The Department of Natural Resources has stocked more than 23,000 rainbow trout in 12 counties for Saturday’s 6 a.m. inland stream trout season opener.
Anglers can keep five fish a day, except for those caught on Lake Michigan and its tributaries, as long as they are at least seven inches in length. Not more than one of these fish can be brown trout.
The rainbows stocked came from the Curtis Creek Trout Rearing Station in LaGrange County and those fish average 11 inches long.
Fishermen from Seymour will have to drive some to get in on trout fishing. Most of the trout have been stocked in the northern part of the state, but there are some sites reasonably close. Compared to other rainbow options in Alaska or the Rocky Mountains, these fish are easily accessible.
Some 750 rainbows were stocked in Spring Mill Lake about 50 miles from Seymour. It is 57 miles to Brookville Reservoir where rainbow and brown trout can be caught. Some 2,600 browns were stocked there and 1,500 rainbows.
Although trout stocking was completed, DNR postponed urban catfish stocking until September. Ordinarily, channel catfish between 14 and 18 inches long are deposited in 10 water bodies in city areas during the spring.