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Hot Creek

Type
Spring creek, California (West)
Designation
Wild Trout Water
USGS gauges
1 live
Guides
3 name it
Shops
2 nearby

Today on the Hot Creek

Reading the gauge…

Regulations & access Guides & shops

Hot Creek is a spring creek in California, listed as Wild Trout Water by California Department of Fish and Wildlife / California Fish and Game Commission.

More about the Hot Creek

1 USGS gauge on the water reports flow. 5 guides and 2 shops nearby are listed here; the nearest destination hub is Bishop & the Eastern Sierra.

Updated · Sources: Designated Wild Trout Waters (Fish and Game Commission), USGS Water Data

Steam rising from geothermal springs along Hot Creek in its rocky gorge near Mammoth Lakes
Photo credit

Hot Creek near Mammoth Lakes, with steam from geothermal springs. Photo: TheDailyNathan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Where it is

Hot Creek is a spring creek in California. Our destination hub Bishop & the Eastern Sierra is 31 mi away in a straight line and lists it among its waters.

Flow now at the gauge
Reading the gauges…

Check any river's flow

Follow Hot Creek for flow alerts

Pick one of its USGS gauges and hear from us when the flow moves into or out of its usual range for the date, or crosses a flow you set. We check the public USGS reading every 2 hours and email only when it crosses, at most once every 6 hours. Flow alone is not a fishing forecast or a safety call.

Follow this water

Signed in: one step. Otherwise we email a confirmation link first. Every alert has one-click links to stop it.

Where to fish

About this

Start from the agency's public access map. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

Nothing on this page grants or implies access.

CDFW Fishing Guide map

Hot Creek on the map

About this

Gauges, shops and guides within 40 miles

Map of Hot Creek: gauges, shops and guides

RestroomsAccess map

Map of Hot Creek with 1 USGS gauge, and shops and guides with an exact address within 40 miles.

Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors · OpenFreeMap · © OpenMapTiles

Restrooms near Hot Creek

Restrooms near Hot Creek

Restrooms within 2 miles of Hot Creek in a straight line, nearest first, with what anglers found when they went. The map says a restroom is there, not whether it is clean or open today.

Map of 3 restrooms near Hot Creek

Skip the map; every place is in the list below

Map of 3 restrooms near Hot Creek, numbered as in the list, with the water’s point marked.

Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors · OpenFreeMap · © OpenMapTiles

  1. Restroom

    0.8 mi away in a straight line
    • Vault or pit toilet (mapped)

    Not rated yet — be the first to tell other anglers if it's clean.

    Directions
    We don't know yet: is it clean? · free? · open to everyone? · step-free? — tell other anglers: show the questions
    • Is it clean?
    • Free?
    • Open to everyone?
    • Step-free?

    Mapped on OpenStreetMap · see or fix it on the map

  2. Restroom

    0.8 mi away in a straight line
    • Vault or pit toilet (mapped)

    Not rated yet — be the first to tell other anglers if it's clean.

    Directions
    We don't know yet: is it clean? · free? · open to everyone? · step-free? — tell other anglers: show the questions
    • Is it clean?
    • Free?
    • Open to everyone?
    • Step-free?

    Mapped on OpenStreetMap · see or fix it on the map

  3. Restroom

    0.8 mi away in a straight line
    • Vault or pit toilet (mapped)

    Not rated yet — be the first to tell other anglers if it's clean.

    Directions
    We don't know yet: is it clean? · free? · open to everyone? · step-free? — tell other anglers: show the questions
    • Is it clean?
    • Free?
    • Open to everyone?
    • Step-free?

    Mapped on OpenStreetMap · see or fix it on the map

Restroom locations and map details: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License, read Oct 24, 2026. Ratings, answers and photos are members' own; who shared them is never shown, and every photo is reviewed before it appears. Visits older than 18 months no longer count. Distances are straight-line miles, not driving. Nothing here grants access to private land. Community guidelines.

More water near Hot Creek

  • Crowley Lake below a mountain ridge of the Long Valley Caldera, under evening cloudsLake or reservoir
    Photo credit

    Crowley Lake and the Long Valley Caldera from US 395. Photo: Clinton Steeds, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Crowley Lake

    California · about 6 mi

  • Clear, shallow pools of the Middle Fork of Bishop Creek among granite slabs and pinesFreestone river
    Photo credit

    The Middle Fork of Bishop Creek, eastern Sierra. Photo: Scrubhiker (USCdyer), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Bishop Creek

    California · about 30 mi

  • Rush Creek running between snowbanks and bare willows below snow-covered Sierra peaksWild Trout WaterRepresentative photo · not South Fork San Joaquin River
    Photo credit

    Rush Creek, Mono County, California. Photo: Greg Reis, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not South Fork San Joaquin River.

    South Fork San Joaquin River

    California · about 27 mi

  • Aerial view of Eagle Lake beyond the dry bed of Horse LakeWild Trout WaterRepresentative photo · not Sallie Keyes Lakes
    Photo credit

    Eagle Lake, Lassen County, California, with dry Horse Lake in the foreground (aerial). Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Sallie Keyes Lakes.

    Sallie Keyes Lakes

    California · about 28 mi

  • Lake Billy Chinook filling a basalt canyon, with layered rimrock cliffs along the waterWild Trout WaterRepresentative photo · not Lower Honeymoon Lake
    Photo credit

    Lake Billy Chinook, Oregon. Photo: icetsarina, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Lower Honeymoon Lake.

    Lower Honeymoon Lake

    California · about 29 mi

  • An angler casting from the bank of the upper Owens River, with snow-covered Sierra peaks behindWild Trout WaterRepresentative photo · not Piute Creek
    Photo credit

    The upper Owens River in Mono County, California. Photo: Robson Hatsukami Morgan (via Unsplash), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Piute Creek.

    Piute Creek

    California · about 29 mi

Sources CDFW Fishing Guide mapOverture Maps places (guide map points)

Where the map point comes from

Position: the USGS gauge HOT C A FLUME NR MAMMOTH LAKES CA.

The map shows USGS gauges (tap one for its flow reading), and shops and guides within 40 miles that publish a street address on their own website. Everyone else is in the lists below.

Regulations

About this

Seasons, limits, special regulations and closures for each reach are on the agency pages below. Read them before you go.

Official designation: Wild Trout Water

Each comes from the agency's own published list; where the list names a reach it is quoted. A designation applies to the listed reach, not necessarily the whole water. Listed in the finder under trout.

What the agency says about seasons (1 quote)

Quoted word for word from the agency page on the date shown. Many quotes name the reach they cover and apply only to that part of the water. Rules change; the linked page is the authority.

  • “The catch-and-release fisheries of the Upper Owens River above the Benton Bridge to Big Springs, the East Walker River below Bridgeport Reservoir, and Hot Creek, remain open year-round.”

    USDA Forest Service · read 2026-10-14

The water on the map

About this

Measured from the NHDPlus High Resolution (flowlines and waterbodies) (U.S. Geological Survey, read 2026-11-04) for this water’s own mapped feature. Rounded figures; they describe the channel, not today’s conditions.

Length
19.1 mi (16.6 in CA)
Drains
57.8 sq mi
Drop
1,246 ft · 65.2 ft/mi
Watershed
Crowley Lake

Public land along it

About this

Areas the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), public access (U.S. Geological Survey, Gap Analysis Project, read 2026-11-05) lists as owned or held in easement and open to the public, crossed by the mapped channel. Boundaries are mapped, not surveyed. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

11.5 of 16.6 mi on public land

  • Los Angeles Department of Water and PowerCity Land · 5.9 mi
  • Inyo National ForestForest Service · 5.4 mi
  • Bishop Field OfficeBureau of Land Management · 0.1 mi

Nothing on this page grants or implies access.

Guides and shops near Hot Creek

About this

Listings marked Unclaimed are built from open map records and the business's own website: confirm licensing, rates, dates and hours directly.

3 guides name it on their website

Guides

All California guides

2 shops nearby

All California shops

How these are chosen

Guides whose own website names this water come first, nearest first. After them, fly-focused guides within 40 miles whose website does not name it. Distances are straight-line.

Shops: fly shops first. A distance is shown when the shop’s website gives its location (within 60 miles); otherwise the shop is in one of the towns within 25 miles of the water.

Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories.

Species and hatches

About this

What 4 nearby guide websites mention: what guides advertise, not a survey or a promise of what you will catch.

Named on 4 nearby guide websites

  • Cutthroat trout2
  • Trout2
  • Brown trout1
  • Steelhead1

When the bugs come off

Regional hatch months: California
About this chart

12 hatches charted for the region, not measured on this water. From California Fly Fisher (secondary sources: an angling organisation or magazine, not an agency).

  1. January: no charted hatch
  2. February: no charted hatch
  3. March: no charted hatch
  4. April: 1 charted hatch
  5. May: 7 charted hatches
  6. June: 11 charted hatches
  7. July: 10 charted hatches
  8. August: 7 charted hatches
  9. September: 5 charted hatches
  10. October: 3 charted hatches
  11. November: 1 charted hatch
  12. December: no charted hatch

American grannom (April to September) · Golden stonefly (May to July) · Green drake (May to July) · Pale morning dun (May to August) · Saddle-case caddis (May to September) · Salmonfly (May to June) · and 6 more on the chart

How we put this together

Named by guides nearby (within 40 miles), counted from the species each guide lists on its own site. No agency page we hold lists species for this water.

Bishop & the Eastern Sierra

About this

Bishop lies in the Owens Valley on US 395 between Mammoth Lakes and Lone Pine, with the Owens River, Hot Creek, Crowley Lake and the East Walker River along the same highway.

Destination hub · 31 mi away in a straight line

Open the hubPlan a trip here

Gear checklist

About this

A practical checklist for fly fishing small mountain trout streams: a short 3–4 weight rod, light line, a few buoyant dries and simple wet-wading gear, with estimated prices and where to buy.

An angler stands on a boulder at the edge of a fast forest stream and fishes the run

Small mountain streams

7′6″–8′6″ rod, 3–4 weight, floating line · Brook, cutthroat, rainbow and brown trout

Open the checklist
Videos for this water (5)

Watch: reading a trout stream

About this

Seams, shelves and soft water, shown on real rivers.

Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.

  • How I Learned to Read Water (Fly Fishing)Embedded from YouTube · Mad River Outfitters · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • How To Read The Water with Tom RosenbauerEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Reading the Water to Successfully Locate TroutEmbedded from YouTube · Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on reading water

Watch: nymphing basics

About this

Indicator rigs, depth and detecting the take.

Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.

  • 90° Nymph RigEmbedded from YouTube · Huge Fly Fisherman · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Casting with an Indicator & Better Nymphing TechniquesEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on nymphing

Fish Tales

About this

Trip stories anglers chose to share publicly and tagged with Hot Creek.

No stories from here yet.

Write the first story Share your day

Sources for this page

Not a statement of access, fish presence or conditions.

Something wrong?

All 13 sources and dates

A water page organises discovery. It does not assert public access, legal access, current fish presence, guide availability or fishing conditions.

Flows, gauge statistics and flood stages come from USGS and the National Weather Service when the page is shown. Regulations, stocking, species and season statements link to the agency that publishes them; this page copies only the species names and the quoted sentences. Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories. Position: the USGS gauge HOT C A FLUME NR MAMMOTH LAKES CA. Water type is our own classification.