Fishing for Golden Trout Can be a Golden Experience
If you're fishing for trout in California, you're probably looking for golden trout since it is their state fish. These fish with vibrant colors have been nicknamed "fish from heaven," and are native to the southern Sierra Nevada.
Golden trout are similar to trout, although they have fewer spots on their body, and the spots they do have are mostly located in the tail region. Their body is lighter with a yellowish cast. The gill covers, belly, and fins are reddish, and there is a bright red splash of color on the sides. On some fish you will find that the fins have white on the tips. A typical adult golden trout will be up to 14 inches in length, and weigh about a pound in streams and up to 11 pounds in lakes.
Golden trout are used to living in cold, alpine lakes and streams. Because they live in cold environments, their growth is slow. Their populations are not very high in these lakes, and catch and release angling is strongly encouraged.
Golden trout became their own species when powerful geologic forces cut a number of fish off from the rest of the world. These fish were prohibited from migrating elsewhere, and over a period of 100,000 years they developed into what we know today as golden trout.
Other than the few places where the golden trout lived, other areas cut off in the southern Sierra Nevada were fishless, so prospectors, shepherds, loggers, and anglers began transplanting the fish in nearby steams and lakes. Unfortunately, around 1900, changes in the environment, including the introduction of other fish forms and overgrazing by cattle and sheep, led to the near demise of the golden trout. These beautiful fish neared extinction.
In 1978 federal legislation came to the rescue for the golden trout, and the Golden Trout Wilderness area was formed. This 303,000 acre area located in the Sequoia and Inyo National Forests in California was designed to restore and maintain their habitat. Since then, many people, including the US Forest Service and the California Department of Fish and Game, have been working hard to maintain and revitalize the golden trout population.
Finding the beautiful golden trout truly is like finding a little gold.
