Family-Outdoors

North Dakota Game and Fish Department fisheries personnel will stock a record number of walleye lakes in the coming weeks. Fisheries production and development supervisor Jerry Weigel said 130 waters are scheduled to receive a share of 9 million fingerlings.  “We need every available pond at Garrison Dam and Valley City fish hatcheries to meet a 9 million walleye fingerling request,” Weigel said. The growth of walleye lakes, according to Weigel, is directly correlated to the rapid increase in the number of public fishing waters in the state. “We now manage about 420 waters and 346,000 acres, excluding the Missouri River System,” Weigel said. “In the last five years alone we have stocked more than 48 million walleye fingerlings in the state, in addition to salmon, trout, pike, bass and panfish.” Department personnel spent an additional three weeks of spawning efforts to meet this year’s record production. In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...

Nearly 330,000 catchable size trout are being stocked in dozens of inland trout waters across Wisconsin before the May 4 inland fishing season opener. A list of waters receiving fish and how many were planned for stocking is now available online. Go to the Department of Natural Resources website, dnr.wi.gov, and search keyword “ fishing ,” and click on the  trout stocking  feature in the center of the page. Becky Walters, a DNR fisheries technician from the St. Croix Falls Fish Hatchery, stocks domestic brook trout into Arkansaw Creek in Pepin County. About 200 yearling fish, averaging 9.5 inches, were stocked April 4. WDNR Photo “Cold weather has delayed some of the stocking this year but we still plan to have everything done by the May 4 opener,” says David Giehtbrock, DNR statewide fish production manager. DNR fisheries crews have been stocking rainbow, brown, and brook trout raised at Nevin, Osceola and St Croix Falls state fish hatcheries. They've also been wo...

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department will stock approximately 15,000 trout below Ft. Randall Dam. If weather permits, the first stocking of trout in the boat basin below Ft. Randall Dam will occur on Friday, March 15. “About 7,500 trout will be released on March 15 with the remaining 7,500 arriving on March 22,” Jason Sorensen, GFP Fisheries Biologist in Chamberlain said. Trout are stocked annually below Ft. Randall Dam to provide a unique fishing opportunity in addition to other excellent fishing opportunities available in the area. Crews from McNenny State Fish Hatchery in Spearfish will stock brown trout and two strains of rainbow trout below Ft. Randall Dam. “There are 5,000 each of brown trout, Shasta strain rainbow trout and McConaughy strain rainbow trout scheduled to be stocked below Ft. Randall Dam,” Sorensen said. One strain of rainbow trout has been marked with a fin clip to aid in differentiating them. An on-going research proj...

Trout season is in full swing, providing great winter fishing fun PRATT – The Kansas state record rainbow trout weighed 15.43 pounds. That’s not a typo; the official state record really weighed more than 15 pounds. Nicole Wilson caught it last March while fishing at Lake Shawnee in Topeka. Kansas trout fishing is a wintertime activity. With one exception, the cold-water fish won’t survive a Kansas summer, but they do fine when stocked from November-April. There is a strip-mined lake on the Mined Land Wildlife Area in Cherokee County where cool spring flows allow trout to survive year-round. All other Kansas trout waters are stocked periodically throughout the trout season, Nov. 1-April 15, 2013. Trout fishing is a great way to get out of the house on a warm winter day and enjoy some fishing. If you’re 16 or older, you’ll need a Trout Permit, which is $12.50 and valid through the calendar year. All resident anglers 16-75 (anglers 65-74 need a fishing license be...

Stream (Photo credit: audreyjm529 ) Decorah – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has temporarily suspended its regular trout stocking on five streams due to stream temperatures ranging between 70 degrees and the low 80s. The DNR is temporarily not stocking trout at Bohemian Creek, in Winneshiek County, Turtle Creek and Spring Creek, in Mitchell County, Twin Bridges, in Delaware County, and Upper Swiss Valley, in Dubuque County. Streams will be evaluated weekly to determine if the suspension will be lifted. “We need to have either the weather cool off or get some precipitation to increase stream flows which should help stream temperatures to decrease,” said Brian Malaise, hatchery manager at the Decorah trout hatchery. The fish coming from the trout hatcheries are in 50 to 56 degree water. “The trout stocked earlier in the year in those streams have become acclimated to the warmer water and can find springs with cooler temperatures, but trout being taken...

Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota, near Garrison Dam (Photo credit: Wikipedia) North Dakota Game and Fish Department fisheries personnel, along with staff from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fish hatcheries, recently completed stocking 9.8 million walleye fingerlings in 113 lakes across the state. Jerry Weigel, fisheries production and development section leader for the Game and Fish Department, said this year’s walleye goal required exceptional production from nearly every hatchery pond in the state. “Overall, we were able to meet every request with Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery contributing 8.7 million fingerlings and Valley City National Fish Hatchery 1.1 million fingerlings. On average the fish were some of the largest in recent years,” Weigel said. Stocking goals for each water body can differ depending on need. Some of the notable stockings include: Lake Sakakawea – 4 million; Stump Lake – 577,000; Lake Darling – 450,000; Devils Lake – 367,000; Hea...

English: (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) MANCHESTER  – More than 350,000 rainbow and brook trout will be heading to streams in 12 northeast Iowa counties over the next six months when the Department of Natural Resources begins its weekly stocking runs on Monday. The three trout hatcheries – Decorah, Big Spring and Manchester – spend one and a half years to grow the fish to stocking size of one-half pound.  “Our stocking trucks will be going to different streams each day until the end of September when the announced stocking period ends,” said Mike Steuck, supervisor for fisheries in northeast Iowa. Trout will be stocked through October, but when and where is not announced. Many anglers have already been out pursuing trout that spent all winter in the streams eating bugs and sharpening their survival skills making them more difficult to catch. For the angler who is more novice than expert, Steuck said the key is to use light line and small tackle and to try to bl...