I stumbled upon the Heritage Trout Challenge offered by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife soon after moving to San Diego. Moth, meet flame. Fly fishing is immensely rewarding on its own, and I’m blessed to have had opportunities to catch incredible fish in wide-ranging waters. But catching and documenting 6 heritage California trout species in their native drainages had an irresistible allure.
This page will be a working summary of my pursuit of the Heritage Trout Challenge. As of the Summer of 2024, I got on the board and caught my first two species. As I plan and chase the next four (or more…), I will document my processes, successes, and learnings here. If this write up is helpful to anyone else pursuing the challenge, I’d be overjoyed. I can’t count on my hands the number of useful blogs and write ups I’ve used so far to research my trips. Those will be shared here too.
Thanks for reading along.
Heritage Trout #1: Kern River Rainbow Trout
Heritage Trout #2: Little Kern River Golden Trout
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