duns from May through August, Tricos in July and August, Blue-Winged Olives in spring and fall, and midges always; the flies are CDC emergers and cripples in #16 to #22, the tippet is fine and the drifts have to be perfect. The Pit River nearby is the opposite kind of water, a series of steep, slippery pocket-water reaches between PG&E powerhouses where wild redband rainbows eat nymphs all day. Best months on both are April, May, September and October. Eagle Lake to the east is the only native home of the Eagle Lake rainbow, an alkaline-tolerant strain that fishes from shore and boat in fall and spring, and Lake Almanor is a big, productive reservoir with a famous June Hexagenia hatch.
The Sacramento below Keswick Dam
The Sacramento River from Keswick Dam through Redding to Red Bluff is Northern California's premier tailwater, a big river of 2,000 to 15,000 cfs where wild rainbows grow heavy on the same caddis and mayflies that feed the salmon fry. It is floated in drift boats and jet boats and fished with indicator rigs: Zebra and Mercury Midges in #20 to #24, RS2s and CDC Baetis Emergers for the Blue-Winged Olives from fall through spring, and PMD patterns in June and July. The fall Chinook run in October and November, and the egg-drop that follows, turn the trout fishing on. The Trinity, gauged with temperature, is the Sacramento system's steelhead tailwater below Lewiston Dam and does not have a page here yet.
The American: Sacramento's tailwater
The American River below Nimbus Dam runs through the Sacramento suburbs with wild rainbows in the cold water near the dam, a fall Chinook run in October and November that is one of the country's great urban wildlife spectacles, and a reduced but present winter steelhead run. Egg Sucking Leeches, Intruders and Flesh Flies in #4 to #6 are the salmon and steelhead patterns; the trout fishing is midges and Blue-Winged Olives in winter and spring at flows of 500 to 5,000 cfs. Ancil Hoffman Park and the Hazel Avenue access below the dam are the easy entries.
The Eastern Sierra: the Owens, Crowley and Convict
The Owens River is three fisheries. The Upper Owens above Crowley Lake is a meandering meadow stream where Crowley's big rainbows and browns run up to spawn in spring and fall; the Owens Gorge below Pleasant Valley Reservoir is a brushy canyon full of wild browns; the Lower Owens below Pleasant Valley is a year-round tailwater through Bishop with midges, Blue-Winged Olives and Tricos. Crowley Lake itself is the state's most celebrated stillwater, fished from float tubes and boats with chironomids, Callibaetis and damsel nymphs from the spring opener into fall. Convict Lake south of Mammoth is a small alpine lake with easy access. The Kern River drainage to the south, gauged with temperature, is golden trout country in its headwaters.
The Truckee below Lake Tahoe
The Truckee River from the Tahoe City outlet down River Road and through the town of Truckee is a boulder-strewn mountain river with wild browns and rainbows that are known for being difficult. Midges, Blue-Winged Olives and Golden Stones are the year's structure, with caddis and PMDs from May through July, and best months are April, May, September and October at flows of 100 to 1,500 cfs. The Yuba, Feather, Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced, all gauged Sierra rivers with trout in their upper reaches and salmon and steelhead in their valley tailwaters, do not have pages yet.
Coastal steelhead and the North Coast
The Smith, the Eel and its South and Middle forks, the Klamath and the Russian are all USGS-gauged, and all carry winter steelhead and, on the Klamath and Trinity, fall-run half-pounders and adults. This site has not written them up yet, and they are among the most weather-dependent rivers in the West: coastal rain raises them overnight and the fishing depends on catching the drop. Salmon and steelhead seasons on every one of these rivers are set annually and sometimes closed outright based on run forecasts.
Before you go
California's regulations are complex, with river-by-river gear rules, seasonal closures and separate rules for Hat Creek's Wild Trout section, the Lower Owens and the coastal salmon rivers. Check the California Department of Fish and Wildlife before every trip. Tailwater flows on the Sacramento, American and Lower Owens follow water deliveries, not weather, so read the gauge. See the California fishing hub for every gauged water in the state and the California trout page for trout detail.