(Radio Iowa) – While the harvest of corn and soybeans was taking place across Iowa’s fields, D-N-R Fisheries employees were conducting a harvest of their own. Northeast Iowa regional fisheries supervisor, Mike Steuck, says they collect the eggs of the brown and brook trout in October and November from Iowa streams. “The brown trout are doing so well we don’t need very many of them anymore. We actually only have one stream that we are stocking fingerlings in. Almost all of our streams have naturally reproducing brown trout in them now,” he explains.

They do collect the eggs from the naturally reproducing brook trout from streams, and also have rainbow trout kept at the hatcheries to be used for stream stocking. “They typically spawn in the spring, but we have them pushed back so that they spawn in the winter — so that by the time we grow them up to be that half a pound apiece to be stocked they are ready for the streams. We stagger those spawns so we have the fish ready and we don’t have to hold them any longer than we have to,” according to Steuck.

The growing fish from all three types of trout are kept at the hatcheries and fed and raised to be stocked.  He says it takes about 15 months from the egg stage until they get to be about 15 inches and then they get stocked. Steuk says efforts to improve the water quality in Iowa’s streams have been paying off. “They are, we are seeing more and more natural reproduction as we work with our conservation partners in the watershed to reduce sedimentation and nutrients into our system,” Steuk says. “We stock fish with the right genetics, and the stream has suitable habitat and good water quality, then they do just fine.”

Trout thrive in the cooler waters of northeast Iowa, and they are a fish you can seek out any time of the year. “We don’t close the trout season in Iowa where they do in Minnesota and Wisconsin. You can fish year-round for trout,” Steuck says. “And because those streams are spring fed, that water is 50 degrees coming out of the ground, they never freeze in the winter. So you can fish on a day that is around 30-32 degrees. If the sun is shining that line doesn’t ice up — and you can still go trout fishing and catch some nice fish.”

You need an Iowa fishing license and a trout stamp to fish for trout here. You can find out more about trout fishing on the D-N-R’s website.