MN Stream Trout Fishing Opens in Streams April 13, Local Area Being Stocked

brown trout

rainbow trout

MN DNR

Minnesota’s popular stream trout season opens Saturday, April 13 with quality fishing opportunities in every region of the state.

Trout anglers can find information on Minnesota’s trout streams and lakes on DNR’s website. Anglers will find helpful learning guides and fishing tips tailored to each of Minnesota’s six trout fishing regions. Anglers can also access StreamFinder which provides anglers with a description, species list, regulations and access information for trout streams throughout Minnesota, and is modeled after the DNR’s popular LakeFinder tool.

Minnesota has roughly 3,800 miles of designated trout streams. Anglers fishing on designated trout waters must have a trout stamp validation in addition to an angling license. Complete trout season details are available at the DNR’s fishing page.

Local Streams Being Stocked With Rainbow Trout

The Waterville Area Fisheries Office will be stocking rainbow trout leading up to the stream trout opener.  Rainbow trout will be picked up from Lanesboro State Fish Hatchery and transported in hauling tanks by Waterville staff, then stocked.  The tentative plan is to stock Wolf Creek in Austin on 4/11/24 (tentatively 10:00 am) and Paul’s Creek (St. Peter Trout Ponds) on 4/12/24 (tentatively 1130 am to 1230 pm timeline).

Trout

Minnesota has two native trout species: the brook trout (“brookies”) and the lake trout. These species belong to a group of trout know as char.

brook trout

lake trout

The other trout now in this state are brown trout and rainbow trout. Both were introduced to Minnesota in the late 1800s. The rainbow is native to western North America and the brown is native to Germany. Brown trout are the hardiest of the trout species and as a result can tolerate water warmer and less clear than rainbows and especially brook trout require.

Most trout streams are in southeastern Minnesota and along the North Shore. The southern streams have mainly browns with some rainbows and, in the cold clear headwaters, brook trout. The northern streams have mostly brook trout. Lake trout are found in Lake Superior and in many deep, cold, clean northern lakes.

A type of large rainbow trout that lives most of its life in Lake Superior and spawns in large North Shore rivers is called a steelhead. A cross between a lake trout and a brook trout, called a splake, is also found in some northern lakes.