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Legendary Species · Trout

Rainbow trout

Oncorhynchus mykiss[1] · also Redband trout (inland forms)

Rainbow trout vary a lot in colour and shape. Adults are silver with many small black spots, a pink or red band along the side, and spots that often run in lines along the tail rays.[2]

  • 672waters list it
  • 54states and regions
  • 5agency sources
Illustration of a rainbow trout in side view: olive back with small black spots and a pink band along the side
Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), illustration by Duane Raver for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Artwork: Duane Raver, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Identification

  • Rainbow trout vary a lot in colour and shape. Adults are silver with many small black spots, a pink or red band along the side, and spots that often run in lines along the tail rays.[2]
    What the source says
    “Highly variable in color and body shape, especially between resident fish and steelhead. Adults are silver and heavily spotted with small black spots. Iridescent pink or red along the lateral band. Numerous black spots pepper the body and dorsal fin, often radiating in lines along the rays of the tail.”
  • The cheeks are pink and the back ranges from iridescent blue to nearly brown, with silver, white or yellow sides and belly. Young fish carry large, dark oval parr marks along the lateral line.[2]
    What the source says
    “Opercula (cheeks) are pink, the back iridescent blue to nearly brown, and the sides and belly silver, white or yellow. Juveniles have oval parr marks along the lateral line that are large and dark.”
  • Rainbow trout and steelhead are the same species. Rainbows stay inland, while steelhead are the form that migrates to the ocean or, in Michigan, the Great Lakes.[1]
    What the source says
    “Genetically rainbow trout and steelhead are the same species but lead very different lives. Rainbow trout stays inland, and an anadromous form that migrates to the Great Lakes (or ocean in their native habitat).”
  • The McCloud River redband trout, a native California redband form, has a bright brick-red side band, white-tipped fins and rosy red cheeks, and adults often keep their parr marks.[3]
    What the source says
    “Bright brick-red lateral band, which tends to be darker and more distinct than other redband forms in California. Distinct white tip on the fins; sometimes yellow or orange. Operculum, or cheek, a rosy red. Adult fish often retain parr marks.”

Habitat and range

  • Rainbow trout are native to parts of Asia and North America. In the U.S. they range from the Kuskokwim River in Alaska south to Baja California.[2]
    What the source says
    “Native to parts of Asia and North America. In the U.S., found from the Kuskokwim River in Alaska south to Baja California.”
  • Rainbow trout are native to the Pacific watershed. Michigan imported eggs from California in 1876, and rainbows are now found all over the state.[1]
    What the source says
    “Native to the Pacific watershed, rainbow trout came to Michigan when eggs were imported from California in 1876. First stocked in the Au Sable River, then four years later in the Lake Michigan watershed, rainbows can now be found in all corners of the state.”

Life history

  • Young rainbows eat water fleas and then aquatic insects such as caddisflies, mayflies and midges. Larger fish add small fish to their diet but keep eating insects.[1]
    What the source says
    “Young rainbow trout first eat waterfleas and then add aquatic (water) insects, like caddisflies, mayflies, and midges, to their diet. As they grow larger, they include small fish but continue to consume larval and adult insects.”

Status, protections and rules

Legal status and rules as the agency stated them on the date read. Rules change: check the current regulations for the water.

  • In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, rainbow trout are non-native. The National Park Service says rainbow trout introduced in the early 1900s, together with logging, cost native brook trout 75% of their habitat.[4]
    What the source says
    “In the early 1900s, significant environmental changes occurred in the park due to logging and the introduction of non-native rainbow trout, which destroyed 75% of the native brook trout's habitat. Rainbow trout out-competed brook trout by reproducing at a faster rate as well as growing faster, taking over the streams.”
  • Yellowstone National Park rule: in the Lamar River drainage, including parts of Slough and Soda Butte creeks, every rainbow trout caught must be killed. Releasing one alive is illegal there.[5]
    What the source says
    “All rainbow trout, brook trout, and identifiable cutthroat/rainbow hybrids caught in the Lamar River drainage, including portions of Slough and Soda Butte creeks, must be killed—it is illegal to release them alive.”

Fishing for it: what the agencies say

What agencies and extension services say about catching it, with the source for each line.

  • CDFW calls rainbow trout California's most popular cold-water species with anglers. One reason it gives is that rainbows will take every kind of tackle and bait.[2]
    What the source says
    “Rainbow trout are, by far, the most popular cold-water species amongst anglers in California (and perhaps the world) due to: widespread distribution willingness to take all forms of tackle and bait reputation as hard-fighting fish, regardless of size”
General advice (ours, not an agency's)
  • Ask the nearest fly shop what is hatching on the water this week; it is the most current information there is.
  • Match the size and colour of the insects you see on the water before changing anything else.
  • Read the water page's gauge before you go: flow and water temperature change by the day.
Try the fly finderHatch & season chartsIdentify an insect or fly

Water temperature

Warm water stresses trout, char and salmon. These are the published temperature lines we show on every gauge, chosen state first: the state agency's own where it publishes one, otherwise federal guidance (said so). Each water page applies them to the gauge's live reading; the flow and temperature checker does the same for any gauge.

Whose temperature guidance applies in each state
StateWhose linesSources
IdahoIdaho Fish and Game (the state's own)Idaho Department of Fish and Game · Idaho Department of Fish and Game
UtahFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Utah line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
AlaskaFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Alaska line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
ArizonaArizona Game and Fish (the state's own)Arizona Game and Fish Department
WyomingWyoming Game and Fish (the state's own)Wyoming Game and Fish Department · Wyoming Game and Fish Department · National Park Service
OregonODFW (the state's own)Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife · Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
New YorkNew York DEC (the state's own)New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
MontanaMontana FWP (the state's own)Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
TennesseeFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Tennessee line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
IndianaFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Indiana line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
ArkansasArkansas Game and Fish (the state's own)Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
DelawareFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Delaware line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
ColoradoColorado Parks and Wildlife (the state's own)Colorado Parks and Wildlife
MarylandMaryland DNR (the state's own)Maryland Department of Natural Resources
MichiganFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Michigan line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
MinnesotaFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Minnesota line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
OklahomaOklahoma Wildlife Conservation (the state's own)Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
South CarolinaSouth Carolina DNR (the state's own)South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
VirginiaVirginia DWR (the state's own)Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
AlabamaFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Alabama line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
CaliforniaCDFW (the state's own)California Department of Fish and Wildlife
HawaiiFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Hawaii line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
KentuckyFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Kentucky line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
MaineMaine IF&W (the state's own)Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
MassachusettsFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Massachusetts line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
MissouriFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Missouri line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · Missouri Department of Conservation
North DakotaFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no North Dakota line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
South DakotaFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no South Dakota line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
TexasTexas Parks and Wildlife (the state's own)Texas Parks and Wildlife Department · Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
VermontVermont Fish and Wildlife (the state's own)Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department
West VirginiaFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no West Virginia line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
WisconsinFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Wisconsin line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Where to fish for rainbow trout

Our 672 water pages whose agency species list names rainbow trout (each list links to the agency page it comes from). A species missing from a list does not mean it is absent: many agencies publish no list for a water.

United States 583 waters

New Zealand 42 waters

Australia 29 waters

Slovenia 9 waters

Canada 5 waters

Argentina 2 waters

Chile 2 waters

Destination hubs

Hubs that list one of these waters, or that a water page is near: each has guides, shops, licences and trip planning for the area.

Sources

Every fact on this page is our paraphrase of the page cited beside it, read on the date shown. Rules and seasons change: check the agency's current regulations before you fish.

  1. Rainbow trout Michigan Department of Natural Resources, read Oct 24, 2026.
  2. Fishing for Coastal Rainbow Trout / Steelhead California Department of Fish and Wildlife, read Oct 24, 2026.
  3. Fishing for McCloud River Redband Trout California Department of Fish and Wildlife, read Oct 24, 2026.
  4. Fish - Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S. National Park Service) National Park Service, read Oct 24, 2026.
  5. Fishing - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service) National Park Service, read Oct 24, 2026.

16 states and regions have a page of rainbow trout waters of its own (five or more waters).