Closest Steelheading to LA

[schurmo]

Well, I moved away from the comforts of Lake Superior steelheading only being a couple hours away to the middle of one chaotic city. And unfortunately, thanks to the great movers and shakers of SoCal from the early 1900s that left such an irresponsible legacy to us here and now, steelhead in SoCal is pretty much extinct. So, what would be my closest opportunity to catch steelhead? Thanks!

[Pimpinmeat]

I travel 6-7 hours to get my steelhead fix so that's what your looking at. Kinda sucks but what can you do besides move up to NorCal.

[PaulC]

Contribute to groups trying to restore habitat down south would be one.
We did used to have some phenomenal runs, but those days are long gone.
It looks like they will finally be removing the matilija dam with the passage of federal funding. Maybe the next generation will be able to catch a steelie in Ventura legally.
There were alot of folks involved locally and statewide in that. Kudos for their time and effort.

You definitely need to drive that distance to get into numbers of fish.
There are no good numbers of fish further south.
-Paul

P.S. on a side note, the saltwater fishing out here can definitely keep a guy/gal busy.

[Steelie-Stalker]

IMO, It gets better the further you go north. You could try the San Lorenzo River for the closest, but to get to some better, more consistent fishing, i'd have to say the American, which is probly about 6-7 hours from LA.