It is a native to the west coast of North America from southern Alaska to Durango, Mexico and inland as far as central Alberta in Canada and Idaho and Nevada in the U.S. It has been extensively introduced across the lower Canadian provinces and throughout the area of the Great Lakes to the Atlantic coast, south in the Appalachians to nerthern Georgia and Alabama, east in the southern U.S. to western Texas and sporadically in the central U.S. as well as above the Great Lakes on the Atlantic Coast. It has been transplanted to New Zealand, Australia, South America, Africa, Japan, Europe and Hawaii. It is a fly fishermans delight as it takes a fly readily, leaps often, and fights hard. It is an excellent eating fish.