Fishing for wild rainbow trout in the many mountain streams of Southern California has become one of my favorite pastimes.
While I love hunting largemouth bass and other warmwater species, wild trout in crystal clear, ice-cold streams are a treat to catch like no other.
Recently, I took a new approach to photographing these fragile wild fish.
Keeping them out of water too long for a picture unduly stresses them, making it difficult to get a nice shot. Instead, I brought along a small "trout box", a clear plastic container, filled with (on occasion) stream water, to allow the trout to calm down and get a nice photo.
(Click below for more photos after the jump)
(Click below for more photos after the jump)
On my trial run with this box, at an unnamed stream, the trout box was perfect.
The fish all appeared considerably more relaxed than they normally would be in the grasp of a human and were all returned to this secret mountain stream quickly, without noticeable harm. I hope you enjoy these photos of these beautiful wild rainbow trout!
