Mt Baldy Trout Pool

We love this place It is Beautiful up there. Just Limit the amount of Fishing Catch because they have to be paid for.
You can also buy and adventure pass for the hike to San Antonio Fall Right up the road.
Peace

Fun for the whole family! The pools here are clean and well stocked. The trout looks healthy, and are accustomed to being fed. The bait provided contains the same stuff they feed them with so expect a feeding frenzy when your bait hits the water. Pretty much a guaranteed catch. There is a huge trout in one of the pools that’s a lot smarter then the rest. They told me that people been trying to catch it for a long time. I’m going to catch it someday. A duck and fish food vending machine is provided for the kids. You have to keep and pay for all the fish you catch, so be careful, it can get expensive quick. The staff is friendly and they will clean and put your fish on ice. There are some mosquitos and biting flies last time I was up there, so bring your bug repellent.

Mt. Baldy Trout Pool is a fantastic place to get your rainbow trout fishing fix satisfied (particularly during trout off season) with a guaranteed catch and not needing to sit around in front of a lake all day for the possibility of getting skunked. It’s also a great place to take the family (especially kids), learn how to or to teach someone how to fish, practice fishing, test out new baits /​lures, etc. Trout price varies by length of the fish, so be ready to fork over $ 6 — $ 18 per trout. No fishing license needed. Definitely pricier than pay-​to-​fish lakes, like Irvine Lake or Santa Ana River Lake, or fishing at any open public streams /​lakes, where there’s a five catch limit. Here, your limit is how deep your pocket is. If you think about it, the price really flattens out at the end of the day — no need to buy fishing equipment, no need to hold a fishing license, no driving to a lake and then driving around said lake looking for spots, no boat rental or camping out all day for the possibility of getting skunked, no gutting and cleaning your own catch, etc. The trouts here are plump and tasty.
As far as entrance fees go, you pay $ 2 to use their provided poles (which is basically an older fly rod/​reel/​hook combo), or $ 1 if you bring your own. You can even share the pole. The entrance fee includes a towel, a net, a wad of dough bait and a bucket. Pliers to remove hook from your catch are chained to benches. After you are done with your catch, bring your bucket full of trouts to the cleaning station, grab a number and the staff will clean, gut and pack your trout in ice for you. Basically takes all the guess work and frustrations out of fishing. I brought the wife here one day to get her into fishing, we used garlic scented rainbow power eggs and she reeled in $ 75 worth of trouts literally one after another (which averages out to about $ 12.50 per fish). We were in and out after an hour with 6 trouts. She got hooked into fishing ever since (get it? hooked? hah ha…)
Only opens on Saturday and Sunday. Accepts cash and credit cards (Visa, MasterCard).

We brought our daughter here nearly 25 years ago, we came several times. It was expensive, but perfect when you don’t want to invest in all the equipment, and want a little one to have the fun of catching a fish. Can’t wait to bring our baby grandson!

I went here today with my husband and my 7 yr old son. We all love fishing. Yesterday, my son kept asking to go fishing so we went to Seal Beach pier. We got there at 5pm till 9 and caught nothing. Even all other people who were there earlier before us got none. My son was so disappointed, and you could see the sadness written all over his face. He even thought that maybe SeaWord took all of the fish and kept them. This made me laughing but then he was serious. Typical thought of an innocent boy I must say. Anyway, we came home and as soon as he fell asleep I searched over internet of places I can bring my family and can get a sure catch. And I found this. We woke up and I told them to get ready that we’re going fishing again but not mackerels and I told my son this time for sure he’s goin to get one and is a trout. His face light up with full of excitement. We brought our own fishing poles & stuff (I recommend). I also packed lunches just in case. When we got there, we paid the obligatory $ 1 for using our own pole. And $ 2 if you use theirs. So we paid only $ 2 for having our own 2 fishing rods. You can share rods! Baits are given free unlimited. It’s like a brown play dough in a small container. I asked and they said it’s home-​made. We were also given a bucket and a clean towel to clean your hands. Landing nets are provided free so as the pliers to remove fish from the hooks. We were told their main rule is No Catch and Release, whatever you get you need to keep and pay. I asked if I can bring our foods inside and the lady said yes, so as a mother, that’s a plus & I am happy. We ate before we go fishing. There is only one table with seats. Inside you can see one small pond and a bigger pond with so many trouts. There are plenty of bench to take a seat. Lots of shaded area. My son couldn’t wait already so we already prepared his pole with floater and put the dough bait. First few tries of throwing/​casting and he already get the hang of it. Great for first timers to learn. Trouts were very hungry. They always get the dough before he can catch them. Only less than 10 minutes he already caught his first fish and it was big! He loved the jumping and the fighting of the fish. He managed to learn how to reel it in on his own and we used the net to get the fish. The fish gives a good fight. We lost two of our hooks from reeling in. So make sure you have extra stuff to use. My husband caught 1 big one and we just let our son catch the others. You can get fish very fast using the dough so it will cost you a lot! We changed the bait and use the roboworm. They don’t bite it that much, so my son had so much fighting with the fish it gave him so much experience. My son caught 1 medium and 2 big fish. So we thought we’re good and that already is expensive. We brought our bucket, they put it on a little weighing scale 1 by 1. Cleaning is free. But we decided to tell them not to clean it. There’s 3 of them there. I think they’re family and they own the business. The old guy or the father kept insisting that he’s going to clean the inside and gave us attitude when we said we wanted to keep it that way and just put ice. It’s the reason I am only giving 4 stars. We paid $ 65.70 for total of 4 rainbow trout. Pretty pricey. But you can’t pay the fun it gives you & your family. It’s very relaxing place. Ice for the fish is provided free by the way. Mind you that they will be watching you. And if you get caught doing catch & release just like the one family there with us, they’re gonna come and get mad at you. It’ll get pretty expensive if you keep on catching so take your time and have fun! On top of that we get our meals for tonight’s Mayweather & Pacquiao’s fight hah! :]

I went to this trout pond with my family in January of 2015.
It was fun.
my 2 kids who tried fishing for the first time, they loved it.
You catch, they will clean the trout and pack for you

Great place to take kids for catching their first fish! Place is clean staff is helpful informative and extremely friendly! Great atmosphere and a fun drive through a beautiful location. You catch them they prep them and clean them and all you need to do is cook and enjoy the fish with family and friends.

Great place to get a kid hooked on fishing! Big trout. They are hungry and LOVE the power worm in white! Saw many parents gob on the given dough bait. No no no! You will limit out fast! So bring enough funds to cover your kids full buckets!

There are two trout ponds in LA (that I know of) and they are about as far away from each other as you can get, in more ways than distance. I’m in a positive mood today, so I will review the one I like, and I won’t name or say anything bad about Troutdale, the one I hate.
My son likes to fish, which means he likes me to pack up the car, the poles, the ice chest, the metal detector, the gold pan, and the trowel. We usually fish in the secret fish pond on top of the hill at XXXXXXX X XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX (sorry, Unilocal ruined Komasa for me, I am not making that mistake again) which means that a fishing trip consists of a five minute drive, a ten minute hike, ten minutes of digging for worms, and one minute of fishing before my kid loses patience and starts looking for handguns with the metal detector. So I end up doing the fishing, If I catch something, it’s either an overgrown goldfish, a turtle, or some mystery fish that looks like a cross between a coelacanth and an espadrille. Not eating material, but fun, when you catch it! And throw it back. (I am pretty sure I have been catching the same fish over and over again for a few years now. Not sure if the joke’s on it, or me…)
As awful as that sounds, it beats my previous trout pond experience, which started with a pile of cash, a 60 minute drive, some bamboo and fishing line, a couple of turbid, smelly ponds, and some corn. It ended with a bigger pile of cash, and some fish that didn’t taste all that great. (This was at Troutdale, the place I am not going to mention.)
This review is about as focused as a Richard Brautigan novel… sorry.
My son wanted to fish, and being the unemployed, godless atheist that I am, I had nothing much to do on Good Friday, so we packed up the car with the aforementioned accessories (and a spatula) and drove to Baldy.
I always forget just how close Baldy is. A just a few miles past that ridiculous bridge, and 8 miles up the hill, and there you are! We arrived at the trout pond, paid our dollar, and got some fish bait (it may have been Pla-​Doh), a clean bucket and a clean towel, and found a shady spot next to one of the two crystal clear ponds that were teeming with several varieties of ginormous fish. Even though we were a party of two, I wisely elected to use just one pole. If you’re taking the kids, prolong the magic and just get one reel.
Now you already know that my son has limited patience, but at the Baldy Trout Pond, the fish are hungry. REALLY hungry. You will get a nibble in 15 seconds, and a fish usually follows within the minute. In 15 minutes, we had two beautiful trout and (I think) a char. We separated the fish from the hook with one of the dozens of pairs of pliers conveniently chained to the fences around the facility. The super nice fellow at the counter cleaned the fish for us, packed ‘em in ice, gave us some extra fish bait and two plastic forks and sent us on our way for $ 40. That’s about ²⁄₃ of what you’d pay at Troutdale.
We drove up to the campgrounds near the Mt Baldy chairlifts and barbecued one of the fish along with some corn and wild mushrooms that I’d packed, (and only then did the kid bust out the metal detector!) We put all the food in the gold pan, and had the best mountain man lunch a dad and his kid could ever hope to eat with a plastic fork.
If you decide to barbecue like I did, be smart like me and get a free campfire permit from Ranger Karen at the visitor center in Baldy village. This will save you the discomfort of being inspected by a helicopter and then arrested in front of your family like the father of the group in the next campsite.
Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.
On the way home, we stopped at the pond again to catch one more fish. And we didn’t even need to pay the dollar!

Took the little ones today for the first time. The trout were hungry and easy for the kids to catch, even on the basic equipment provided. Some people here are complaining about the price of the fish, but come on. If you want to buy cheap fish, go to the fish market. This place is about a fun experience for those with kids. We paid less than $ 50, had a blast, and walked out with five good-​sized trout. Watching the kids get excited every time they hooked a fish was well worth the price paid. On top of that, we’ll get a couple of meals out of it. Highly recommended to those with children under 10 years old.

The trouts here are hungry! i used all kinds of trout bait i have, and everytime we made a cast, we catch trout. We used 2# test with loose drag to play with the trout, hoping we’ll lose the fish, but no luck. The fish gives a good fight though, and one even went up 4 ft airborne. It is a fun outing, but expensive since the fish are big here!

Totally fun family time! You don’t need much skill to fish in a trout pond full of fish!!! But it’s priceless to see the little kid’s face light up when they caught a fish!!! Will definitely go back again!

Fun time! You get in for 2 bucks and only pay more if you catch a fish… which you will in 10 minutes or so. The pole they give you is cheap and does not cast but it works for these stocked ponds. Everyone was having a great time, kids and families all laughing and catching trout.

I chose this facility to introduce my 3.5 year-​old daughter to fishing AND catching fish (we did the fish– and-​no-​catching at a rather lame event at a local lake). I brought my 88-​year-​old dad, who is physically unable to do much more than this level of outdoor activity.
In brief, this is a perfect location to bring the very young and very old together and have fun fishing. The pools are located just up the road from the surprisingly picturesque hamlet of Mount Baldy. The facility has plenty of parking, but the gates were locked until opening at 9:00 am. There is a nice looking mountain creek across the road and generally pleasant surroundings.
The employees opened the facility promptly and we were the first ones in the door. We brought our own poles (which I highly recommend) and paid the obligatory dollar for the right to fish. Bait was provided free. I did not bring hooks, but purchased them and a bobber for a very small amount of money. We were also provided with a large bucket and clean rag to clean our hands with. Landing nets were available for free, as were pliers to remove hooks.
We had access to two pools, one large on in the sun and a smaller one that was more shaded. The water in both was clear and cold, as it needs to be for trout. A large number of medium to large rainbow trout were visible in the larger pool. I attached a hook, sinker and bobber on my daughter’s Barbie fishing pole’s line ($ 2.99 on clearance at Target) and we started fishing.
As a fisherman with lots of experience catching wild and planted-​in-​the-​wild trout, I was surprised by the sophistication of the trout in the pools. This was not their first rodeo and they were adept at stealing the doughy bait without getting hooked. I suppose watching your colleagues disappear one-​by-​one into the great beyond focused their small minds. Slack lines, delayed hook setting and inattention results in lots of opportunities to practice hook baiting. We eventually landed four medium to large trout. My daughter loved their fighting and jumping, and also using the landing net. My dad loved watching her. Good times.
More folks showed up while we were fishing. When I saw the extraordinarily lame rental equipment they were issued, I almost fell down laughing. Ancient spin-​casting poles with battered fly-​fishing reels equipped with equally ancient braided line. Old corks appeared to be the bobber material. This gear was nearly impossible to cast with (probably intentionally) and was not very effective at catching fish in the same area and at the same time my daughter was pulling in fish after fish with her $ 2.99 Barbie pole.
When we were finished fishing and sitting on a bench giving my daughter a snack, I observed a woman gamely struggling to show two young boys how to use the Frankenstein rental equipment, and fishing in general, and stepped into help. We caught one fish with one of these poles, but I finally went to the car, retrieved one of our poles and provided both boys with instruction on casting to, and eventually catching, fish. They were happy and so was I.
Recommendations: Bring your own pole. A cheap Barbie, Snoopy or GI Joe pole is fine. Check Target, Big 5 or Wal-​Mart. I also suggest a buying a few small bobbers (1.5″ diameter), a package of snelled No. 6 hooks, a package of split shot weights, nail clippers and a pair of hemostats to use when removing the hook from the fish. If you can, bring someone who knows the basics of fishing (casting and reeling in, how to attach a hook to line, and how to remove a hook from a fish). Having someone beside you with even basic knowledge will really improve everyone’s enjoyment. It would be nice if there was someone from the facility to help, but I did not see anyone stepping up.
Final notes. The web site states they are open Friday — Monday in July and August, but the sign in front said Saturday and Sunday only. I’d call first. The staff was friendly and did a good job of cleaning and packaging the trout for the trip home. Restrooms on site. Not cheap, but worth it and we will be back.

I’ve been wanting to introduce my son to fishing but have been trying to find somewhere for him to go where he probably wouldn’t end up disappointed. I didn’t want him to get skunked his first time out and never want to try it again. When I heard about the Mt Baldy Trout Pool, I knew we had to check it out. We made it a day trip and paid the $ 2 to use their pole and within an hour, he caught 16 inch trout. Sure, it ended up being expensive. Between the fish and the pole, we spent $ 18, but the happiness and excitement on my son’s face made it well worth it. He says he’d like to go back but always really wants to try «real» fishing somewhere else even though he knows he’s less likely to catch a fish. He was so excited to take his fish and show it to grandma and grandpa on the way home. It even made a pretty tasty late lunch for us that day once we got home.

Been coming here for years and love it. Kids these days don’t have the patience to sit around for 8 hours and maybe catch nothing (oh that’s me too). My dad use to take me to a trout farm in west covina, and those are the most memorable times from my childhood. Yeah it’s expensive, but if you include not having to buy a bunch of fishing gear, licenses, driving to a good spot, it kinda of evens out. The fish are actually really nice specimens, and taste great.

They were pretty rude to me there. For the price of the fish, they should be a little nicer to their patrons. I wouldn’t recommend driving super far unless you don’t mind spending an arm and a leg on fish and risking some snappy people.

Went 3÷12÷2011. Took a four year old girl and seven year old boy.
After giving them basic instructions they took over, she baiting the
hooks and the net, he just fishing. I was amazed by the learning
curve of the girl. They caught 11 fish, three large and eight smaller
rainbows. The employees cleaned the fish. I estimate the two
bags of fish at 15 lbs. Everyone had a good time. An entirely
positive experience.

this place is a place to bring lik young children so they could fish and get for sure catch
it adds up quick… it seems lik they starve the fishes so once u throw ur line in with the bait u got a catch… they charge buy the length
but they provide you with everything wen u rent the pole from them ONLY $ 2 and $ 1 to use you own pole
it comes with the pole bait bucket net, they also clean it for you n pack it in ice, you could also share poles
fishes are range from $ 6-​$ 18
only thing is you cant throw the fishes bak… you MUST keep and pay for fishes caught
we caught 6 fishes for a total of bout $ 70 sumthing $$$
it was a nice experience for first timers… you also could hike there bike ride, eat at the restaurants n go skiing