Northwest Fishing Reports

Any where I can still hike to get a chance at a golden trout?

In what region do you live?

There are limited areas that have been stocked with golden trout. All of these areas are in alpine lakes. Somewhere on WDFW's site they have a list that tells you which lakes have been planted recently. I have been on a quest to catch one too, but so far I have only been able to catch one that I believe was a golden/rainbow hybrid. Grieder Lake, Lake Nadeau are two lakes that I know of off the top of my head that have been stocked with them. I have fished both and caught cutthroat and rainbows, and maybe a hybrid. See my report on Grieder from a few years ago. I don't know of any future plans to stock them, but it seems that if they were stocked in a lake that also holds cutts and bows, they will hybridize and not be present in their true form after the first generation. I'd love to be able to catch me one of those goldens as well!

awesome. I saw greider was on one of those old lists.

Check out "Washington hi-lakers". Join their forum, etc. chat them up... go slow, then ask one of those guys for a lake. That is an extremely slow moving forum. Not like this one.
Also, on most forums if u jump right in and ask for specific locations, people get kind of upset.

Do Golden Trout lay golden eggs?

racfish wrote:Do Golden Trout lay golden eggs?

Yes.

Head to the South West if you want to catch a golden. They are not native or stocked in any way shape or form around here. They are a very small stream variant of the rainbow and they come from one place of all places, "Golden Trout Creek" in Southern California. The only place I'm aware they have ever successfully been planted is in a few small streams in New Mexico. I suspect what people are calling "Golden's" are actually amelanistic trout. Or trout that have been genetically manipulated and are devoid of dark pigmentation. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I don't think anyone would be too excided about catching a true Golden Trout at the average size adult is only like 7". Lots of disinformation out there concerning Golden's, in fact most of the large Golden's pictured are German Browns.

Bodofish wrote:Head to the South West if you want to catch a golden. They are not native or stocked in any way shape or form around here. They are a very small stream variant of the rainbow and they come from one place of all places, "Golden Trout Creek" in Southern California. The only place I'm aware they have ever successfully been planted is in a few small streams in New Mexico. I suspect what people are calling "Golden's" are actually amelanistic trout. Or trout that have been genetically manipulated and are devoid of dark pigmentation. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I don't think anyone would be too excided about catching a true Golden Trout at the average size adult is only like 7". Lots of disinformation out there concerning Golden's, in fact most of the large Golden's pictured are German Browns.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/regio ... s_fry.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You're mostly right, but yes, they are stocked around here. When I'm trout fishing, I'm not looking for size. If I want big fish, I hit the rivers. But they do get some size to them down south on the kern, I've seen a few videos of decent size fish.

I've seen the trout the State calls Golden Trout and they aren't. They're amelanistic trout reared at one of the private hatcheries on their contract list. Although I did hear about a very small bucket brigade operation that moved a number of them to location in New Mexico where they flourish, that was many, many years ago. I'll have to stand by my earlier statement of no Golden Trout around here and I'm pretty sure they aren't coming out of any hatcheries.

http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/prof ... pcode=E01Z

Bodofish wrote:I've seen the trout the State calls Golden Trout and they aren't. They're amelanistic trout reared at one of the private hatcheries on their contract list. Although I did hear about a very small bucket brigade operation that moved a number of them to location in New Mexico where they flourish, that was many, many years ago. I'll have to stand by my earlier statement of no Golden Trout around here and I'm pretty sure they aren't coming out of any hatcheries.

http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/prof ... pcode=E01Z

They are "colorado" golden trout. They look like this -

http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/user ... 25122.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't know if they're connect to the Kern golden's or not, but that's what they're putting in there. Pretty sure that they've tried hatcheries for golden trout as well. We could send out an email to WDFW to get the final word on it, but they do put some sort of golden trout in the lakes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_tro ... emic_range" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

According to wikipedia, with a print source, they have indeed been planted outside of California, so It'd be safe to assume that they are kern golden ancestors.

I did say they were planted in NM. As for Colorado golden, I would bet it's a hybrid offshoot of the Kern Golden, which is the only true and natural origin golden, its genetically distinct. I've seen the goldens the State has planted in the past and they were amelanistic.

Bodo,

I have spoken with WDFW, and some people who were on those planting operations. golden trout were indeed stocked ALL over the U.S. until California banned the export of trout eggs/fingerlings from the waters that they are native from. However...many high lakes in Washington were stocked with golden trout after that (not sure from what hatchery.) They have a shorter life span than other species, so they may not still be there, as WDFW stopped stocking many of those lakes several years back (from what I have heard), and I don't think they would reproduce in those waters. BUT...not sure...I have seen trout spawning in high alpine lakes before, so it is possible. I do know they were there, and as natetreat said, I am less concerned about the size of the trout, than the experience of catching and releasing such a rare, beautiful fish.

and regardless...it is not a rainbow...it is rare, and I would still love to see one.

natetreat!

great link to the WDFW site...seems they are still stocking them. Perfect info, and just what I was looking for!

If they're spawning great. If they're in an alpine lake they'll have to spawn in creek going in or out of the lake. That makes most of the plants in alpine lakes a tough sell. Bow's, Cutts and Goldens are kind of picky in that they need moving water. I guess my point is there are a lot of fish people call Goldens and regardless of where they originally came from or the stock, they're all hybrids. Making the claim "Golden" is tough, It's because of their genetic makeup, the fact they readily spawn with Cutts and Bows, makes virtually every fish outside Kern system a hybrid and not a true Golden. I guess it's kind of like the debate between native and hatchery Steelheads, yes they're the same but at the same time they're different. I can make a case for either side all day long. It's the same thing as hunting exotic animals from a game farm, is it a real hunt? Is it a real trophy? For me It still boils down to if you want to catch a true Golden, you need to go to Southern CA, It's the only place you'll find a real one. I for one am happy catching any of them on a fly but, would I mark a Golden off the card anywhere but the Kern, no. If I can make another analogy, take bird watching. Do you take a bird off your card if you see it in a zoo?

yeah...I am pretty sure what I saw spawning was a cut, or a rainbow. My wife couldn't understand why I was so excited to see two fish "complete the circle of life." This was up at lake serene on highway two...near the drainage of the lake..so there was some moving water. They were making redds and filling them.

and...I would still be delighted to catch whatever wasn't a rainbow.

Moving water right before 2k foot water fall! Serene is one of my all time fave lakes. I used to go up with friends and family when there was no trail, it was just a scramble hanging on to roots and bushes. I've fished all around the lake from a little rubber boat the best place is where all the food gets concentrated at the egress, the log jam. Those high lakes are pretty sterile, not a lot of food for any fish. Enjoy it, I guess the trail in is pretty nice these days.

yep...actual first fish I ever caught on a fly was from within that log jam...just dipping a wooly I think, and got hit right away. little guy, but I was so pumped to have landed it. I then went over by some of the shallower areas, and cast out to some rocks...and a HUGE trout came up, looked at my fly, and swallowed it! Just like a bass would. I couldn't set the hook in time, it spit the fly, (second fish on a fly ever!) and it darted away.

I kind of thought fly fishing would be easy after that day, but learned it wasn't I can't wait to take my son up there to give it a try. The trail is very managable now...I think there are even stairs at some point.

Yep we have real golden trout that we stock!

We have stocked them in Gillette Lake just above Kidney Lake in Skamania County. It is not an Alpine Lake but they have done quite well there.

stace