Welcome!

Welcome

WildTroutStreams.com is designed to be a resource for fishermen seeking wild trout. This is not a stream guide in the usual sense. Instead, it's a place where we've assembled useful information to help you discover your own favorite fishing spot.

Wild Brook Trout

What's New?

Date	New Feature
6/8/11	The Native Trout Identification Guide is now completed. We've added a series of web pages that provide the basic identification information, and a handy PDF version with all 24 species that you can print and bring on the stream with you.
5/20/11	Improved PA Stream Segments supporting wild trout is now available.
5/3/2011	Initial Western Roll-out is now complete! We're now offering information for every state from Wyoming to California. We've added distributions for virtually all of the major western native species, with the addition of Redband Trout, Apache Trout, and Golden Trout.
4/19/2011	Coastal Cutts, Gila Trout, Lahontan Cutts, and much more. Check out the expanded "Natives" tab, as well as upgraded state pages for California, Oregon, and Washington on the "Streams" tab.
4/5/2011	Detailed distribution data for the Greenback cutthroat. We've created a KMZ that geo-locates virtually every population listed in the 2009 status review by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
3/30/2011	WE'VE BEEN ADDING DATA AND COVERAGE AT A FRANTIC PACE. Check out new data for Yellowstone, Bonnevelle, Rio Grande, and Colorado River Cutts; steelhead, bull trout, and more.
3/20/2011	We kick off our national coverage with the new "Natives" section, including Westslope cutthrout informaton, and our first western state (Montana). Much, much more is coming.
3/12/2011	Tennessee! Including new database of HQ and "NRTS" waters for the eastern highlands.
3/11/2011	Pennsylvania Class B, C, D Wild Trout Stream overlays for Google Earth
3/9/2011	Pennsylvania CH93 designated use overlays for cold water habitat

New to Wild Trout Fishing? Please Read!

When you go out fishing for wild trout and have a "good day" (and we hope you have many) it is because the fishermen and women who came before you respected the resource you're now fishing. In today's world, there are very few places so remote that you will be the only person to fish them. That you had a good day testifies to your predecessors' good stewardship. As a newcomer to the sport, we hope you will carry on this noble tradition.

The 7" wild trout you catch in a typical headwater stream is most likely 3 years old. A 10" fish is a giant, 4 or 5 years old, and likely under 1% of the population. If you kill them, no stocking truck is going to replace them, and it will take years for other fish to take their place.

Studies show that fishermen using sports tackle, and observing state harvest limits, probably can't wipe out a trout population by themselves. But they can reduce the size and quantity of the fish that others catch, and they can make an already vulnerable population even more vulnerable to the cycles of flooding and drought.

That's why most wild trout fishermen practice catch and release fishing, and why we request that you do too....

Pinch down the barb of your hook.
Release fish quickly and gently.
Try not to handle them at all, but if you must, wet your hands first (dry rocks are as bad as dry hands in removing protective slime from a trout's skin). The best release is simply to slip the hook from the fish's mouth while it's still in the water.
Want a picture? Try taking it while the fish is under control but still in the water. That way you minimize stress and handling.

Want to know more? A well written guide to catch and release fishing is found here.

Recognize that many "native" populations of fish are barely holding on. Many must be released if caught (of course, you'd have done that anyway ;-). Many streams in which they live are closed to angling, or strictly limited. It goes without saying that you should OBSERVE ALL STATE OR TRIBAL REGULATIONS when fishing for wild trout, especially "natives". Just because you find a stream on a map on this website, doesn't mean it's legal to fish. CHECK REGULATIONS BEFORE GOING OUT.

There's also a distinct etiquette to dealing with other wild trout fishermen. Please read about it here.

With all that said, welcome to the club! Wild trout fishing is endlessly satisfying and almost always challenging. Please enjoy it with us, and respect the fisheries that we all share.

Comments (3)

Last Updated (Monday, 25 April 2011 17:31)