I live in Southern California, most of the creeks I fish locally have not been stocked in a long time. 90% of the rainbow trout I catch are wild in their habitat, with 10% holdovers. When I fish in the Sierras I catch about 60% wild with 30% holdover and 10% stocked. I stay away from stocked areas when possible, sometimes holdovers come from lakes like Crowley and the fish head upstream. So I am either fishing C&R areas or I am hiking to areas that have not been planted in years. I have caught California coastal steelhead in Malibu Creek 20 years ago. Golden Trout on Cottonwood creek, Kern River Rainbows on little Kern river. Pretty lucky to live close to natural habitats of some different types of trout.
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