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Fall Trout Stockings 2014

I have had a lot of phone calls, e-mails and messages asking about our fall trout stockings, and I have been telling folks that when we knew we would let everyone else know.  Well, here it is!

First a “disclaimer” or two:  The schedule for these stockings depends on a lot of man-power, fish, and equipment logistics.  There are 52 water bodies in the list that follows, 75-some thousand catchable-size rainbow trout, and personnel and equipment from at least two fish hatcheries, Grove and Rock Creek , involved in these stockings.  The schedule that follows is exactly what is planned, but occasionally things go wrong, and then schedule adjustments have to be made.  Most of the time though, we get these fish stocked exactly when we say they will be stocked.

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Here is the list:

 Stocking Date Location Number Comments
1-Oct. Bessey Pond 600  Halsey
Crystal Cove 4,500 South Sioux City
2-Oct. Fremont #2 4,000
Bridgeport N.W. Lake 1,400
Grabel ponds 1, 2, 3 800/pond  Ft. Robinson State Park
6-Oct. Niobrara State Park Pond 2 750
Standing Bear 3,750  Omaha
7-Oct. Holmes 3,000  Lincoln
Bowling 400  Lincoln
Lake Carter P. Johnson 2,500  Ft. Robinson State Park
8-Oct. Pawnee Park West 1,500 Columbus
Ta-Ha-Zouka Park Lake 1,500 Norfolk
Lake Ogallala 3,500
Humphrey Pond 900 Ogallala
13-Oct. David City Park Pond West 600
14-Oct. Lake Halleck 1,200 Papillion
Weeping Water 1,500
South Morrill Pond 400
Middle Morrill Pond 450
North Morrill Pond 1,350
Scottsbluff Zoo Pond 900
15-Oct. Independence Landing 600 Seward
Standing Bear 3,750  Omaha
Lake Ogallala 4,000
16-Oct. Benson Lake 1,050 Omaha
Century Link Lake 1,500 Mahoney State Park
Harlan Stilling Basin 1,200
Windmill #2 600
Fort Kearney #6 1,200
17-Oct. Grove Lake 1,500
20-Oct. Fremont #2 1,000
Oxford City Lake 300  George Mitchell Park
Holdrege City Lake 3,000  North Park
21-Oct. Grand Island Such’s Lake 1,300
Heartwell Park 900 Hastings
Towl Lake 300 Omaha
Hitchcock Lake 450 Omaha
Barnett Park Lake North 300 McCook
Melham Park 1,500 Broken Bow
Plum Creek Park 750 Lexington
22-Oct. Auburn Fairgrounds Lake 800
Steinhart Park 1,200 Nebraska City
Stanton Lake 600 Falls City
Pawnee City Lake 300
Humbolt City Park Lake 600
Auble Pond 1,500  Ord
Ansley City Lake 1,500
Lake Ogallala 2,500
23-Oct. Birdwood Lake 4,000 I-80 lake west of N. Platte
Curtis Golf Course Pond 150 Curtis

A big reason we stock the catchable-size rainbows is that they are relatively easy to catch.  They are cold-water fish and as the waters begin to cool, they will remain a lot easier to catch than some of our warm-water species.  If you need some ideas on how to catch these put & take rainbow trout, you can find them HERE.

Each species of fish may be best enjoyed by preparing them in different ways.  When I decide to harvest some trout, I do nothing more than field dress them, and then I prefer to smoke ’em, What’s To Eat.  They are also good if you put some butter in the body cavity, some rosemary and lemon juice and then wrap the trout in foil and put it on the grill for awhile.  You will know it is done when the meat flakes easily from the bones and skin.  If you want an idea on frying them, my buddy Greg Wagner has one HERE.

Yes, we raise and stock these catchable-size rainbow trout so folks can catch them and take ’em home; that is why they are called “put-and-take” stockings.  However, we are NOT in the business of providing fish so folks can fill their and all their friend’s freezers with trout.  We are in the adventure supply business.  Chances are good that these catchable-size rainbows are being stocked in a water body near you.  If you are an experienced angler, please find a beginner, a kid, and take ’em fishing, get them hooked on a trout!

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About daryl bauer

Daryl is a lifelong resident of Nebraska (except for a couple of years spent going to graduate school in South Dakota). He has been employed as a fisheries biologist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for 25 years, and his current tour of duty is as the fisheries outreach program manager. Daryl loves to share his educational knowledge and is an avid multi-species angler. He holds more than 120 Nebraska Master Angler Awards for 14 different species and holds more than 30 In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards for eight different species. He loves to talk fishing and answer questions about fishing in Nebraska, be sure to check out his blog at outdoornebraska.org.

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