How to read California's trout planting schedule
CDFW publishes a Fish Planting Schedule, and this site copies it into pages for each water, county and region. Here is what each part of it means. Every entry is scheduled, not confirmed (see scheduled vs. confirmed).
Where the schedule comes from
CDFW describes its Fish Planting Schedule as “updated in real time, directly by CDFW Hatchery staff.” This site reads that page once a day; it last did so 2026-10-22 13:32 UTC, when CDFW's current week was the week of 2026-10-18. The support page and the about page say more.
Dates are weeks
Every date on this site is a week, Sunday through Saturday, written as “week of” its Sunday. CDFW does not give a day. Its page says why: “More specific dates are not given to avoid focusing excess fishing activity immediately after a plant.” Calendar feeds from this site span the whole week for the same reason.
What a row tells you
A row names a water, the county or counties CDFW files it under, and a species. 388 waters are in this site's record. A water that CDFW files under more than one county appears on each county's page. To see rows, start with this week, statewide or pick a county. Rows can also be read by species: California trout stocking schedule, California catfish stocking schedule.
CDFW regions
CDFW's schedule lets you filter by its six regions: Northern (R1), North Central (R2), Bay Delta (R3), Central (R4), South Coast (R5) and Inland Deserts (R6). This site has a page for each region that has a water on the schedule:
- Northern Region (R1) (9 counties)
- North Central Region (R2) (14 counties)
- Bay Delta Region (R3) (9 counties)
- Central Region (R4) (10 counties)
- South Coast Region (R5) (4 counties)
- Inland Deserts Region (R6) (4 counties)
What a blank week means
If a water is not on the schedule for a week, no plant is scheduled for it that week, not that there are no fish. Each water page says so in similar words when nothing is current.
How far back it goes
CDFW's page says it shows “the current week, one week in the future, and six months in the past.” This site keeps the weeks it has recorded, the earliest being the week of 2025-09-14, so a water page can list more weeks than CDFW's page does today. A week marked “Schedule changed” is one CDFW listed and later removed.
Map locations
CDFW notes that the map markers on its schedule show the general location of a water, not the exact or sole planting locations. Treat any map of a water the same way: it says roughly where the water is, not where fish are delivered. This site takes locations from federal data, described under water locations.
Questions about a plant
CDFW's page asks that questions about fish planting go to the regional office that covers the area. It lists a number for each region. This site cannot answer them; it has no source beyond the schedule.
Keep reading
Sources
Quotations are from CDFW's Fish Planting Schedule, fetched and read on 2026-10-21. Counts and dates come from this site's own record. This site is independent and is not affiliated with CDFW.