August 2018 – Keep Calm and Fly Fish

The last species that I needed to complete my heritage trout challenge was a Goose Lake Redband Trout. These trout are endemic to the Goose Lake watershed. Goose Lake is a body of water that has had quite an interesting history. Goose Lake is a large shallow turbid alkaline lake that shares both the California and Oregon border. The lake is rarely full although there have been times in the past where it would fill and allow an abundance of Goose Lake Redbands to inhabit the lake. These fish are normally less than 8” however when they are able to travel into the lake freely they are known to get hefty up to 24”. The lake has also dried up in the past during severe droughts threatening both the fish and wildlife in the surrounding Goose Lake area. A trout that is able to survive in both extremes is truly amazing and I was looking forward to catching one.

Lassen Creek

The Warner Lakes Redband and the Goose Lake Redband inhabit waters just a few miles from each other however they are still considered separate sub-species. There are several streams that feed Goose Lake and the most well-known stream to catch a Goose Lake Redband is Lassen Creek on the eastern side of Goose Lake. The drive was nice and short which was much appreciated. As I drove on the route parallel to the stream I noticed a sign for Lassen Creek campground. Campgrounds are usually great places to wet some line therefore I settled there to try my luck.

More Small Stream Fly Fishing

Log Jam Pool

Lassen Creek is a decent sized small stream that appeared to be a more traditional stream with riffles, runs, and pools surrounded by overgrowth and vegetation. There appeared to be some stream work done years ago to improve the habitat for these fish. Log jams that created small pools could be found all throughout the creek in campground. This is where I spotted my first target, a decent size Goose Lake Redband cruising around in the pool. My first cast appeared to spook it a bit and I watched as it darted away only to make a quick U-turn and grab my dry fly. Fish on! My first California Heritage Trout Challenge completed.

First Goose Lake Redband

The Goose Lake Redband Trout was more beautiful than what I had seen from pictures on the internet. With a bright pink lateral line and several big blue parr marks, they were quite the sight to behold. I continued fishing and easily caught several more redbands that were equally as pretty.

My challenge had finally come to an end and I clocked in almost 700 miles of driving for all three of the heritage trout I caught. Truly and experience of a lifetime.

And The Release

After catching my first coastal cutthroat trout near the California North Coast it was time to move forward with catching my last two native trout for the California Heritage Trout Challenge. The next species that I targeted was the Warner Lakes Redband Trout. Although the majority of their native range can be found in Oregon the Warner Lakes Redband can be found in a several small streams within a few miles of the California-Oregon border.

Into The Mountains

Dismal Creek is one of the most well-known places to try and capture a Warner Lakes Redband. This small piece of water is well-documented to have a self-sustaining population of Warner Lakes Redbands that many anglers have caught, photographed, and submitted for the California Heritage Trout Challenge. The only problem I had was that it was on the exact opposite side of the where I was in California.

The drive to Dismal Creek all the way in Modoc County from Patrick Creek took a little under six hours. The drive was a bit grueling due to the not-so-scenic agricultural lands and high desert landscape however I did pass by several lakes and streams that looked interesting, most notably Upper Klamath Lake and the Sprague River.

Once I made it back into California and passed the town of New Pine Creek I knew I was near my destination. The dirt road that took me into the mountains was in fair condition and I arrived at Dismal Creek within 30 minutes.

Dismal Valley

Dismal Creek is located at nearly 7,000ft elevation and sits ontop of a valley full of grazing cows. There wasn’t a single soul out there and I didn’t see much reason for anyone to visit such a remote place with the exception of fishing for native heritage trout. My first impression of Dismal Creek was, “Do fish live here?” The creek was only two feet wide at most and had flooded runs, deep undercuts, and shallow pools. I parked next to the creek and scouted it out to see if I could find any fish. The first thing I saw in a deep undercut was a small trout. “Holy crap there are fish here.”

Dismal Creek

Tiny Stream

I continued scouting for better pools to target and found a nice one right in-between two overhanging bushes. I saw several trout darting back and forth and started to undo my dry fly. Casting into the pool required pin point accuracy which made the fishing quite challenging. I managed to get a good cast and waited for the fish to respond. I was expecting a quick grab however I had to retrieve and twitch my dry a few times to solicit a take. After a few seconds of fight into the net was my first Warner Lakes Redband.

Warner Lakes Redband

With my native trout challenge completed I continued to explore Dismal Creek. The fish were all very spooky which made sight casting for them near impossible. As soon as they spooked into cover there was no way of making them come back out again. There were quite an abundance of fish in this small ditch of a creek which truly amazed me. After I caught a few more fish I decided to call it quits and head out to my final destination.