NGPC in midst of fall trout stocking
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is in the midst of their fall trout stocking.
By News Channel NebraskaLINCOLN - The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is in the midst of their fall trout stocking.
On Tuesday afternoon in Lincoln, they unloaded and stocked 3,000 Rainbow Trout at Holmes Lake and they’ll do the same at nearly seventy lakes across the Cornhusker state.
“It’s fall and finally the water’s cooled down enough that we’e been stocking our catchable 10” Rainbow Trout,” Daryl Bauer said. “We do that stocking every fall in urban and parks waters literally from one end of the state to the other.”
Daryl Bauer is the fisheries outreach program manager for Game and Parks and has participated in the stocking for years. Bauer says 68 ponds or lakes will have trout stocked with the amount of fish depending on the size of the waterway. The purpose behind the stocking, is to simply keep up quality fishing in the cooler months before the water freezes over and to jeep up interest in the sport.
“The trout are relatively easy to catch, especially as the water gets colder… Other fish will become more and more difficult to catch, but the trout will still be very catchable,” Bauer said. “We want them in these parks areas where the kids can come out and catch fish, because we want to get them hooked on fishing.”
On Tuesday, fish were brought down from the Calamus fish hatchery to Lincoln and then unloaded by a thousand at a time. After a few minutes of acclimation, those fishing on the banks already felt trout tight on their line. Bauer explained a bit more about the stocking process.
“We do not spawn our own trout. We get our eggs from our neighboring states to the west,” Bauer said. “We raise them at our state fish hatcheries, it takes them about a year to grow to about the 10” size so these fish are about a year old that we’re stocking right now."
Bauer says one of the nice parts about fishing for the trout, is the relative ease in reeling one in.
“My biggest tip for catching these fish, if you aren’t catching them on one bait, throw something else,” Bauer said. “Marshmallows, corn, worms, spinners, they’ll hit them all!”