Fly Fishing

ChrisR · Location: Southeast Massachusetts

I was wondering if anyone has had the pleasure of taking a trip to catch the rare California Golden Trout? Myself and my wife have been thinking about finding a guide service that specifically caters to fishing for goldens for quite some time now. Actually a ranch/guide service we used in Montana had a pack trip into the mountains and some goldens were in the waters they fished. Though they weren't the fish most commonly caught we were thinking of giving them a shot there. If you've enjoyed a trip fishing goldens I'd love to hear about the experience and details of your trip.

Thanks,
Chris

maddawg · Posted: Thu 05/04/06 12:11 pm Post subject: Goldens

Just wondering if you ever took you trip. I'm going after some goldens here in about a month

Trent

ChrisR · Location: Southeast Massachusetts

I'm setting that trip up for next year. Probably somewhere in Wyoming.

jackchinook · Location: Montpelier, Vermont

Well, I typed up a nice response for you since this is a species close to my heart, but my IE crashed as I reviewed the post.

I went through probably 5-6 years of research and schmoozing with crusty old Cascades hikers to get the info to find them in Washington's Cascades (where I grew up).

here's a summary of my previous post:
for the purist, CA's Kern and Little Kern are the only place to catch pure, native, wild GT's...but they're all small.
Montana: best chance at a big golden
Wyoming: good chance at big goldens, but also Cutts, RB's, Brookies, Arctic Grayling - all on the same trip. Wind River range - many lakes, many fish, many species. My favorite.
Idaho, Washington, Alberta, Oregon(?) - all have several GT lakes but tougher to find them, or to find a guide who specializes. MT or WY best for guided opp's.

Here are a few shots of Washington Cascade goldens that I had the fortune to bring to hand.
my first:
http://jackchinook.smugmug.com/gallery/1514640/2/72699132/Medium
My finest:
http://jackchinook.smugmug.com/gallery/1514640/1/72698584/Medium
my most productive GT trip:
http://jackchinook.smugmug.com/gallery/1514689/3/72701558/Medium
Best of luck

ChrisR · Location: Southeast Massachusetts

Speechless. Now that is what I'm talking about. Your finest is a real nice Golden from all I have read about them. They don't seem to get to large. Great pics of those fish also. Thanks for the reply jackchinook.