Specialty Trips

Specialty Guided Trips

 

DFW Passport Trips        

The DFW Passport is a fishing incentive and angler recognition program designed to highlight and promote fishing throughout the state. A California Fishing Passport book serves as the basis of the program and it lists 150 different species of popular fresh and saltwater finfish and shellfish that occur throughout the state. With this passport book as a guide, anglers are encouraged to “Take the Challenge” to get out, go fishing, and try to catch one of every species listed. For each successful catch, participants will receive a stamp in their passport book documenting each achievement and become eligible for additional recognition and awards.

The Passport program is intended to provide adventure-seeking anglers with years of recreational opportunities, and to highlight and promote the many unique and diverse fishery resources available throughout California.

Coldwater Fishing Achievement and Recognition

California’s inland waters include more than 4,100 lakes and reservoirs and nearly 30,000 miles of streams and rivers that provide ample coldwater fishing opportunities for anglers of all ages. Both novice and experienced anglers can pursue the wily trout and other coldwater fishes from California’s clear mountain lakes down to the streams and rivers emptying into the Pacific.

Which coldwater fish qualify?

  • Qualifying coldwater fish are found in the Inland Coldwater Fishes section and the Anadromous Fishes section of the California Fishing Passport (shad, sturgeon, and striped bass do not qualify as coldwater fish)
  • For recognition as a California Fishing Passport Coldwater Angler, any 3 of the following species qualify.
  • For recognition as a California Fishing Passport Accomplished Coldwater Angler, any 5 of the following species qualify.
  • For recognition as a California Master Coldwater Angler, all 10 of the following species must be caught, documented, and stamped to qualify.
Specifically:
  • Brown trout
  • Brook trout
  • Chinook salmon – landlocked or freshwater-caught only
  • Cutthroat trout – any sub-species in the Passport
  • Golden trout – any sub-species in the Passport
  • Kokanee
  • Lake trout
  • Mountain whitefish
  • Rainbow trout – any sub-species in the Passport
  • Redband trout – any sub-species in the Passport

Only species listed in the California Fishing Passport as defined above and caught in California since 2006 qualify for Coldwater Fishing awards.

Oasis Fly Fishing offers Specialty Trips designed to target specific Coldwater Native Species to assist you in meeting the requirements for obtaining a Stamp for that species. Once that species is caught and photographed I will stamp your passport for that species. (I am a Authorized CDFW stamping agent and Program Supporter)

DFW Heritage Trout Trips      

By catching six different forms of California native trout from their historic drainages and photographing these fish you can receive a colorful, personalized certificate featuring the art of renowned fish illustrator link opens in new windowJoseph Tomelleri. Your certificate will show six full-color images representing the trout you caught, along with the dates and locations. It is sized to fit in a standard 16″ x 20″ matted frame.

Qualifying Trout

To qualify for the Challenge, six different native trout must be caught within their historic range. The historic range, for the purpose of the Challenge, includes the trout’s native distribution in California, prior to human influence (pre-19th century), and all waters that feed into this watershed.

For example, catching a Lahontan cutthroat trout in Heenan Lake (Alpine County) qualifies for the Challenge. Although historically fishless, the lake outlet flows into the East Fork Carson River, where Lahontan cutthroat trout were once the only trout to inhabit this system. It is within their historic and native range.

Conversely, native species have been stocked in waters outside their native range to provide additional sport fishing opportunities. California golden trout can now be caught in many high-elevation streams and lakes across the Sierra Nevada; however, only those from the South Fork Kern River or Golden Trout Creek drainages qualify as a heritage species for the Challenge.

These three subspecies of cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) and eight forms of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are your targets to complete the Challenge:

We welcome you to “take the Challenge,” explore new waters across the state, and appreciate the diverse recreational fishing opportunities California has to offer.

Oasis Fly Fishing will help you qualify for specific Heritage Trout with our Specialty Trips to catch, photograph and release these Heritage Trout.

Please email frank@oasisflyshop.com to inquire for specialty trip rates, ie. Heritage Trout Trips and DFW Passport Coldwater Species trips. Rates are based on location, number of anglers and duration of trip.