Need advise: where to fish for trout in San Diego area?

[malevo]

I have a trip this fall (Nov 2 to 7) to San Diego and I may be able to get at least one day for fishing. I was wondering if someone could point me to a stream full of trouts
I was checking the California natural resourse department and only shows lakes in the area that are populated with trout and other fish (bass and catfish, etc). I would like to fish for trout or bass in streams. Any help will be very much appreciated

Thanks,

Malevo

[MontanaMoose]

That's a tough one Malevo, you may want to post the board at: goldenstatetrout.com. Someone there will be able to point you from San Diego to the nearest trout or smallmouth bass stream. Good luck ! Oh, the ocean isn't an option? It's right there.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

[malevo]

MontanaMoose,

Thanks for the advise, I will check out this site. About the ocean, I never fished on the salt and my heaviest rod is a 5 wt with fresh water line on it. So, I lack the experience and equipment for fishing the salt.

Malevo

[TyroneFly]

Here is a link to California Fishing Passport. Click the button View Online Fishing Guide. It is a bit cumbersome, but should be helpful in finding areas to fish.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fishingpassport/guide.html

[malevo]

TryoneFly

Thanks for the tip!
I tried this site before and I only could find ponds and lakes with trout is the San Diego area. I was wondering if there is some other source of information, I may call the California Deparment of Fish and game to get more precise information about places to fish in the area.

Malevo

[ducksterman]

Here is one that probably doesn't fit your needs....but

http://www.sdfish.com/index.shtml

But this one...the San Diego fly Fishing Club..... should help you....I have emailed them in the past and gotten help....

http://www.sandiegoflyfishers.com/


and maybe these folks can help...

http://www.sandiegoflyshop.com/index.html


Let us know what you find out...I'm thinking there's not much of what you want near San Diego....maybe up at Big Bear is the closest???????

[MontanaMoose]

malevo, you could have some fun with the 5 anywhere you could cast into the saltwater I'm thinking....but if I were going, I'd borrow or get an 8 or 9wt. in case I tagged something big, which could happen easily. If you use the 5 just be sure to thoroughly rinse it with fresh water. I never had a prob with light spinning gear if I did that. (Yes everyone, I used to spin)

I know more about the trout there then I'm letting on but I'll say this, you'll need to get on the road and drive a good bit. You'd be better off thinking freshwater bass in ponds or some salt water fly fishing.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

[tailingloop]

Most San Diego based fly anglers travel north to the eastern Sierra for stream fishing for trout - at least 6 hours from San Diego.


San Diego fly fishers spend most of their local angling time fishing lakes for bass and panfish or fishing saltwater locations such as surf, bays, kelp beds, or off shore.

By early November, many of the local lakes are closed for the winter, but there are a few that will be open.


There are wild trout in San Diego county but you will be hard pressed to find someone who will share the locations - which typically require some very difficult cross country hiking to remote areas.


These fish are small, stressed, and best left alone as two years of very dry weather have left these streams very low. This combined with many previous dry years plus fires that destroyed habitat of the most accessible streams lead DFG to cease stocking accessible waters (San Luis Rey and Sweetwater River) several years ago.


Trout are available year round at Lake Cuyamaca which is about 1 hour east of San Diego in the mountains. Their website is www.lakecuyamaca.org . Lake rules require that all fish must be kept. Limit for trout is 5. Many people do not like this rule but is an appropriate management tool for this lake.

Doane Pond in Palomar Mountain State Park has trout plants from October through May or June. This pond is only a couple of acres. When I was there three weeks ago there was so much growth around the pond and so much weed in the pond that only a couple spots on the shoreline were good for fly fishing. If the park service clears some of the shoreline then excellent fishing for small stocked trout can be had. If not, then it is best left to the treble hook and power bait crowd.

There are a number of streams a couple of hours north in the Big Bear area. These streams are also suffering from low water and fire damage, but the fishing is generally of better quality. Again, you may need to do some serious hiking to get to decent water.

[malevo]

Tailingloop,

thanks for the input!! I was afraid that the drought have the fish stressed. But now that you confirm it I may focous on the bass ponds. I found several lakes with warm water fish in it. So I may bring some bass and blugill flyes.
I'm curious about fishing the salt. You mention (and MontanaMoose too) that fishing the salt is right there. Does one need a licence and what kind of flies do you use (I have a 5wt so, it shouldn't be too big) and what kind of fish is game from the shore.

Duck, Thanks for the links. I'm going to visit them soon.

Malevo

[tailingloop]

Malevo,

Here are a couple a links from threads on S.D. Saltwater flyfishing



viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14389&hilit=

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18852&p=179262&hilit=#p179262


If fishing Mission Bay from shore, a 5 wt with floating line and a small brown or cinnamon or olive woolly bugger will catch fish. Small clouser minnows, bonefish files, or crab patterns, say on size 6 hooks, will work too. Some people use 5 wts with sinking lines in the bays from a boat, or even in the surf if the surf is low.

The SDFISH site link that ducksterman provided has links to lake information that can be followed to determine current conditions, open waters, and locations.

A license is required for salt and freshwater fishing. A two day license is about $12 I think, maybe less. The California DFG site has pricing info as well as regulations in PDF format. Licenses can be purchased at big chain stores like Wal Mart, Sportmart, and Big 5 as well as the sportfishing landings on Mission and San Diego Bays. Let me know If you have any questions.