The Iowa DNR is keeping an eye on the weather as it prepares for its annual spring trout stocking. Trout are a cool water fish naturally found in northeast Iowa streams and the DNR’s Mike Siepker says the unseasonably warm weather may bring up water temperatures in urban ponds and lake.
Siepker says they started the urban stocking program to introduce people to trout fishing.
Siepker is the Northeast Iowa Region Fisheries Supervisor, where he oversees the hatcheries that produce the trout.
The stocking size for trout is usually ten to 12 inches. Siepker says the ultimate goal is to get people interested in trout fishing and some may end up taking a trip to northeast Iowa to catch the trout in their natural stream habitat. The stocking starts April 19th, and there is a list of locations on the Iowa D-N-R website. Siepker says you don’t have to be there when the trout are released into the water to catch one.
You do need an Iowa fishing license and trout stamp to take the trout from the lakes and ponds. They plan to stock one to two-thousand trout in nine different lakes.
