The Trout and Steelhead Conservation and Management Planning Act of 1979

To further develop the California Wild Trout Program, the California Legislature adopted the Trout and Steelhead Conservation and Management Planning Act of 1979 (SB 192). In summary, SB 192 established California Fish and Game (DFG) law (DFG Code Sections 1725-1728) to:

1. Establish and maintain wild trout stocks in suitable waters of the state which are readily accessible to the general public as well as in such waters in remote areas.



2. Establish catch-and-release angling regulations designed to maintain the wild trout fishery in such waters by natural reproduction.



3. Requires the DFG to conduct an inventory of all California trout streams and lakes to determine the most suitable angling regulations for each stream or lake.



4. Requires the DFG each year to prepare a list of no less than 25 miles of stream or stream segments and at least one lake that it deems suitable for consideration as catch and release trout fisheries and makes these recommendations to the Fish and Game Commission.

California Fish and Game Commission Trout Management Policy Amendments

Because trout resources and angling opportunities have historically been important elements in California's natural resource management activities, the Fish and Game Commission established sweeping policy guidance for the DFG concerning trout management. As amended on January 4, 1994 these policies are as follows:

1. Natural reproduction and rearing of trout will be encouraged to the greatest extent possible by protecting and improving habitat and by affording protection from disease, predators and competing fish species.



2. Populations of wild trout shall be sustained in suitable waters to provide a diversity of angling opportunities. In some waters it may be necessary to restrict angler harvest to the extent that such harvest has virtually no long-term effect on numbers and sizes of fish in the populations.



3. Artificial propagation and rearing of trout is a major Department program, but will be utilized only when necessary to augment natural production. Stocking fingerling and sub-catchable-sized trout shall take priority over planting catchable-sized trout in the hatchery stocking program when the smaller fish will maintain satisfactory fishing. Hatchery trout shall not be stocked in waters where they may compete or hybridize with trout which are threatened, endangered or species of special concern. Exceptions may be made for stocking waters which are not part of a species recovery program.



4. Catchable-sized trout shall be stocked only:
   1. In lakes, reservoirs and streams where natural reproduction and growth are inadequate to maintain populations capable of supporting fishing; and
   
   
   
   2. When it is reasonable to expect at least 50% by number or weight will be taken by anglers. In stocking catchable-sized trout, lakes and larger streams shall have priority over smaller streams. Suitable waters with heavy fishing pressure compared to the size of planting allotments shall have priority. Trophy fish, weighing one pound or more may constitute up to 10% by weight of each load of catchables stocked, if they replace an equivalent poundage of catchables in the allotment for the water stocked.
   
   
   
5. Sub-catchable-sized trout may be stocked in lakes, reservoirs and streams where appropriate to augment trout populations in such waters, and to increase fishing opportunities and success. Fingerlings shall be stocked primarily in waters where reproduction is limiting and satisfactory angling can be supported with fingerling stocking, where the population has been destroyed, and in lakes where they will establish a new fishery or augment the existing fishery.



6. Water companies, utility districts and other public or private agencies in control of urban lakes shall be encouraged to finance put-and-take trout fishing in such waters when suitable for such purposes. The Department shall provide technical advice and otherwise assist in the development and maintenance of such programs.