Heritage Trout Challenge – Page 3 – Keep Calm and Fly Fish

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.

Flooded Streams

The stars aligned for me this month and my opportunity to finish my first Heritage Trout Challenge journey had finally come. Two years ago I completed my first two qualifiers for the challenge: the McCloud Redband and Lahanton Cutthroat. My eyes were set on three native trout that inhabit the upper portions of Northern California. My first attempt to complete my challenge would be catching a Coastal Cutthrout Trout. The coastal cutthroat is unique in that they are semi-anadromous meaning they live part of their lives out in sea however not to the extent of steelhead or salmon. Their native range in California ranges from the Northwest California-Oregon border down to the Eel River. With a migratory nature and such a large range, I knew they were going to be somewhat difficult to find. Factor in a mess of rainbow trout and you’ve got yourself perhaps the most elusive heritage trout to try and capture.

Mornings On Coastal Rivers

My research for the coastal cutthroat led me to believe that the best way to find these fish were to target tributaries near major coastal rivers. According to DFG regulations all tributaries of the Klamath and Trinity Rivers are closed to fishing therefore I was left with either trying the Smith or Eel river. I’ve read that coastal cutthroat are more abundant as you move north thus I ultimately decided on checking out the Smith River, a tributary called Patrick Creek in particular. Further research showed that this creek had a good population of coastal cutthroat so my chances of coming out with a heritage trout looked pretty good. The Northern Coast is one of my favorite places to visit and I was excited to get back out there again.

The six hour drive to Patrick Creek wasn’t too bad. I took I-5 north through southern Oregon and west back into California. Due to all the fires there was smoke everywhere until I got to the coast. I arrived at Patrick Creek at around 4pm and immediately started fishing.

Patrick Creek

Patrick Creek was running pretty low however it appeared fishable. I started about a quarter-of-a-mile upstream from where the creek meets the Middle Fork of the Smith River and worked my way downstream knowing that these fish would probably be closer to the main stem. My first catch on a dry was a trout with no distinguishing cutthroat slash, just a regular rainbow trout. After continuously catching rainbow trout after rainbow trout I started becoming anxious.

Patrick Creek Bow

About two hours later I had finally made it to the Middle Fork of the Smith River without catching a single coastal cutthroat. I tried fishing the Middle Fork of the Smith as a last chance effort to find my first cutthroat however I only found more rainbows. “There aren’t any here. Where should I try next?”
Another creek I had researched that was suppose to have a population of coastal cutthroat was Mill Creek. Mill Creek is a tributary of the Smith River that lies much closer to the Pacific Ocean. “The closer I fish to the ocean the better my chances” was what I told myself.

Jedidiah Smith Redwoods

Mill Creek

The drive to Mill Creek from Patrick Creek took about 15 minutes and I had about an hours worth of daylight left. I quickly made my way through the redwoods to get to the creek and found that it was also running low. I threw my dry into the first small pool I found and rose a small fish that I immediately noticed was different. A quick observation of it revealed that I had finally caught my first coastal cutthroat trout.

Tiny Little Cutthroat

My First Coastal Cutthroat Trout

After a quick photo session of the first heritage trout of my journey I continued to fish Mill Creek to see if I could find another cutthroat. To my surprise I continued to catch only small rainbows. I must have caught over fifty rainbows this day in an attempt to find a coastal cutthroat. Needless to say I got lucky.