Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
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Indiana’s Inland Trout Season Opens Saturday
DNR fisheries’ staffers have been busy in recent days stocking thousands of trout in preparation for the opening of inland stream trout season.
The season opens Saturday at 6 a.m. local time. By opening day, DNR will have stocked over 23,000 rainbow trout in 17 streams in 12 different counties. To find a stocked stream near you, see the 2020 Trout Stocking Plan at wildlife.IN.gov/5457.htm.
The stocked trout come from Curtis Creek Trout Rearing Station near Howe in LaGrange County and average roughly 11 inches in length.
Trout will bite on a variety of different artificial baits such as spinners and flies, but natural baits such as worms and bee moths tend to be the most popular. The bag limit for trout in inland waters, other than Lake Michigan and its tributaries, is five fish per day with a minimum size of 7 inches. No more than one of these can be a brown trout.
Any brown trout kept from the Whitewater River must be at least 18 inches in length.
Anglers 18 years and older will need an Indiana fishing license and a Trout/Salmon Stamp to fish for trout. Per Indiana Executive Order, 2019-20 annual licenses and stamps, including fishing licenses and Trout/Salmon Stamp Privileges, are valid until May 22, 2020.
Hoosiers should follow posted restrictions and practice social distancing while outdoors. For the most up-to-date information regarding DNR and COVID-19, visit on.IN.gov/dnrcovid19.
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Indiana waters of the St. Joseph River are full of steelhead.
During April alone - through last Thursday – 3,921 steelhead were counted passing through the South Bend Ladder, bringing the total since Jan. 1 to 10,589. That ranks second highest all-time spring run with two more weeks to go. If another 1,200 steelhead move up – which is quite possible – it will set an Indiana record.
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IDNR Report
Anglers and other interested parties can participate in two DNR public meetings, Jan. 30 and Feb. 1, to discuss the interim Lake Michigan fish stocking plan and provide input on future stocking plans.
Announced in October 2019, changes to the current plan included stocking more yearling coho salmon, fewer fall fingerling coho salmon, reductions in Skamania steelhead stocked in the Little Calumet River, and increases in Chinook salmon stocked.
The first meeting will start at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30, at Red Mill County Park, 0185 South Holmesville Road in LaPorte. The second meeting will start at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1, at the Indiana Harbor Yacht Club, 3301 Aldis Avenue in East Chicago.
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IDNR Report
The Indiana DNR stocked approximately 120,000 Michigan-strain steelhead into three Lake Michigan tributaries this week.
On Dec. 16, approximately 40,000 fish were stocked into the Little Calumet at Mineral Springs Road. On Dec. 17, another 40,000 were stocked into Trail Creek at Meer Road and Salt Creek at West County Road 600 North.
These fish measure approximately 4.25 inches and will stay in the streams until spring before migrating to Lake Michigan. Once there, the fish will spend two to three years in Lake Michigan and return to the streams they were stocked into to spawn.
Anglers should take care when fishing these areas if they catch undersized trout. These fish are under the legal size limit and are sensitive to being caught. If you are catching these fish, consider moving to a different area of the stream or try switching your method of fishing. These new fish are crucial to the continued existence of the fishery.
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By Louie Stout
When Lake Michigan fish managers decided to cut king salmon stockings a few years ago, it didn’t set well with a lot of trollers.
Who could blame them? There are a lot of cool fish stocked in Lake Michigan, but none gets bigger or puts up a better fight than kings.
But those big salmon are eating machines, and with the alewife population diminishing – coupled with evidence that the kings were reproducing naturally - fish scientists felt it was necessary to cut back on stocking numbers.
Well, if you look at what’s happened on the lake since the cutbacks, that decision may have been the right one.