Hat Creek

Hat Creek: A California Wild Trout Classic

Hat Creek starts on the slopes of Mount Lassen and runs north through the Hat Creek valley in Shasta County before joining the Pit River. In 1972 the Fish and Game Commission named part of the creek one of California's first 17 Wild Trout Waters, and CDFW still manages it under the Heritage and Wild Trout Program, which has a Hat Creek wild trout management plan (2015). The creek has been through a lot. A state salmon hatchery ran on Hat Creek from 1885 to 1888 and closed because too few salmon came back. Then the 1915 eruption of Lassen sent ash and mudflows down the drainage and left the water unlivable for trout for several years. Today the wild trout section is a well-known fly-fishing water in the Burney and Fall River area, and the CDFW Crystal Lake Hatchery is close by on Baum Lake. Special regulations apply to the designated reach, so check the current CDFW freshwater sport fishing regulations and the designation boundary map before you fish. The CDFW pages reviewed confirm the wild trout designation but do not list species. The target species here are the trout the wild trout fishery is managed for and should be checked against the Hat Creek management plan.