About one hour away from Lakewood, at Mt. Baldy (North of Claremont/Upland) is an awesome place to take your kids for some trout fishing. It’s called Mt. Baldy Trout Pools.
This place is awesome for my “city” kids. Since it was their first time fishing, we wanted to make sure they were safe in an environment that we could “rescue” them if the need arose.
Once you park and go into the entrance, you either pay $1 to use your own fishing pole, or $2 for their fishing pole and bait. We opted for one of their fishing pole for our three kids. Since my 3 kids were all under the age of 9, one pole was enough. It was also a way to “expand” the fishing time, since we didn’t want so many fish. Any fish caught, must be taken (no throw backs) and you can’t use the net to fish.
Since the Trout Pool charged by the size of the fish and we only wanted each kid to catch one fish, we were rooting for the kids to miss the trout! There are two ponds open right now. Both are great. The one closest to the parking lot had the most fish, as well as the bigger ones. The lower one had more shade, but it was also more crowded. There are benches and tables around both ponds, so even parents, grandparents and friends could just sit and watch.
This place has everything included in your fishing price. They have plyers for you to use to take hook off, they even give you a hand towel to hold the fish, nets to catch the fish, and as much bait as you want. Yes, my kids ended up feeding the fish instead of catching them. The bait was like a dough mixture that you just ball up and put it on your hook. Hint to those who want to prolong the catching of the fish: if you do big balls of bait, the fish will be able to eat it, but won’t be easy to hook the fish.
Once you are done fishing (it can be as fast as a minute per bait and fish), you remember your bucket number and go to the shed and put it in line by the door. If you want trophy pictures with your catch, let them know and they’ll hook it onto a chain so that you can hold it and take pics. Once done, hand it back to them and they’ll clean them and put them on ice and a bag. They will call your bucket number once all cleaned and bagged.
Since we were planning on eating lunch afterwards, I went to Dollar Tree day before to get their Styrofoam cooler. I bought one for each kid and put some ice in it. It was perfect. We had 4 fish and only needed one of the coolers. That way, the fish won’t smell up your regular cooler and you can just recycle/toss it afterwards. If you don’t have them at your local Dollar Tree, get a trash can bag to line your regular cooler. That way, it’s an extra layer of protection.
Since we had 4 fish of varying lengths, it costs us $52, including the rental of the pole. We spent about 1.5 hours there. Not bad for a quick fishing expedition for us city folk.
Other amenities included, was a sink and soap to wash your hands, restroom and option to purchase snacks and drinks, as well as “duck food”. Yes, you can use the duck food for the fish. It was fun to watch them swarm all over the food.
For more info, please visit their web site: http://www.mtbaldytroutpools.com/
They are open most of the year on weekends, some weekdays during the summer.
They except most credit cards and cash, no American Express.
