Wild factor • 4
Trout rating • n/a
Fish caught • 2
Fishing season • For the stretch west of Highway 1, Dec. 1 through March 7, on certain days of the week. Trout fishing east of the bridge is open from the last Saturday in April through Nov. 15.
Directions • Salmon Creek crosses Highway 1 in Monterey County 47 miles south of Big Sur State Park and 23 miles north of San Simeon.
Like Villa Creek, no one has nominated Salmon Creek for wild and scenic status, but not for lack of beauty. A short trail leads to a split waterfall on the creek near its crossing with Highway 1. Below the falls, which serves as a boundary between anadromous and potamodromous rainbows, the stream continues to cascade through large boulders in a steep ravine to the ocean. The steelhead here were also affected by black spot, but not as severely.
I hacked my way to the ocean on the north side, then fished upstream. Slipping off a rock, I fell backward into a pool and drowned my camera. My picture-taking might be on hold for a while ...
