LINCOLN, Neb - As the weather cools off, the Nebraska Game and Parks in the midst of a yearly fall activity: stocking Nebraska’s lakes and ponds with catchable size Rainbow Trout.

“We stock these every spring and fall for the anglers to take advantage of"

Daryl Bauer, of the Nebraska Game and Parks fisheries division, has been a part of trout stocking activities for years.

With trout being a natural cold water fish, Game and Parks stocks in both the late fall and early spring. The goal of the stocking is to get people hooked on fishing. With the trout being more active in colder weather, it makes them easier to catch, while other species hunker down waiting on warmer days.

Therefore, it’s the perfect opportunity for a newbie to try out angling.

“We stock them in the spring and fall because that’s when the waters cold enough,” Bauer said. “Most of the fish are caught by anglers, but the ones that don’t, they don’t survive the summers so we stock again in the fall.”

The fish are raised on artificial feed in Game and Parks hatcheries for about a year, until they reach about 10 inches. Then, they’re transported to one of Nebraska’s many body of waters, like Holmes Lake in Lincoln, where 3,000 trout were released just last week. The trout are sent through a tube, right into the lake.

Anglers can catch the trout using a wide range of bait, using anything from live bait to corn to spoons and spinner baits. Bauer says, even traditionalist fly fisherman give it a shot.

“Fly anglers like to take advantage of it,” Bauer said. “They’ll feed on any number of fly patterns that imitate any of the aquatic insects you find on our waters. They’re raised on artificial feed, but they’ll quickly realize what a real insect looks and tastes like. The trout are available for a wide variety of anglers and we hope many come out and take advantage of them.”