Hot Creek (Wild Trout Fly Water)
Mammoth Lakes area · near Mammoth Lakes · Eastern Sierra
Fishing
At a glance
- Difficulty
- expert
- Best season
- Late spring–fall
Permits and booking
- Licence required
- Yes
- Licence detail
- CA license (16+) required. Hot Creek is a tiny, famous spring creek near Mammoth — a Wild Trout stream with catch-and-release, barbless, fly-only regulations in the public interpretive/canyon section. Astonishing trout density; extremely selective fish. Public access via the Hot Creek Interpretive Site.
What is here
- Features
- Legendary tiny spring creek · Astonishing wild-trout density · Fly-only, catch-and-release · Geothermal canyon setting
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
Fishing detail
- Water type
- river
- Water
- fresh
- Methods
- Fly
- Boat
- shore
- Target species
- Wild brown trout (dense, wary) · Wild rainbow trout
- Intl tip
- License required. A tiny, legendary spring creek with incredible wild-trout density and extremely selective fish. Fly-only, barbless, catch-and-release in the public canyon section (Hot Creek Interpretive Site). Technical to the extreme — tiny flies, fine tippet, perfect drifts. Late spring–fall. Combine with the Owens and Mammoth. Humbling, hallowed water.
The guide
Hot Creek, a small spring creek meandering through a geothermal canyon near Mammoth Lakes, is one of the most famous — and most…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Hot Creek (Wild Trout Fly Water) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.647, -118.83