Early trout season opens March 6

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Early trout season opens March 6

MADISON  Trout anglers will find new maps, loosened tackle regulations, and dozens of new trout waters when the early trout season opens March 6.

The 2010 catch-and-release season begins at 5 a.m. with several changes over recent seasons:

    * Anglers are not required to use barbless hooks. Artificial lures and flies are still required.
    * Wisconsin's official list of classified trout streams has been updated and contains 58 more streams that have been classified as trout waters since 2002. Most of those 260 miles are found in west central and southern Wisconsin counties and will be open for the early season.
    * New online maps and interactive maps will make all of the trout waters easier to find and provide other information to increase anglers success.

It should be a good season, says Larry Claggett, Department of Natural Resources trout specialist. Trout populations have recovered from the floods of 2007 and 2008, weve identified new trout waters for anglers to try, and our new maps should make it easier to get to trout waters once the snow melts.

If the snow covering much of Wisconsin as of mid-February hangs around, access to some streams will be more difficult for the opener. But the cold, snowy winter is good for the trout, replenishing the groundwater that feeds the streams with the cold, clean water the trout need.

An estimated 230,000 anglers fish for trout, based on sales of inland license stamps, with a smaller proportion fishing the early season, Claggett says. Across both the early season and the regular inland season, trout anglers caught an estimated 1.6 million trout in 2006-07, according to results from a mail survey of anglers during that calendar year.

Regulations

The season opens 5 a.m. on March 6 and runs until midnight April 25, when there is a week rest before the regular season opens. The early season is catch-and-release. Only artificial lures and flies are allowed, but new this year, barbless hooks are not required.

Most trout streams are open to early fishing with the exception of most Lake Superior tributaries and most streams in northeast Wisconsin; check the current trout fishing Regulations pamphlet for specific waters.
http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/regulations/


New trout waters identified

Wisconsin's official list of classified trout streams has been updated and is available online through the DNR Web site.
http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/species/trout/streammaps.html

The county lists are available as well as printable maps in either black and white or color. The county-level maps make finding precise access points a whole lot easier. The online offerings also take anglers to interactive maps where users can customize the maps with whatever information you want, including type of ground cover and the location of structures, which could come in handy for knocking on doors to ask permission to cross private property and access remote stretch of water.

Crawford County has 12 of the 58 newly identified streams, followed by Barron County with ten and Monroe County with eight.

Dave Vetrano, longtime fisheries biologist for the area including Monroe, Crawford, La Crosse and Vernon counties, says the new round of upgrades brings the miles of trout water in those counties to more than 1,000, up from the 654 miles of trout water listed in the 1980 version of the Wisconsin Trout Streams book.

Improved habitat leads to increased natural reproduction

Improved land use is probably the biggest reason for the increase in trout waters, Vetrano says. Better land use -- more hillside vegetation and better cropping practices -- allows more rain water and snowmelt to seep into the groundwater. These increase flows result in colder summertime temperatures and warmer wintertime temperatures. This gives the wild trout we stock a much better chance they will begin to reproduce on their own.

The resulting stable water temperatures and good genetics, combined with the habitat DNR and partners are restoring through funding provided by revenues from sales of Inland Trout Stamps, are close to making all area streams thrive without any stocking.

Last year, because of more naturally reproducing waters showing up in our surveys, we dropped our stocking quotas by 60,000 fish, Vetrano says, noting that only wild strain fish, not domestic, are stocked. Our goal is to not have to stock any trout in our streams and we think it's achievable.

Vetrano says that anglers will find some nice trout in area streams this March. We've had two good years of natural reproduction, coupled with an abundant forage base, increased stream flows and good growth rates, he says.

Last fall we saw several fish over 24 inches show up in our surveys. If we get a normal thaw this spring we should see another recharge of the aquifer and continued good stream flows. 2010 should be another excellent year for anglers fishing our coulee streams.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Claggett (608) 267-9658