What is a trout plant?
A plant is a delivery of catchable-size fish from a CDFW hatchery to a water. The schedule this site mirrors lists which waters CDFW plans to plant in which week.
What the words mean
CDFW's Fish Planting Schedule says the waters on it “will be restocked with catchable-size fish from CDFW hatcheries,” conditions permitting. CDFW calls the schedule a planting schedule and links a provisional stocking document from it, so “plant” and “stocking” are used for the same activity. This site says “scheduled” for every listing because a listing is a plan (see scheduled vs. confirmed).
The name Trout Truck comes from what anglers call the hatchery truck that delivers planted trout. The site shows CDFW's weekly schedule, not where any truck is right now.
The names people use for plants
CDFW is the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the name shown in the header of its home page. Its Fish Planting Schedule is the schedule this site mirrors.
- Plant, planting and stocking name the same activity here: CDFW calls the schedule a planting schedule, links a provisional stocking document from it, and says the listed waters “will be restocked” (quoted above). A plant is one scheduled delivery to one water.
- Hatchery trout are the fish in those deliveries. In CDFW's words they are “catchable-size fish from CDFW hatcheries.”
To see which waters have a plant scheduled this week, go to the weekly schedule.
The limits CDFW sets for trout
CDFW's page on temperature and flow criteria for planting catchable trout says, in summary:
- Streams: catchable trout are not planted when water temperatures reach 75°F and are expected to keep reaching it, or when flows drop below 10 cfs. Streams with flows between 2 and 10 cfs may be planted if temperatures do not exceed 70°F and other conditions are satisfactory. None are planted until afternoon temperatures reach 45°F or higher most days. Planting is discontinued if shallow water, lack of pools, algae growth or poor water quality make a stream unsuitable.
- Lakes and reservoirs: not planted after surface temperatures reach 78°F and are expected to keep reaching it, or after a die-off is attributed in whole or part to low oxygen, and not until afternoon temperatures reach 42°F or higher most days. Planting may be suspended in reservoirs during spill. It is discontinued if algae blooms, weed growth, turbidity or alkalinity make a lake unsuitable.
These criteria are for catchable trout. This site has not read a CDFW criteria page for any other species.
Species on this site
Nearly every water on the schedule is trout; catfish are occasional. Each species has a page: California trout stocking schedule, California catfish stocking schedule.
Where plants are scheduled
388 waters are in this site's record, across 50 counties. Browse by county, or by CDFW region: Northern Region (R1), North Central Region (R2), Bay Delta Region (R3), Central Region (R4), South Coast Region (R5), Inland Deserts Region (R6).
Keep reading
Sources
Quotations and criteria are from CDFW's Fish Planting Schedule and Temperature and Flow Criteria for Planting Catchable Trout, both fetched and read on 2026-10-21. Counts come from this site's own record. This site is independent and is not affiliated with CDFW.