More than 316,000 catchable-sized trout – including nearly 7,500 in Waupaca County alone – are being stocked this spring in dozens of inland waters across Wisconsin.
Brook, brown and rainbow trout will be stocked in time for the Saturday, May 3, inland fishing season opener, weather permitting.
According to the state Department of Natural Resources, fish will be stocked in the following area waters:
• Waupaca County: Waupaca River (2,909 yearling and 400 adult browns, 200 adult rainbows); Mirror Lake (742 yearling rainbows); Crystal River (495 yearling rainbows); Skunk Lake (495 yearling rainbows); Bass Lake (1,237 yearling rainbows); Little Long Lake (495 yearling rainbows); and Pigeon River (495 yearling rainbows). The DNR will also stock 223 yearling brook trout in a Marathon County stretch of the Little Wolf River, which flows through Waupaca County.
• Waushara County: Spring Lake (1,455 yearling browns); and Redgranite Quarry (436 yearling browns).
• Portage County: Sunset Lake (1,485 yearling rainbows); Spring Lake (1,237 yearling rainbows); Thomas Lake (1,188 yearling rainbows); and Springville Pond (891 yearling rainbows).
• Outagamie County: Appleton Memorial Park Pond (99 yearling rainbows).
• Winnebago County: Unnamed pond (594 yearling rainbows); and unnamed pond (223 yearling brooks).
• Shawano County: Homme Pond (742 yearling rainbows); and Korth Lake (594 yearling rainbows).
“Continuing ice cover on lakes and difficult conditions at the lake access are delaying some of the planned stocking this year, but we’re still hoping to have everything done by the May 3 opener,” said David Giehtbrock, the DNR’s statewide fish production manager. “The upside is that while they wait to be stocked, these fish continue to grow bigger at our state fish hatcheries and will be ready for catching when conditions improve.”
DNR fisheries crews have been stocking trout raised at the Nevin, Osceola and St. Croix Falls state fish hatcheries. They’ve also been working with fishing club volunteers, students and others to help stock the fish raised under 21 cooperative rearing agreements with DNR.
More than 100,000 of the fish are headed for urban fishing waters, small lakes and ponds cooperatively managed with local municipalities and used as a place for fishing clinics and fishing opportunities for kids. Many of these waters have already been stocked.
The rest of the trout are stocked in waters where the habitat is marginal and there is no natural reproduction. They are a small subset of more than 13,000 miles of classified trout water and trout populations that have generally increased statewide over the last 60 years.
A list of waters receiving fish and how many were planned for stocking is now available on the DNR Web site, dnr.wi.gov.