I’m not sure if Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote “America the Beautiful,” ever wet a line. But I’d like to think so. And as a fisherman who’s been lucky enough to fish this country from sea to shining sea, I believe our many waters filled with trout are part of the grace God shed here. Over the last 250 years we have added to this abundance by stocking non-native trout, and by translocating our native salmonids in all directions.
Brown trout are a perfect example of this tinkering. Although they’re naturalized and fully wild in many places around the country, browns are still European imports. So, this year, in honor of America’s upcoming birthday, I would encourage anglers to consider chasing some of the coldwater species that have been swimming here since long before the American Revolution.
There are more than a dozen of these fish to choose from, but for this list, I’ve highlighted four native trout species that should be on every fisherman’s bucket list. Technically speaking, one of these is a char, but we call them trout, they look like trout, and they act like trout. So, for the purposes of this roundup, trout they will be.
1. Lahontan Cutthroats
Cutthroats are natives of the American West. Their range today is mostly limited to the high country, and they can be found in nearly every mountain range in the region. You can also catch sea-run cutties (coastal cutthroats) in parts of the Pacific Northwest.
There are at least 10 different subspecies of cutthroat native to the U.S. But the biggest, by far, is the Lahontan cutthroat. These fish, found mostly in eastern California and western Nevada, can easily reach 20 or 30 pounds, and historical records show Lahontans as big as 61 pounds. The modern-day world record for the species was caught in 1925 in Nevada and weighed 41 pounds.
Lahontans have an interesting history, as they have a limited range and were nearly driven to extinction. But thanks to fisheries managers, and particularly the work done by Native American tribes, they’ve made an incredible comeback over the last 20 or so years.
Pyramid Lake is hands down the most well-known location to target Lahontan cutthroats. The huge desert lake, which lies less than an hour north of Reno, is where the world-record was caught, and it continues to produce the biggest Lahontans in the country. If you do go to Pyramid, prepare to have some company, as this lake is no secret. You can also find Lahontans in Lake Tahoe, and in a handful of remote lakes in Central Washington. (You’ll have to do your own homework there.)
2. Golden Trout
Golden trout don’t get nearly as big as Lahontans — the world record is 11 pounds. But what these California natives lack in size they make up for in sheer beauty.
“The back is a deep olive-green, fading to bright gold on the sides,” according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Coloration is spectacularly bright: the belly, opercula, lower jaws, and lateral line are a vivid red to red-orange.”
Goldens are a high-alpine species, which means they also live in some of the prettiest places in the country. (Their latin name, aguabonita, translates roughly to “beautiful water.”) Although they are only native to two watersheds in the Sierra Nevadas, they have been stocked in high-mountain lakes all across the intermountain West. The Wind River Range in Wyoming is one premier destination, with more than 100 lakes there managed for goldens. Colorado has a few quality golden lakes as well.
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Regardless of where you go to chase golden trout, it usually takes a good bit of hiking to get there. This is part of their appeal.
3. Brook Trout
Another stunningly beautiful and distinctly American fish, brook trout are technically a char species native to the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Their historic range here stretches from the Atlantic coast in Maine and over to the Great Lakes, then down through the Appalachians and all the way into Georgia. They’ve also been stocked throughout the West, where they are now, in some places, overly abundant.
Brookies thrive in smaller waters. They are spunky, aggressive, and love to eat dry flies, which makes them well-suited to creek fishermen with fly rods. In most of the streams where you can find them, brook trout are small, with an average fish being around 5 to 10 inches long. But in some of Maine’s larger lakes, they can still reach trophy size.
4. Steelhead
Saving the best for last, steelhead are, in this author’s opinion, the baddest fish in America. Sometimes called “the fish of a thousand casts,” they can be hard to find and challenging to hook, especially on fly gear. But when they do take a fly or lure, it’s electric. Built like torpedoes, steelhead are tremendously powerful and acrobatic fighters.
Biologically speaking, there has been some confusion around steelhead, which are a West Coast fish that old-timers used to call “salmon trout.” In reality, a steelhead is just a rainbow trout that decides to go to the ocean, and then returns to its natal river to spawn. (Unlike Pacific salmon, they don’t die after spawning.) The epic journeys these fish take are a big part of the allure of steelheading — as well as the challenge. Because they are migratory and only found in certain rivers during certain times of the year, it’s critical to be in the right place at the right time.
Adding to some of the confusion around steelhead is the fact that rainbow trout are only native to a handful of states in the Pacific Northwest. But because they are fast-growing and hard-fighting fish that do well in hatcheries, rainbows are now the most common and widely distributed trout species in America. (You can even catch them in Texas.)
As part of the rainbow trout’s expansion across the country, a couple strains from Washington State were stocked long ago into the Great Lakes. The fish thrived there, using the huge lakes as miniature oceans, and creating what anglers today call Great Lakes Steelhead. Now, whether or not these lake-run rainbows should be considered true steelhead is a matter of debate. At the risk of upsetting some Midwesterners, I am firmly in the camp of: “no salt, no steel.” But the only steelhead I’ve caught have come from rivers in Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. So I might be a little biased.
Final Takeaways
Sure, big browns are great. And I’d never turn down a chance to catch a stocker rainbow or a tiger trout. But there is something about catching a wild fish in its native environment, and in this country, we are blessed with an abundance of places to do just that. So, this year, as a way of celebrating the homeland, consider going out of your way to chase some of America’s coolest native trout.
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