Nebraskaland Magazine
It is October and that means it is time for our fall trout stockings. We have already started stocking the 10-inch, catchable-size, rainbow trout in urban and parks waters across the state. The schedule for those stockings is fluid depending on a lot of man-power and equipment logistics. I can tell you what has already been stocked, but the schedule I am about to give for the stockings yet to occur is tentative; it is the best of our knowledge at this time. I cannot tell you the exact day when the fish will be stocked in many cases. There are a couple of stockings scheduled where I will tell you the exact date and time, but keep in mind that is the plan right now and that can change if a hauling truck has a flat tire or something else happens. Also, the numbers quoted of the fish scheduled to be stocked are approximate. What actually is stocked will be very close to those numbers, but may not be exact.
Stockings that have already occurred
September 26, Crystal Cove in South Sioux City was stocked with 4,400 catchable-size trout.
September 30, Bessey Pit received 600 fish and Minnechaduza Creek in the Valentine City Park received 200.
October 2, Niobrara State Park Pond #2 received 700 trout.
October 7, Fremont Lake #2 received 4,000 catchable trout (an additional load of approximately 1,000 fish will be stocked in the next week or two).
October 8 and 9, Standing Bear in Omaha stocked with 7,000 rainbows. Barnett Park Pond in McCook received 1,000 fish and Elm Creek east of Red Cloud was stocked with 1,000 rainbows. The stilling basin below Harlan County Dam received 1,200.
Stockings scheduled
Sometime before this week is over, Century Link Pond at Mahoney State Park will receive 2,500 fish. The northwest pit at Bridgeport State Recreation Area (SRA) will receive 1,400 and Carter P. Johnson reservoir just northwest of Ft. Robinson will receive 2,500.
Next Week, week of October 14, TaHaZouka in Norfolk will receive 1,500 trout; Pawnee Park West in Columbus will receive 1,500. Heartwell Park in Hastings will be stocked with 900 catchable-size rainbows, and Such’s Pit in Grand Island will receive 1,300. Lake Halleck in Papillion will receive 1,200 trout, Weeping Water Pond will receive 1,500, Auburn Rotary Club Lake will receive 1,400 rainbows, and Steinhart Park Pond in Nebraska City will receive 1,200. Falls City Park Pond will receive 200 fish, Pawnee City Park Pond will receive 300 trout and Humboldt City Park Pond will receive 600 fish. The Grabel Ponds near Ft. Robinson will receive 2,400 rainbows and the White River southwest of the fort will receive 300. The Zoo Pond in Scottsbluff will receive 900 trout and the Morrill pits, 2,800. The city park pond in Lexington will be stocked with 750 trout while 1,200 will be headed to Ft. Kearny Pit #6 and another 600 will be stocked in Windmill Pit #2. The Holdrege City Lake will be stocked with 3,000 rainbows and the Oxford City Lake will receive 300.
October 19, Bowling Lake in northwest Lincoln is scheduled to receive 400 catchable-size rainbows, and if all goes according to plan, those fish will be stocked at high noon. At 1:00 p.m. the stocking truck will roll into Holmes Lake in Lincoln to stock 3,000 fish.
Week of October 21, Towl Park Pond in Omaha will receive 300, 10-inch rainbow trout and Hitchcock Park Pond also in Omaha will receive 450 fish. Benson Park Pond in Omaha will receive 1,050 fish. Also that week the Ansley Park Pond will receive 1,200 catchable-size trout and the Ord City Pond will receive 1,500. Fish will also be stocked in the Curtis Gold Course Pond, 150 rainbows, while 4,000 will be headed for Birdwood Wildlife Area lake just southwest of North Platte. Humphrey Pond in Ogallala will receive 900 catchable-size rainbows and Rock Creek Lake will be stocked with 2,000.
Sometime in late October, Grove Lake will receive 1,500 10-inch rainbows, and Lake Ogallala will receive at least 10,000 rainbows in October.
Sometime in November, the middle pond at Crystal Springs in Fairbury will receive 1,000 trout.
If you need them, here are some fishing tips and ideas on how to prepare these fish.
Although we raise and stock these catchable-size rainbow trout so folks can catch them and take ’em home (i.e. put-and-take), we are NOT stocking them so a bunch of experienced anglers can fill their and all their friend’s freezers with trout. If you are an experienced angler, to fish for these put-and-take trout, in my opinion, it should be MANDATORY that you take a kid or someone who has not been fishing. We are NOT stocking these fish for a bunch of experienced anglers to go and harvest their limit day after day. These rainbow trout that are being stocked are relatively easy to catch and are in waters easily-accessible to a lot of kids and beginning anglers; let us make sure those are the anglers who get the most enjoyment out of catching these fish!
