There are a lot wild trout in Southern California. Most put and take anglers are not aware of the wild trout or they don't care to go fish for wild trout. Talk to a fly fisherman and I'm willing to bet most can name at least 3 or more bodies of water that hold wild Trout in the Southland. No I'm not a fly fisherman. I didn't say I don't fish flies. I'm firm believer in using flies because usually work I just don't use fly gear.

Actually there are many places where the brown trout dominate. These areas have very few rainbows. I've had thirty fish days on the browns locally. So why don't more people fish these spots? Well first of all you have to hike to get to the better areas. At most of these locations less than a mile of walking will put you in a good bite. Waders are not required but very strongly recommended and from my experiences that eliminates about 99% of all trout anglers in Southern Cal. Based on the fact that if you took the total number of trout anglers fishing on any given day here in So Cal probably less than 1% would be fishing wild trout waters. I've formed some of my own theories on why people don't fish wild trout in SoCal.

-They don't like catch and release.
-They don't like walking.
-It's not a lawn chair friendly fishing experience.
-They will miss out on a chance of catching a whitning super trout.
-And the number 1 reason I came up with is wild trout don't ussually get hooked on crave. Sorry guys save the cravy for the rave and leave cheese bait at home.

Sorry I can't give up any spots but I will say that the most well known area but definitely not one of the better areas in my opinion is the West Fork SG River. Honestly most of these spots I found on my own and I would recommend it to anyone with a strong will to fish and spirit for adventure. Good luck. By the way browns spawn in Fall. Raibows I'm not sure about. I do know browns need running water and they travel up the rivers like spawning salmon.

JerryG