The last I had heard, it was being managed as a Wild Trophy Trout Fishery. As far as I know, that means no stocking!!!! Just confirmed that BTW, this is a Wild Trout fishery per California DFW . . . so, GREAT day!!!!
The last I had heard, it was being managed as a Wild Trophy Trout Fishery. As far as I know, that means no stocking!!!! Just confirmed that BTW, this is a Wild Trout fishery per California DFW . . . so, GREAT day!!!!
Milton has been a Wild Trout Fishery for like ever like 30+ years or so after they drained it and dredged it and threw in some rock piles I believe in the late 80's(not sure what year)? There are a lot of small browns sometimes they can be pretty grabby and sometimes not at all. There have been nice rainbows in the lake that were 20- 22"+ that lasted for like 2 summers in the 90's. They are wild trout the browns and rainbows reproduce naturally, spawn. Lots of small 10" or so browns that never get a chance to get bigger.
Unfortunately, the larger fish just about all get poached, yanked out in the winter when the snowmobilers drive in and ice fish them with worms and kill off the big fish every winter/spring. They have been doing that for decades. They just go out on the ice....drill a whole here or there towards the dam and drop down a night crawler and jiggle it around. The big browns and rainbows will be on those worms in an instant.
Last edited by FREEDOM-FLYFISHER; 08-09-2021 at 08:55 AM.
I have caught a couple of rainbows at Milton 12 years ago. Haven’t seen any since.
I’ve also herd of people going in there on snowmobiles in winter months and fishing through the ice
And keeping fish. Have seen some just walking the road and looking along the shore line and seeing some
Browns well over 20 inches. Definitely a little gem of a lake, especially in the fall.
I was there earlier this summer. I saw lots of browns well over 18”. You just gotta move them with 4”-5” streamers. I was even throwing streamers in the shallowest part of the lake when I spotted cruisers. I did manage to use my fish finder in there as well. Deepest I found was 18’ at the dam. The bank to the right of the dam drops to 15’ right at the shore line. Big boys hang there too. Lots of humps and buckets in the middle of the lake that were holding fish. I did really well with streamers and when spotting those humps/buckets I killed it with an indicator rig. Dropped it right on their heads. If you’re in the small fish move away from them because the larger fish aren’t around. Deeper water and “bassy” structure is where I found the larger browns. I love that place.
Scott , I’m sure it was a nice one. The ones I got were 16-18 inches.
Ross, I’ll try something bigger next time I go. Such a great little fishery.
Sounds like a great trip! I might hit it here in a month or 2.
I go for the day. Takes about 2 1/2 hours. The good thing is it’s not like all the other lakes in the area. You don’t have to hit the lake early. Because the water is so cold the fish and insects don’t really get going till 10. Sleep in and still get into a bunch of fish
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