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CALIFORNIA TROUT & STEELHEAD.

FAMILY-GROWN SINCE 1949.

California Trout
& Steelhead

Rainbow trout and steelhead are America’s fish, one of the few fish raised both domestically and in the wild, indigenous to the streams and lakes of California. We want our fish to develop as closely to California’s wild trout as possible. So we bred them to be that way by patiently applying trial and error until we arrived at a fish that thrives in our natural, mountain environment. Our Mt Lassen California Trout & Steelhead have been supplied to lakes and recreational fishing programs around California for most of our existence because fishermen love our wild-looking fish. And chefs love that our fish arrive in their kitchens in as little as 24 hours out of water. California’s local trout and steelhead producer.

Family Owned,
Established in 1949

Family and heritage are two important things to know about. Our trout and steelhead operation has been in existence since 1949, almost 75 years. 50 years ago, Phil Mackey started working here. Phil’s love of the natural world and his curiosity led to the breeding of the unique, Mt. Lassen trout. Phil strived for perfection – but he knew perfection was an unreachable goal. Refinement, improvement was possible. His daughter Katie grew up on the same farm, watching what it took to keep those fish thriving and improving. Now she runs the farm and her daughters get to grow up seeing what it means to nurture and rear these unique animals we call the Mt. Lassen Trout & Steelhead.

Breeding

No one else in the world has this strain of fish. Each generation we take the top performers, the best of the best. And having done that for so long, what we have done, is we have created a fish that thrives in this environment.

Every fish we raise to maturity is an offspring of our own broodstock. Hardy fish that produce other hardy fish.

Those broodstock are an offspring of their ancestors. And those original generations were chosen because they were the top performers. Every fish was selected to thrive in this environment. It’s a more muscular, more vigorous, more wild looking fish.

Mt Lassen Water

Water is pretty much everything here. You can go for miles and miles around here and there’s no water and then all of a sudden, coming out of a lava tube is 4,000 gallons a minute of spring water just gushing out of the ground. These fish are raised in a higher velocity of water than most any other place around. It’s creating a more muscular, a more vigorous fish.

We figured out a while ago that they weren’t making any more of these springs. So we had the foresight to go out and identify many of these springs around the base of Mt Lassen and establish ourselves on many of these sites. It’s pure mountain spring water, it’s a unique, high mineral content, water chemistry we have, filtered through Mt. Lassen’s volcanic soil. Having seen different fish hatcheries we can’t think of a better place to raise fish.

California’s Local Fish Producer

For us California isn’t Hollywood and beaches, it’s the advantage of being located in America’s breadbasket and being the local trout producer for great chefs around the state – from San Diego and Los Angeles to Silicon Valley, The Bay, Sacramento and the Central Valley. Our fish is in kitchens within a day or two after leaving its mountain spring water. Our trout is California-grown.

Products (H&G/Fillet)

We produce two products, that’s it. Whole, head on, gutted fish. Skin on, pin boned fillets.

Head on Gutted Whole Fish: For the chef who wants to see the whole animal, who wants to see what 3 years of rearing looks like and wants to butcher her own fish, we provide head on gutted whole fish.

For those chefs who want their trout and steelhead to be pan or grill ready, we provide skin on fillets with the pin bones removed.

We are Seafood Watch Green Rated

Earthen ponds and raceways for trout and steelhead in California are Best Choice/Green Rated by Seafood Watch.