(Radio Iowa) – Watching the leaves turn color and carving pumpkins are fall traditions in Iowa and fishing for trout has become one as well. D-N-R Regional Fisheries Supervisor, Mike Siepker says they get a lot of positive feedback. “Anglers love the community trout stocking program. It provides a great close to home fishing opportunity for a lot of Iowans that might not otherwise have a chance to catch trout. They have started stocking trout in 18 community ponds and lakes. “Trout need cold water, and that’s one of the reasons that we wait until late fall to stock those fish, because if the ponds are too warm when we stock them, the fish don’t bite and the anglers are unhappy,” he says “So we wait long enough for the water to cool down, and that way, when we stock the trout, they’re happy and and are ready to bite.”

Siepker says they have a couple of different sizes of trout. “All these ponds and lakes receive catchable size rainbow trout, and those are about ten to 12 inch trout, and those are the same size that we stock in the streams in northeast Iowa,” Siepker says. They also stock some bigger fish. “Those are the trout that we used in the hatchery the last couple years to produce eggs. And then once we’re finished with those trout, and we’re finished spawning those, then we add those to the mix and stock those out so anglers have an opportunity to catch them,” he says. Siepker says they’ll release around one to two-thousand trout in each lake.

You will need a valid fishing license and have to pay the trout fee to keep the trout you catch. Children age 15 or younger can fish for trout with a properly licensed adult, but they must limit their catch to one daily. The child can purchase a trout fee which will allow them to catch their own limit. Trout were stocked Friday in , Moorland Pond Fort Dodge and Sand Lake in Marshalltown.

Here are the remaining stocking dates:
Oct. 24, Ottumwa Park Pond; Prairie Park Fishery, Cedar Rapids; Liberty Centre Pond North Liberty
Oct. 26, Emma Young Pond, Clinton; Industrial Park Pond, Fairfield; Discovery Park Pond, Muscatine,
Oct. 28, Terra Lake , Johnston; Triumph Park East & West , Waukee
Oct. 31, Ada Hayden Heritage Park Lake, Ames; Lake Petocka , Bondurant
Nov. 5, Scharnberg Pond, Spencer; Bacon Creek, Sioux City
Nov. 8, Heritage Pond, Dubuque; North Prairie Lake , Cedar Falls