Your Guide to Fishing for Bay Area Trout

Trout are the species of choice when freshwater fishing in the cooler months in the Bay Area. Every winter and spring, the Department of Fish and Game drives thousands of hatchery trout to our local lakes, specifically for fishermen to catch and take home. Local park districts, like the EBRPD, supplement with their own stockings. What this means is the fishing can be heavily dependent on when these trout plants occur, so keep an eye on the schedule (DFG, EBRPD) when planning a trip. However, if the timing is right and you bring the right gear, the fishing can be great! On this page, I’ll provide a quick and dirty guide to trout fishing in the Bay Area. Leave a comment if you have any questions, and I’ll try to get back to you ASAP!

How to Catch Bay Area Trout

Trout fishing can seem daunting at first, with all the terminology and baits that people use. In this article, I will try and give a quick summary of the techniques and setups that people use around the Bay.

Perhaps a key thing to remember is that the trout we catch in the Bay Area are not wild fish, and instead are all planted from various hatcheries around the state. Having lived in concrete tanks their entire lives, these fish are not the brightest. What that means is that if the trout are there, you should be able to catch them as long as you are using the right baits or lures. In fact, many dough baits are designed to smell like the fish food these trout are fed in the hatchery.

Your Rod and Reel

When fishing for trout, I prefer using a light or ultra-light setup, spooled with 4-6 lb monofilament line. In general, trout have pretty good vision, so try and use as light of a line as possible. The lighter rod lets you cast smaller trout lures and baits farther, which can be important in certain scenarios (I’ll get more to this later). In addition, trout around here don’t get quite that big so it’ll be a lot more fun fighting fish on a lighter setup.

If you want some specific recommendations:

Okuma Avenger Travel Kit

My current trout rod of choice. It's a 6 foot spinning rod that comes in 5 pieces in a travel case, making it portable for whatever fishing you might need to do. It's light enough to be able to cast tiny lures long distances, but also works just fine for your classic bait-and-wait fishing.

See on Amazon

Berkley Trilene XL Monofilament Line (4 lb)

My go-to trout fishing line. This stuff casts pretty well and is decently high quality, and doesn't break super often.

See on Amazon

Trout Magnet Phantom Fluorocarbon Leader Line (2 lb)

My go-to leader line when fishing bait. Fluorocarbon is somewhat more clear underwater than typical monofilament fishing line, so I like using it as leader line to avoid spooking any fish. This particular brand is decent quality, while being on the cheaper end in terms of fluorocarbon.

See on Amazon

Phenix Ironfeather Braided Line (3 lb)

For my ultralight lure-casting setups, I've started using braided line. I've found that you can eke out a decent amount of extra casting distance with the braid, as it's much thinner than your typical monofilament. It can be a little bit brittle though, so be gentle with your hooksets. Definitely don't start with this for your first rod.

See on Amazon

Honestly a cheap setup from Walmart or Big 5 will probably work just as well. This cheap setup from Amazon, which I haven’t used, also seems like it would work well. If you buy a combo with pre-spooled line, I’d probably replace the line if possible - the pre-spooled line is usually pretty low quality and will cause you a lot of pain in the future.

One thing to remember, once you’ve rigged up all of your line, is to make sure the drag is set appropriately on the reel. Here in the Bay Area, we are blessed by plants with Lassen trout at quite a few local lakes — these fish can be larger than 5 lbs so they put up a hefty fight. From experience, I’ve lost lots of trout since my drag was set too tight, and my line snapped when the fish pulled too hard. Before fishing, double check that when you pull on your line by hand, your drag releases line with a hard enough tug. I also highly recommend a net.

Fishing with Bait

Fishing with bait is perhaps the most common technique that Bay Area fishermen use to catch trout. The general strategy is a sliding-sinker rig - in short, a free sliding ~1/4 ounce sliding sinker, a bead to protect your knot, a small swivel, and a 12-36 inch leader of about 2-4 lb line. Here’s an image of what it should look like:

The general idea is that with a bit of slack in your line, a trout that bites your bait feels no resistance as it pulls line through the sinker. As a result, the trout will be a lot more likely to properly eat the bait and give you a good set.

Now, the number one rule of bait fishing for trout — make sure your bait floats with the hook in it! To my knowledge, trout don’t typically feed off the bottom, so having your bait float over your sinker makes sure it is in the strike zone for roaming trout. As a result, downsize your hook if you find that your rig is sinking — I typically use anywhere from size 8-10 mosquito hooks or size 16-18 treble hooks.

My general technique for fishing this style of sliding sinker rig is to cast out and leave some slack in the line, and sit back for ~15 mins. As you wait, watch your line closely. If you see it getting tight and moving out into the water, odds are you have a fish on — reel in the slack, and set the hook when you feel the fish! If nothing bites, reel in and recast — by recasting often, you make sure that your bait is never sitting in a clump of weeds or some other place inaccessible to the trout for long.

Instead of leaving the line slack, many fishermen reel up the line tight, and add a bell or bobber to the rod to indicate any bites. I personally don’t think this is a great strategy, if your goal is to catch trout — I have found that trout will sometimes let go if they feel any resistance when biting the bait. However, my slack line strategy often results in gut hooked fish, so use a tight line if you’re planning on releasing any fish.

My other hypothesis about the slack line is that when it billows out with the wind, it adds some action to the bait at the bottom as the line repeatedly tightens and releases with the breeze. I haven’t really explicitly tested this theory though.

Now, to my baits of choice:

Powerbait

The classic trout bait. I typically use micetails in favor of Powerbait these days, but sometimes the original dough will work when nothing else will. Take a small bit of the dough, and mold it around a size 16-18 treble hook on a sliding sinker rig. Double check that it floats, and then cast the bait out and just let it sit. It can smell kinda bad, so be ready to vigorously clean your hands afterward. I've linked the garlic flavor, but the corn and original scents work just as well. I personally don't think the color matters a whole lot, but some people swear by chartreuse.

See on Amazon

Powerbait Micetails

A piece of soft plastic infused with Powerbait flavoring. These days, I far prefer micetails over Powerbait, as I think they have a bit of extra attraction in moving water. Additionally, micetails are way less messy than the Powerbait, and you don't leave random floating pieces of plastic dough floating in the lake after you're done fishing. Fish it on a sliding sinker rig with a size 8-10 mosquito hook to make sure it floats.

See on Amazon

Inflated Nightcrawlers with a Worm Blower

Nightcrawlers and other worms are the classic bait for any freshwater fish. It turns out that by using a specialized tool called a worm blower, the worms can be "inflated" such that they float off the bottom (this forum thread is an excellent resource on how to actually do this). Carefully thread the worm onto a size 8 hook on your sliding sinker rig. Buying the worms, keeping them in your refrigerator, and inflating them before fishing can be a bit of a hassle, but sometimes the nightcrawlers will catch fish when nothing else will.

See worm blowers on Amazon

Pautzke's Salmon Eggs

Before Powerbait, salmon eggs were the preserved bait of choice for planted trout. The general trick is to thread a couple salmon eggs onto a size 8-10 hook, along with a mini marshmallow to make sure everything floats. In my experience brand doesn't matter too much here, but certain companies sell scented or colored salmon eggs that might work better on particular days.

See on Amazon

Supposedly people also used Velveeta Cheese back in the day, but I don’t personally have any experience with it. Might be a good way to show the trout something they haven’t seen in a while.

When the going gets tough, try switching to an even simpler rig, with just a size 8 hook baited with a nightcrawler and a small split shot a foot up the line, or even no weight if possible. The general idea is to let the worm drift and flutter naturally in the water for finicky trout. There’s been times when I’m the only person on the lake catching fish by using this technique. This is also my go-to rig when fishing rivers and streams.

I don’t see this as often here on the west coast, but a common rig in the eastern United States is fishing many of these above baits under a bobber. The general idea is that such a rig targets any trout that are close to the surface. However, I personally have not found too much success with such a rig here in the Bay Area — my personal hypothesis is that the big pelicans and egrets that swarm our local lakes eat basically all the trout that like swimming close to surface.

Fishing with Lures

While bait fishing can certainly be an effective way to catch trout, simply waiting for the fish to come to you can sometimes get a bit boring - you might sometimes wait hours between hits.

Fishing with lures provides a more active alternative. Instead of just letting your bait sit, with lures you attempt to imitate an escapinng minnow or baitfish by reeling in. A general rule of thumb is to use a stop-and-go retrieve with most trout lures - the momentary pauses somehow imitate an injured baitfish. You can also try erratically twitching the lure by repeatedly jerking your rod, which seems to sometimes work quite well.

When you fish these trout lures, try and cover as much water as possible, in order to find the actively feeding trout. When fishing from shore, a good strategy is to continuously walk along the shoreline and cast in all directions. In a boat, you can take a similar fan-casting approach, or you can slowly troll the lure as you move around the lake.

In terms of colors, try and stick with gold in sunny weather or murky weather, and use silver finishes on cloudy days or clear water. Most of these lures also come in more exotic color schemes, which at least in my experience don’t work any better on hatchery trout.

Here are a few lures you should have in your tackle box:

Mini jig, 1/16 or 1/32 oz

A small tube that can be twitched in the water to entice wary trout. Keep your rod tip high, and wiggle the lure in the middle of the water column. Can be very effective, especially if you can see the fish. Can be hard to cast far, unless you're using very light line (2 - 4 lb)

See on Amazon

Acme Kastmaster, 1/8 oz

One of my favorite lures for trout fishing, very useful for covering a lot of water and finding where the active fish are. It's a very aerodynamic lure that can be casted quite far on light line. I've had the most success on stop-and-go, erratic retrieves. Use gold Kastmasters on sunny days or in murky water. Use silver Kastmasters on cloudy days or clear water. Kastmasters can be somewhat expensive - South Bend also sells Kastaways which are somewhat cheaper but can't say I've personally used them.

See on Amazon

Panther Martin, 1/16 oz

A classic trout spinner. I like a retrieve with many erratic jerks with these spinners, to let the blade flutter as much as possible. Traditionally the gold blade with black body and yellow spots has been the most effective for me, but the other colors should also work.

See on Amazon

Thomas Buoyant, 1/4 or 1/6 oz

A Kastmaster alternative. It casts a somewhat smaller distance, but the spoon has a slightly different fluttering action that seems to sometimes entice more hits.

See on Amazon

A Note: Get a Two Rod Stamp!

When doing trout fishing here in California, I highly recommend thinking about getting a two rod stamp on your fishing license. With a two rod stamp, you can cast out one rod with bait and let it sit, and rig up another rod with a lure. This way, you get the best of both worlds!

Where to Fish on the Lake

Within a day or two after a plant, spots close to where the fish are released can be great places to fish — this is typically the boat launch at most of our local lakes. The freshly stocked trout often don’t move too much immediately after they are put into the lake, so they can be easy pickins for any nearby fishermen. This can be pretty crowded fishing though — these spots are often the most popular, so don’t get annoyed if it ends up being shoulder-to-shoulder.

If you’re fishing a few days after a plant, shallow flats can be killer spots on our local lakes. It seems that the stocked fish will often school up and congregate on these flats for a short period of time after they get stocked into the lake (my personal theory is that these areas most resemble the concrete tanks they were raised in). Examples of these areas include the cove at Quarry Lakes and the swim beach area at Shadow Cliffs. Minijigs can be killer in such a scenario — I’ve found that freshly planted trout find them very hard to resist.

A common local myth suggests that if the lake hasn’t been recently stocked, it is probably pretty much fished out. I find this pretty patentedly untrue — I’ve caught full stringers of trout weeks after plants in our local lakes. The big difference is that the fish will congregate in different areas over time, and thus the spots that work well immediately after a plant don’t work so well afterwards. If the lake has not been planted recently, I’ve found that a general decent strategy is to pick spots where there is some kind of noticeable variation. For example, this can mean an area where the shoreline switches from gravel to dirt, any “points” of land that abruptly jut out into the water, or any underwater depth variation. These changes in the landscape seem to concentrate the trout, but they take some exploration and experimentation to find. Typically, you want to find some water that is fairly deep, but not too deep — if I’m fishing bait, I like spots where if I cast out, I can wait 10-20 seconds for my bait to touch the bottom. Just in case the fish are a bit shallower, I will also cast my second rod a bit closer in to shore.

Spots to Catch Bay Area Trout

In the South Bay, Sandy Wool Lake is a small pond that gets stocked every 2-3 weeks in the winter months with trout. Stevens Creek Reservoir, Lexington Reservoir, Lake Cunningham, and the Campbell Percolation Ponds used to get planted with trout by the DFG, but no longer. If you’re willing to make the drive, Loch Lomond off Highway 17 is a decent place to cast a line in the spring.

A number of lakes are stocked in the East Bay by both the DFG and the EBRPD. Lakeshore Park in Newark, Quarry Lakes in Fremont, Shadow Cliffs Reservoir in Pleasanton, Lake Del Valle in Livermore, Contra Loma Reservoir in Antioch, Don Castro Reservoir in Hayward, Lake Temescal in Oakland, Los Vaqueros Reserovir, Lafayette Reservoir, and San Pablo Reservoir in El Sobrante all regularly receive trout plants.

In the San Francisco/San Mateo area, Lake Merced is pretty much your only option, and it doesn’t really get stocked all that often. So make the drive to the East Bay.